BOKAT Rope Washer by PMI®

We got to try out my new 11mm Max Wear yesterday. It wasn’t a bad rappel or climb, but definitely not Sport Ez, Talon, or Extreme Pro. For what it’s designed for, ruggedness and durability, I think it shines; time will tell. Rope is on my mind this morning. Trying to pin down “the one” I like the most; and that’s a tough one.

11mm Extreme Pro– rappel is like butter! Super smooth through the rack; very easy to get over the lip with; but yet you need to be aware of just how easy it feeds. Definitely a fast rope to rappel on, and very smooth! The climb…… meh. Not my favorite to climb on. Very stretchy. I’m not a fan of the “bungie cord bounce” when climbing. The longer the drop, the more the bounce. It’s so lumber that to start climbing is a pain in the butt. Once you get 20’ ish off the ground it gets better from rope weight. Then ya bouncy bouncy bounce until you hit the 100’ ish mark and the stretch isn’t too bad and the bounce chills out; making the climb much better.

11mm Max Wear. It’s a beast. Ready to be dragged through caves, over rocks, through water, and just abused is it’s design. The rappel wasn’t bad, but certainly not “butter smooth”. A much stiffer rope, it doesn’t feed through the rack very good when going over the lip; gotta feed the rack some. Once over and free hanging it does fine. The climb? It’s “ok”, not as much stretch/bounce as the Extreme Pro, but close. The longer the drop, the more boing! Boing! You’ll go. It’ll work good for what I got it for; caving and dirty pit bouncing.

11mm Sport Ez– I didn’t think I would like this one as much as I do, now. It’s a good all around rope; and it’s actually one of my favorites now. We sell a ton of it; and during the Spring through Fall we make thousands of feet of it daily. The rappel is nice. It has a great happy medium getting over the lip and dropping. It feeds through the rack very well, and is nice for tying knots/rigging. Smooth rappel and makes it very smooth to control you bars; doesn’t give you that herky/jerky when using your bars to adjust your descent. The climb isn’t bad at all either. It has a little stretch at the start, but you can quickly get climbing after a couple steps. Has a ‘little’ bounce too it, but tolerable; for me…. Again, I didn’t think I’d like this one as much as I do. Turns out, I like it a lot. Definitely a “go to” rope and I bring it every time. 

11mm Talon* (available by special order) – I don’t think I’m as impressed with it as I am the 10mm Talon. I love my 10 mil. The 11mm I thought would of been better. Rigging/knot tying it does good, easy to use. Fairly smooth going over the lip and it feeds through the rack well, no “feeding the rack” with this one. Just sit yer butt back and go. Once on the free hang, it rappels nice; but, not as nice as I thought it would. Sport Ez and Extreme Pro are better; which surprised me. Where this rope shined is the climb. No stretch (at least at the 100’ level so far; it’s the biggest drop I’ve rigged it with, yet…), and the climb is fast and smooth. No bouncing, just flying straight up! There is no fumbling around on the first step either. You simply just get ya movin’!

I have a couple more ropes to make and try out. Definitely going to get some ISO Static in the 13mm and 11mm. Have a short 11mm and it handles very well on rappel and climb; just need to try it on a bigger drop. And the Access Pro… would like to try that. But for now, I do believe my “go to rope” would be the Sport Ez in the 11mm. Definitely Talon in 10mm.

I’ve lost track of how many feet of rope I have now, it has become a little addicting, but I enjoy getting to make these products AND get too use them. When your butt is hanging on a thread, it’s comforting to know where and how that rope was made. It’s also nice to be able to make custom colors and patterns. Seeing so much daily helps out with coming up with patterns. Love my Red/White/Blue colors and patterns, but I just might have ya get our standard Old Glory rope made, just to have one. Be a good add too the mix. 

Anywho….. I felt like yammering about rope since I got too try out the Max Wear yesterday. Going to switch to bagging my ropes (minus the max wear and pit ropes, still coil those), to save some wall space, and it’s a better way to stow them. Honey; we’re going to need a LOT of bags! 

I would also like to thank my wife, for not killing me for buying/making all this rope; and…… future, ropes…… While she does “face palm” and shake her head; she hasn’t killed me yet! 

In a recent study conducted by experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NIH, UCLA, and Princeton University, investigators found that SARS-CoV-2 is detectable in aerosols for up to 3 hours, on copper up to 4 hours, up to 24 hours on cardboard, and up to 3 days on plastic and stainless steel.

Cleaning surfaces and equipment that are regularly touched or that may be exposed to germs can help reduce the spread. Recommendations from the CDC are to include cleaning AND disinfecting frequently touched surfaces first with detergent or soap and water, and then following this cleaning with disinfectant.

“choose a disinfectant appropriate for the material”

Most common EPA-registered household disinfectants will work, so choose a disinfectant appropriate for the material you are cleaning. If necessary, you may secure MSDS sheets from the cleaning solution manufacturer to identify what materials are damaged by that solution.

Some of the options include

• a dilute bleach solution (1/3rd cup bleach per gallon of water OR 4 teaspoons bleach per quart of water)
• A 70% alcohol solution

“bleach is known to weaken the fiber structure”

With any chemical compound there are several factors that will influence whether or not it will damage a given material. Of primary importance, of course, is simply the relationship between that compound and the material being cleaned. With this as a foundational context, actual damage can also be affected by concentration, duration of exposure, and temperature.

Although bleach is known to weaken the fiber structure of materials such as nylon and polyester, PMI has found that a single treatment of a mixture of up to 1 part household bleach (with active ingredient of Sodium hypochlorite at 5.25% concentration) with 9 parts room temperature tap water and a 10min or less exposure time, immediately followed by a thorough rinse of room temperature water will not cause appreciable harm to nylon or polyester ropes.

Likewise, plain rubbing alcohol can be a good cleaning agent that is generally mild enough to not damage or melt rope fibers, but again the alcohol solution must be thoroughly rinsed out of the material promptly so it doesn’t damage the material.  At high temperatures and under extended exposure conditions, nylon is known to be damaged by isopropyl alcohol.

“recommended method will not cause appreciable harm”

Keep in mind that the cumulative effects of frequent or repeated decontamination using these compounds has not been thoroughly studied, and should be undertaken with care.  Given the understanding that both bleach and alcohol can weaken the fiber structure of a rope, it only stands to reason that repeated treatments are likely to weaken the fiber structure even more. Although PMI’s testing suggests that a single disinfection using the recommended method will not cause appreciable harm to nylon or polyester ropes, if this process is repeated multiple times the damage will inevitably become appreciable, and this damage is not necessarily detectable through visual inspection.

Use and care of life safety products should not be undertaken lightly, and it can be difficult to make subjective decisions about the strength of rope and equipment without actually testing it to failure. The prudent course of action is to discard any rope about which there is any doubt.

For more information on chemical compatibility with nylon, visit calpaclab.com

Static and low stretch ropes are designed for radically different uses than dynamic ropes and therefore have significantly different properties.
Static and low stretch ropes are designed for rappelling, ascending, lowering, and raising operations where the load is supported by the rope and there should never be any slack in the system. These types of uses are common in rescue, rope access, tree work, caving, etc.
Dynamic ropes are designed to absorb shock loads when the slack comes out of a system, as with a falling lead climber in recreational climbing or mountaineering.

Because of these differences, the testing procedures for static and dynamic ropes are very different.
One thing that both types of testing have in common is that the test destroys the rope.
Ropes tested are considered a representative sample of the ropes actually sold and put into use.
In both types of testing, multiple samples are tested to gauge the consistency of the results.

“developed test criteria”

The Cordage Institute in the United States has developed test criteria for static and low stretch ropes.
In this test, rope strength is testing by wrapping the ends of the rope around 4-inch (or greater) bollards, and pulling at about 6 inches per minute.
A load cell measures the force applied to break the rope.

Testing to a common industry standard test allows the relative strength of different ropes to be compared.
It does not predict the actual load that would necessarily break a rope in a real application.
That would depend on many factors including; the condition and previous use of the rope,
the knots used to tie the rope, the shape of the surfaces that the rope runs across (tighter bends and sharp edges reduce the breaking strength),
and the rate at which the load is applied.

Even though traditional nylon kernmantle low stretch and static ropes stretch very little,
they do have some ability to absorb energy in a system. They do stretch a bit.

According to Cordage Institute standards (CI 1801), any rope labeled as ‘Static’ will have an elongation of <6% at 10% of it’s MBS.
A rope labeled ‘Low Stretch’ should have an elongation of 6-10% at 10% of it’s MBS.
These and other factors should be taken into account when choosing and rigging a static or low stretch rope.
Rope rigging training should include discussions of limitations and capabilities of different types of rope.

“ropes are tested by counting the number of times”

Dynamic ropes are tested by counting the number of times they can safely stop a falling test weight when dropped from a specified height.
Also, the rope must stop the falling test weight without exceeding a specified load (12kN).
That is, dynamic ropes have to be able to stop a falling climber but not stop the climber so fast that injury results.
This ability of dynamic ropes to “gradually” stop a fall are the main reason that static and low stretch ropes must never be used in applications where slack may develop in a system. Testing dynamic ropes by pulling them on a tester until they break is not practical due to the high amount these ropes stretch before breaking.

Be sure to use the right rope for your application.

Richard Delaney’s  workshops are available on his RopeLab website at www.ropelab.com.au

“Richard does a lot of rigging workshops, but this is the first time that it will be given completely in the back country with the main focus being on lightweight and practical rigging skills,” said Tom Wood, PMI’s Technical Department Manager and one of VRS’ longest tenured instructors.  “I expect that a lot of folks are going to leave this workshop, go home, and revisit the way that they’ve been doing rope rescue.”

5-DAY BACK COUNTRY RESCUE WORKSHOP

This ​unique ​5-day ​workshop ​focuses ​on ​understanding ​first ​principles ​and ​building ​realistic ​roping ​systems ​from ​first ​principles. ​ ​Long-held ​rules ​will ​be ​challenged,  ​and ​where ​appropriate, ​replaced ​with ​justification ​for ​making ​decisions ​based ​on ​facts, ​logic, ​and ​physics.

“Physics is an integral process of rope rescue,” said Jeff Bowles, Lead VRS Instructor and PMI’s Risk, Safety and Industry Relations Manager. “Knowledge of your equipment and the abilities and limitations applied in a practical manner is vital to keep rescuers competent and safe in high risk situations. Working with live loads is very serious, and it is vital to learn the cause and effect relationships of forces applied to technical rigging situations. These can change constantly during rescue operations. Thankfully, Richard explains the physics aspect of rope rescue in an accessible and easily understood format.”

VERTICAL RESCUE SOLUTIONS

PMI’s training division, Vertical Rescue Solutions (VRS), doesn’t just teach this stuff—they live it. And with PMI’s 40 years in the rope and life safety manufacturing business, you can be assured that quality gear and instruction go hand in hand. PMI’s VRS instructors have knowledge gleaned from a variety of disciplines—Fire, EMS, Mountain Rescue, Confined Space, Technical Rope Rescue, Cave Rescue, Industrial Rope Access and Rescue. With years of hands-on, real world experience, our instructors strive to save lives and provide a safer environment for at-height workers and rescuers through quality education and instruction.

Tom Wood, Martin Barnett, Aaron Dover & Jeff Bowles of Pigeon Mountain Industries’ VRS will be joining Richard Delaney in the Back Country Rescue Workshop.

RICHARD DELANEY AND ROPELAB

Richard Delaney has worked professionally with ropes since 1992. Initially, this was as a multi-pitch rock-climbing instructor, but this moved quickly into specialized rescue instruction and rope access work.

“Richard brings some new and different perspectives on rigging and technical rescue,” said Bowles. “He takes technical concepts and teaches them in a manner easily understood for participants of all levels.”

Richard’s formal qualifications include:

• Bachelor of Engineering (Hons)
• Master of Environmental Management
• Diploma of Outdoor Recreation
• Level 3 Rope Access Technician and Assessor/Evaluator (Australian Rope Access Association and Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians)
• Licensed Dogger & Rigger
• Certificate IV in Training and Assessment

Richard is also:

• an accredited Vertical Rescue Instructor/Assessor
• a past board member and Technical Director of the Australian Rope Access Association
• a volunteer and Vertical Rescue Team Leader with the NSW State Emergency Service
• the founder of the Rope Test Lab group on Facebook

In 2012, Richard bought a set of testing equipment and began to test his theories and ideas around the physics of roping systems.  Seeking to share ideas and stimulate conversation, he began the Rope Test Lab Facebook Group.  This grew quickly and currently supports around 7,500 members.

From this basis, RopeLab was established to build a greater understanding of the physics of roped systems.

READY FOR ANYTHING

“PMI instructors have gained our knowledge on rigging and rescue by actually doing this stuff,” said Wood. “And we are hungry for knowledge. What we are doing with RopeLab is marrying theory and practice into a package that will help our students save lives as they head home to utilize what they’ve learned in the Colorado mountains.”

Presenter: Martin Barnett | Product Video |

The all new ERRATIC has every feature that you need all wrapped up into one rope for any climbing situation. It is a single rope that is ultra-lightweight with a solid feel and precision control. The ERRATIC utilizes Unicore® technology, resulting in nearly zero sheath slippage, even if the sheath is damaged. This rope is also UltraDry treated for those ambitious alpine expeditions and for mixed rock and ice routes. It is also ideal for trad and sport climbing, especially when sending difficult routes where weight, speed and performance are your tools for success.

Learn More and Buy Online – choose a length:
60m 70m

Presenter: Steve Hudson | Webinar | 
This free webinar provides insight on the proper inspection, care and maintenance of Life Safety Rope. In addition, we will try to answer the tough question of when to retire your rope.

Presenter: Loui McCurley | Webinar | 

Life safety rope is available in such a variety of diameters, materials, and constructions… how do you choose what’s right for you? This presentation will cover some of the finer points of rope selection, including test methods, interpretation of data, and both objective and subjective considerations in choosing the best rope for your application. Rope is not a commodity, and details do make a difference. By the end of this webinar you will have a better grasp on analyzing specifications and product labels to help you choose the best product for your needs. Loui McCurley, you presenter for this webinar, offers perspective gained from personal experience in rescue, fall protection, rope access, and recreational climbing, as well as testing and evaluating mechanisms of failure of life safety rope.