Thinner manilla climbing rope

[David Csonka]

I've seen that manilla climbing rope is pretty popular for upperbody strength and coordination. It seems the 1.5 or 2 inch ropes are fairly common.

Has anybody used or experimented with using smaller manilla rope?
Something smaller than 1inch like around 3/4" manilla rope?

It should hold the weight, though it might be more difficult grip-wise.

I can get 3/4" manilla rope from Home Depot for around $.67 per foot. The thick rope most Crossfit gyms have costs hundreds of dollars...

Thoughts?

[John Swanson]

Originally Posted by David Csonka

I've seen that manilla climbing rope is pretty popular for upperbody strength and coordination. It seems the 1.5 or 2 inch ropes are fairly common.

Has anybody used or experimented with using smaller manilla rope?
Something smaller than 1inch like around 3/4" manilla rope?

It should hold the weight, though it might be more difficult grip-wise.

I can get 3/4" manilla rope from Home Depot for around $.67 per foot. The thick rope most Crossfit gyms have costs hundreds of dollars...

Thoughts?

goto this website, I just bought 2 50 ft ropes for a total of $160.00

http://www.knotandrope.com/store/pc/Manila-Rope-c3.htm WFS

[David Csonka]

Excellent website, thanks!

Anyway - what are your thoughts on using thinner ropes for vertical climbing?

[John Swanson]

Originally Posted by David Csonka

Excellent website, thanks!

Anyway - what are your thoughts on using thinner ropes for vertical climbing?

Why would you want to deviate from the standard. I could see using a thinner rope for conditioning for athletes that can't handle a 1.5 in rope but not for climbing.

[Lincoln Brigham]

Originally Posted by David Csonka

Anyway - what are your thoughts on using thinner ropes for vertical climbing?

3/4" rope would be brutal and not in a good way.

[Peter Keller]

I have a 3/4" rope hanging in my backyard. It is very tough to climb... and as Lincoln said- not in a good way.

But- it can be done.

[David Csonka]

Originally Posted by John Swanson

Why would you want to deviate from the standard. I could see using a thinner rope for conditioning for athletes that can't handle a 1.5 in rope but not for climbing.

Cost savings and portability.

But if you guys think it would be absolutely brutal, then I'll probably have to go with a thicker rope.

[Bob Cieszkowski]

I've got a 3/4" home made one (thanks to Lincoln's Journal article ) and it can be climbed, but it's brutal on the hands. I'm going to redo it so it's 1.5".

[David Csonka]

My goal is to have some rope that provides about 20 ft of vertical climbing space, but I need it to be portable - I can't tie it off on a tree semi-permanently because I live in an apartment.

So, in order to tie it off to a tree, I need to wrap it around the trunk near the ground, toss it over a hanging limb (probably around 20 ft. off the ground), maybe wrap once around the limb, and then let it hang down to the ground.

This would require at least 50 ft. probably 60 ft. of rope. That would cost from $80 - $100 dollars, and would be a lot of heavy rope.

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Another idea, and this is what I'm wondering about, is to have 30 ft. of 1 1/2 inch rope and 30 ft. of 1/2 inch rope (2,300 lb. break strength ). Have eye splices made on both ropes so then I can connect them together with a carabiner.

Now, I would have 60 feet of rope, enough to wrap around the tree and toss over a limb. It would be cheaper, and I would have the climbing portion thick enough to not destroy my hands. As well, I could use the individual lengths for other stuff, as opposed to have 60 ft. of thick rope that weighs around 50 lbs.

Do you think this would work?