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Repel rope is choppy and fast at the top (EWO kit with madrock safeguard).

B

bbarron

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2023
Messages
19
When I am initially repelling down after a hunt the first third of the rope is really fast to release and makes for a choppy repel. The rope got a little dirty climbing trees that had previously been in a forest burn. Plus they got wet. I made sure they were well dried before storing. After getting past the choppy part, the repel is perfectly smooth and I can walk down the tree. Anyone have issues with the rope repealing too fast?
 
What line are you using? How old? Sounds like the sheath got a bunch of crap stuck in it from being wet which ground the contaminates into the sheath and you’re getting friction. If so you can wash your line in a bath tub with warm water and ROPE WASH NOT SOAP OR DETERGENT!!! After washing the line needs to be faked down to properly dry and then dressed so you don’t get twists.
So what type of line are you using?
 
Need to fix it. If I just use their other end, it will happen to that end as well. Will try to clean it.
 
Could you put some tubular webbing over your rope to keep it clean? Not sure how that would in practice. If it were like 1" webbing could you put 6 or so feet on it and scrunch it up?
 
enkriss said:
Control your decent via the tag end of the rope not the handle of the madrock.
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I thought the same, but there is a noticeable difference after about the 10-15’. The decent smooths out considerably. It just feels really fast and there is a lack of friction in the beginning. A lot of the trees still have black soot from previous controlled burns. I figured that and getting wet made the rope faster and reduced the friction.
 
bbarron said:
I thought the same, but there is a noticeable difference after about the 10-15’. The decent smooths out considerably. It just feels really fast and there is a lack of friction in the beginning. A lot of the trees still have black soot from previous controlled burns. I figured that and getting wet made the rope faster and reduced the friction.
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Did it work smoothly BEFORE the rope got dirty?
I'm a rappel rookie but I'm wondering if your technique/angle of rope feed somehow changes after the initial part of the rappel.
 
Never noticed any issues before I actually started using more heavily and hunting. It’s not a no go or serious issue, just curious if there was an easy fix. Will look into proper hand position as well, thank you.
 
I wear a lightweight pair of OR Suppressor gloves (leather) if I'm handling rope or rappelling... I'm using a combination of brake hand (with glove) and Safeguard lever to obtain a smooth descent.
 
Exhumis said:
What line are you using? How old? Sounds like the sheath got a bunch of crap stuck in it from being wet which ground the contaminates into the sheath and you’re getting friction. If so you can wash your line in a bath tub with warm water and ROPE WASH NOT SOAP OR DETERGENT!!! After washing the line needs to be faked down to properly dry and then dressed so you don’t get twists.
So what type of line are you using?
Click to expand...

OK so, I’ve had this one in the back of my mind, how concerned should I be that I washed my Oplux rappel rope a few weeks ago with DDW detergent, didn’t rinse it and hung it to dry?
 
Luckily, C-IV is made for canyoneering. While I've never participated in this, my understanding is that it's a wet and dirty and muddy passtime, so the ropes need to be pretty durable. I'd contact Sterling and see what they recommend to wash your C-IV. If it got a bunch of sap in it I'd probably replace it as the sap would potentially hold grit in the fibers, which could damage the rope. Otherwise I'd wash and rock on.
 
kstetar said:
OK so, I’ve had this one in the back of my mind, how concerned should I be that I washed my Oplux rappel rope a few weeks ago with DDW detergent, didn’t rinse it and hung it to dry?
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OpLux is a tactical rope. I can't imagine your drying technique would really hurt it. I'd be most worried about the detergent. Supposedly, good rope washing technique typically involves rinsing and laying it flat to dry (not hanging) but for canyoneering or tactical ropes designed to perform in wet conditions I can't see why it'd be a problem. How the chemical composition of the detergent might affect the properties of the rope seems more concerning.

That said, I'm just a dude on the internet without ropes expertise, just heard a few things on here before.
 
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