Tree Gear Equipment

This rope from BlueWater Company is a static rope that is both economical yet functional performing extremely well in instances when rope bounce is unwanted such as in hauling, rappelling, and ascending or jumaring.

The BlueWater II features a static nylon core or kern, and polyester sheath or mantle that is braided and abrasion-resistant. This combination results to the rope’s durability. Both the cable core and sheath strands are double twisted. This helps a lot is avoiding the rope twisting around while you are hanging on it. The design of the sheath makes knotting of the ropes easy.

The rope has a strength of 32 kilonewtons. It weighs 24 grams per foot with a diameter of slightly over 11 millimeters. It is available in gold with blue specks in a length of approximately 46 meters.

The Lava Tree Climbing Rope is a competition-level 12 mm kernmantle rope offered by Sherrill Tree and New England Rope. Its mantle is of a deep blue color that is highlighted with either molten orange or green glow flecks. These flecks not only give the ropes a distinctive look, but also provide them with visibility even when used in climbing extra tall trees.

The Lava uses FlexiFirm Core technology with the trade name of Tachyon to produce a rope that balances flexibility and firmness. It is a low-stretch, double-braided, tough skinned rope that stays round and firm when loaded. It also includes a third strand –the magmastrand– which provides density and support to both the core (kern) and the sheath (mantle).

Split-tails and ascenders get excellent traction when used with the Lava Rope making climbing in either double-rope or single-rope techniques less taxing and less dangerous. Its small size and sleek jacket ensures a smooth flow through various mechanical equipment such as ascenders, descenders, or belay devices.

With a strand count of 24 stands, the Lava generates a tensile strength of 6,800. The fabric is made of a blend of polyester and nylon with melting points of 480° and 460° respectively. Its weight is rated at 5.8 pounds per hundred feet.

The Mammut Supersafe Rope is a light yet tough dynamic rope with a wide range of uses. It can be used for ice climbing, expeditions, sport climbing, gym climbing, and tree climbing.

This rope passed the Sharp Edge Resistance test of the UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme or International Mountaineering and Climbing Organization). This is largely due to a Coating Finish process wherein the rope’s individual fibers are coated with Teflon thus reducing internal friction and the build up of heat. This results to its excellent resistance to abrasion. The coating also leads to an improved load distribution and durability.

Both the kern and mantle are Superdry coated to resist water absorption. To maintain the smooth handling qualities of the Supersafe, the finished rope undergoes a Duraflex heat-treatment process. This guarantees that the rope remains supple and flexible for fast clips and belaying even for extended periods.

The rope’s Triosafe feature provides markings at the center of the rope and at 15 feet before its end. This lets you know if you are coming to the end of your rope, an important safety feature when rappelling.

The Mammut Supersafe weighs about 70 grams per linear meter. It has a dynamic elongation of 30 percent, while static is rated at 5.7 percent. Impact force is at 8.8 kilonewtons.

The Sterling Rope Evolution Velocity 9.8 is an extremely soft, light, and durable dynamic rope that meets the demands of the most serous traditional, sport, or ice climbers.

The sheath of this kernmantle rope is quite smooth thus substantially reducing rope drag. At a weight of 62 grams per meter, it is one of the lightest ropes available. This was achieved by revamping the construction of both the kern and mantle. Notwithstanding this smoothness and lightness, the Evolution Velocity is strong enough to take a serious thrashing. These features make the rope excellent for redpoint attempts, long routes, and onsighting.

The dynamic elongation of Sterling Rope Evolution Velocity is rated at 26.4%, while static is at 8.6%. It has an impact force of 8.8 kN, with a diameter of 9.8 mm. UIAA gives it a fall rating of 6.

This rope is available in silver, orange, blue, green, and brown.

The Poison Ivy climbing line is a kernmantle rope that has a strand count of 24. The inner ropes and the external sheath combine to make the Poison Ivy line a strong, durable, and flexible rope. The mantle provides a soft and comfortable feel on the hands. Tying and untying knots is easy with this supple rope because of its flexibility.

Mechanical ascenders and belay devices work well with Poison Ivy because of its low stretch. Also, self-belaying split tail techniques are well suited to it. Other climbers say the rope is also great for double rope techniques with Blake’s hitch. It can be readily spliced with other ropes, and is not distorted even under heavy loads.

The rope is considered a lightweight being only 6.5 pounds per hundred feet. In spite of its light weight, it packs a tensile strength of 6,500 pounds. As it is made of polyester, it’s melting point is at 450°F.

The Poison Ivy comes in 11.7 mm in diameter and is available in an appealing interweaving of black and dark green, or light and dark green.

The Yale XTC – 16 Strand is a professional grade climbing rope specifically intended to meet the demands of professional arborists. There are four variations of the 16 Strand, namely, the XTC White, Plus, Spearmint, and Fire.

The XTC White features an extremely tight cover braid of 16 strands of Dacron polyester molded and twisted over “Para-ep” Olefin that constitutes the bundled parallel core strands. There is no need for break-in cover adjustment.

The rope is kept firm and round by a high-twist core of torque balanced polyester. It resists abrasion, moisture, and snagging making it excellent as a climbing rope and bull rope. It is flexible and mates well with prusik loops and friction hitches. Also, its absorption of energy is remarkable.

The XTC Plus, Spearmint, and Fire differ from the XTC White only in their mantles.

Half of the cover strands of the XTC Plus and Spearmint are made of extrusion-dyed polyester. This gives the ropes permanent colors that do not fade with extended use and exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Arborists and recreational climbers use these colored ropes if they have to use several lines and may need color coding to avoid confusion. The XTC Plus is colored white and red while the Spearmint is in white and green.

The most visible of the Yale XTC – 16 Strands is the XTC Fire. The rope is emblazoned with the colors of fire —red, orange and yellow. All strands are in these three colors and this, arguably, makes the rope the most visible not only among Yale’s own ropes but even in the entire industry.

The rope comes in ½-inch diameter with an average break strength of 6,200 pounds. It has a working load of 620 pounds and a knotted strength of 4,200 pounds. It weighs 7.5 pounds per hundred feet.

The Hi-Vee in the name of this New England Rope Company climbing line stands for high visibility. The strands of this white rope incorporate vivid orange flecks rendering it highly conspicuous.

The New England 3-Strand Hi-Vee is specifically designed for arborists. The rope is static and is claimed by its manufacturer to have less bounce compared to other 3-strand ropes. It resists backturning, and owing to a protective finish applied to the yarns, it is highly resistant to abrasion resulting to an extended service life. It is also easily spliced.

Being made out of high tenacity polyester, it resists water and moisture as well as most chemicals such as oxidizing agents and mineral acids. It will not lose color even when exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide. Neither will it significantly degrade when exposed to ultraviolet rays. If the rope is kept clean and free from trapped moisture, dirt, and other contaminants, it remains resistant to electric current.

Rope size is at ½ inch and is available in spools of 120, 150, 600, and 1,200 feet. Weight is 7.6 pounds per 100 feet. Tensile strength is rated at 6,300 pounds.

Sterling Rope Co., Inc. is one of the several major manufacturers of kernmantle ropes. Among the products of the company is the Sterling HTP High Tenacity Polyester Static Rope which is an ideal climbing safety rope often recommended for cell tower climbers. Depending on rope size, it can also be used for caving, rock climbing, mountain and water rescue, and military and industrial applications.

The mantle of Sterling HTP Static is highly resistant to abrasion. This resistance is largely due to Sterling’s Better Twist Technology™ which aligns the load bearing direction of the yarn with the longitudinal axis of the rope. It is also moisture-resistant as they are made of high-quality polyester which is naturally hydrophobic. Because of the low levels of twist of the kern yarns, this rope has a low elongation. Also, it remains supple and easily knotted even after prolonged use. This is because Sterling uses Thermo-Dynamic Balancing™. This is a proprietary process that stabilizes the heat that is applied to the polyester yarns during manufacturing.

Sterling HTP Static Ropes come in different diameters of varying maximum break strengths. The smallest is the 9 mm HTP with an MBS of 5,193 pounds. Slightly bigger is the 3/8-inch which has an MBS of 5,981 pounds. The 7/16 inch is at 7,667 pounds while the ½ inch breaks beyond 9,084 pounds. The biggest is the 7/8 inch with an MBS of 10,703 pounds.

There are also different colors to choose from. If you want your ropes to be highly visible, you can go for neon green, bright yellow, red, orange, and blue. If you want colors that are a bit more subdued, there are the olive drab and black. You can also choose from different spool sizes of 300, 600, and 1,200 feet.