• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Really good price on Ultra-Tech

Final thought to use an analogy.

I have a 70# bow that is set to about 58#, which is the weight I'm hunting with. I can draw 70# but why? 58# is comfortable for me at any angle, my arrows are the proper spine for this weight and plenty accurate for the distances I plan on hunting. However, if I were hunting elk out west, I'd absolutely turn up the weight due to that specific need and adjust accordingly.
 
@phatkaw, thanks for the vote of confidence.
@johnfajitas, that depends on what you're looking to accomplish overall.

Generally speaking, the smaller the rope, the less forgiving your mistakes are. Conversely, the larger the rope, the less packable it is and weighs more.

The smaller the rope, the easier it is to pull up and over a tree limb as I find it doesn't hang up as much. It's also much lighter, packs into a smaller space and being more flexible, easier to manipulate. The drawbacks are that it can be harder to climb since you don't have as much rope to grip with your free hand, your mechanical ascender choices are more limited as are your mechanical descenders and your hitch selections, namely accessory cord diameter needs to be more closely matched. There are ways to overcome these drawbacks but you do need to be more selective.

Larger diameter ropes are just about opposite. If I had no concerns with weigh, userability once at hunting height or packability, I'd have 11mm rope without question. It's the easiest to climb and has the most compatible accessories. The drawbacks have already been mentioned, namely what to do with it once at height and carrying it in. Again, these too can be overcome.

9-10mm seems to be the sweet spot in balancing all of this out overall. If I had to walk miles and climb tall trees, I'd opt for 8mm like Resc Tech or Ultra Tech and understand my equipment limitations. My 50' of Resc Tech packs smaller and is lighter than my 40' of C-IV but the C-IV is more forgiving to my climbing style. Chiefly, I am fully confident in climbing the C-IV blindfolded (or at least in the dark) doing alot by feel. The Resc Tech requires that I pay more attention to my equipment and the flow of the rope through that equipment. Certainly not a deal breaker but since I plan on climbing/rappelling in the dark, it is a consideration.

My advice to someone such starting out would be to buy 10mm HTP and practice in your yard with as many different techniques as you're able. Once you decide on what your climbing, hunting and rappelling style is, decide then if you can/need to reduce the diameter and weight.

Makes sense. I have no basis for comparison, but carrying in 50’ of the rope I’ve been using has yet to bother me. When I’m at height it is stored in my pack, so no problems there. I don’t go incredibly far with it in my pack, but I’ve put in quite a few miles with it. Ultimately, I am a novice with regards to climbing, so I’d prefer to be safer with a more forgiving rig at the expense of weight and space. Thanks for taking the time for the deep dive!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That's exactly it, never go beyond your comfort and ability.

For me, I've played around with 8mm rope but for SRT, I've decided that I won't go less than 9mm knowing I only plan on doing SRT with presets. If I do get on public land that I haven't scouted or set presets, SRT isn't an option for me. For that, it would be 2TC, sticks or a hybrid of the two. In those cases, I'd take the 8mm solely because I know I'd only be rappelling.

Another consideration is how you girth hitch your SRT rope. While starting out with quick links, I'm now using rigging rings. The reason is that I've found the continuous radius easier to thread the tag end through when out of reach compared to a delta ring. For SRT, this isn't an issue. For rappelling only, it's not convenient since you have to thread the entire length of rope through the ring and wouldn't use a rigging ring for something like 1-sticking.
 
Ok, just pulled a bunch of stuff from the washing machine.
3 different rappel ropes were in there and the Ultra-Tech was barely any heavier than when it went in...
It didn't really even feel wet.

I guess what I'm saying is that it didn't retain hardly any water compared to Rescue-Tech and C-IV.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top