Page 59 - Duane Raleigh - Knots Ropes for Climbers
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5
On Rope
My first climbing rope was a moldy nylon hank of cord my buddy Donnie found tied to a boat out at
Crowder Lake. We were only thirteen years old and figured, what the hey, a rope was a rope, and a
free rope let you save your money for bicycle tires and jerky. We made harnesses from pack lash
straps, used nails for pitons and tiny 29-cent rapid links for carabiners, and went climbing and
rappeling. The luck of youth was on our side, for neither of us ever took a serious tumble. Perhaps our
rudimentary equipment was just inadequate enough to keep us from getting into real difficulties. A
couple years later, I got an REI catalog and ordered what I thought was a proper climbing rope, a
twisted
Goldline. Again, we were lucky. Goldline, while strong enough to hold a fall, stretches like a bungee
cord. Take a hard fall on a Goldline, and rope stretch is likely to drop you on a ledge or the ground.
a. A twisted rope.
b. A kernmantle rope.
By the time we turned sixteen and got our drivers' licenses we had come to a realization: There's only
one type of rope acceptable for climbingthe kernmantle rope. Kernmantle rope is a two-piece rope
made of nylon. It has a braided outer sheath, the mantle, and braided or twisted inner strands, the core
or kern. Most of the rope's strength comes from the core. The mantle
