I'm a sailor, not a climber, and it's absolutely wild to me how differently we think about ropes. We even use a different word!

It would be nice to get an interview with a company that does offer Unicore ropes, I feel like they would give a more open opinion about the benefits of unicore rope and not skirt the question like the Mammut rep did.

HUGE props to the Mammut guy for mentioning Edelrid @6:35 without hesitation. One of the (totally anecdotal) things I've always loved about the climbing industry is that general respect and camaraderie between manufacturers.

It's worth adding that although the climber in the BMC video survived he landed on the belayer and they were quite badly hurt. I personally thought it a bit reckless climbing on a single as the fall was obvious and the FA (Steve Mcclure) knew this and actually tied on with THREE ropes for the FA.

In volcanic soil, extremely fine grit can embed itself in a rope and act as abrasive when the rope is pulled through a carabiner or belay ring. I have seen the cold shuts at the top of route in Owens Gorge that have been half worn through for that very reason.

One thing I think is fairly common that you've overlooked in the testing and that is a ding/burr in a carabiner from say smashing into a rock a few times or wear and tear over time. It wouldn't have to be big but it could be potentially razor sharp under stress. Something to consider

Thanks. This is a very important topic! The example of the snapped rope is from Michele Caminati in 2017 who was climbing on the "Elder Statesman" for the camera after he has successfully done the first repetition of the route the previous day. It was well known that Steve McClure used 3! single ropes on the routes very first ascent in 2004. It was quite ignorant of Michele to do it with only one rope as this particular danger was well known and obvious. Especially as this is a 5.14 route where normally no beginner gets lost!

Unicore has the massive advantage that even when you get a cut on the sheath that you will not be exposing a large amount of the core, hence the odds of cutting the core are much lower.

Would be cool to see video examples of live rocks that you think are sharp edges, versus ones that aren't?

A note about "colour" on aluminium alloys. A lot of aluminium is coloured by a process called anodizing. Anodizing in itself is transparent and actually a form of aluminium oxide. But this oxide is also very hard, has rather low friction and is abrasive resistant (it is also used as an abrasive for metals and is the actual material called sapphire). So conclusion: Colour on aluminium is not only for decoration and if the colour is worn off the metal might start to wear a lot faster as well as wear the rope faster. (Anodizing is a science in itself with varying thickness, when/if dye is added and probably a ton more which I don't know of).

I'm not a climber, and I have no idea why KZfaq recommended this video for me to watch. I did find it interesting and I wonder how the modern nylon ropes you show compare with the old style hemp ropes. Also, considering what I saw of the wear on the carabiner made from aluminium alloy made me wonder if the same thing would happen with an older and heavier steel carabiner.

I haven't climbed since 1981, and a lot has changed. We climbed on 11 or 12mm or 2 x 9 or 10mm ropes, the technology has moved on considerably, thanks.

This was so informative. I'm a novice climber. I've been to gyms a bunch but only started climbing outside last week. I didn't realize how easy it can be for terrain to break a rope. That climber falling scared the shit out of me because I climbed a route with a lot of edges a couple days ago. I only top rope climb right now but good reminder to always check the equipment before clipping in when I try out lead climbing

So glad the safety benefits of thicker rope were pointed out - i need to buy some for my lead training next month so I'll definitely be avoiding the ultra-thin ones! Helpful as always Ben, thanks!

A few years ago i had my rope sheet get cut in multiple spots after a few second falls followed by using a rope ascending device to get past the crux. Just rubbing against crystals was enough to cut the sheet. So it is important to watch your rope at all times! Even when top roping

Great vid, thank you! I think it's important to point out that the sharp-edged carabiner wear is *only* an issue on *fixed* draws. For your "normal" draws, you will be constantly swapping them onto different routes and placing them in different positions - so every draw will experience wear from a rope wrapping around it in different angles, including 360° when falling or lowering off a vertical section. This will lead to a nice, round wear pattern - you should obviously still check the rope-side biners and replace them when enough of the aluminum has worn away, but you should never find sharp edges if properly used. The issue shows up in fixed draws since they are sometimes only worn down with the rope wrapping at one specific, low angle - say 220° - like in the case described. So - if climbing on fixed draws, it's healthy be paranoid. Check the carabiners, and even more important, check any *textiles*, especially if the sling is sometimes in the sunlight. (there are some scary tests by the german alpine club as well as ryan over at hownot2). Ideally, put in you own gear anyway, although this can be a pain as routes with fixed draws are usually massively overhanging. If you are equipping a route with fixed draws, consider investing into steel biners with chains, where there is no sling degradation and much less wear on the biners. EDIT spelling, clarity.

Thank you for your videos, as a beginner I appreciate people like you that go deep into real life issues, instead if just "scratching the surface"

I am new to climbing (2 years but among lockdowns), I climb indoor boulder only, I climbed outdoor just once (super fun experience). And the reason why is I have not enough knowledge about safety. I met a lot of people that leart from one guy how to lead climb and/or how to set up top rope anchors and than they started to climb by themselves. I think this Is the best way to get hurt. I have not fear of falling, I feel safe using ropes and all the gear, but from this video I understeand more about the danger of bad attention and bad management of ropes and to pay more attention using them (when I will have to).

The woman at the end of the video was obviously trying to downplay the benefits of the Unicore. She was only referring to sheath slippage on an intact rope. The benefit of the Unicore really comes into play when the sheath is cut, the benefit of a Unicore is obvious over a non Unicore.

Not a climber. I try to keep my potential energy to a minimum. Y'all are nuts. Love your accents.

Got told a terrifying story by an instructor about a death because someone was organizing ropes in the parking lot of the gym. Someone had run over a battery, so they unknowingly placed the rope in battery acid that was still on the pavement. Rope snapped on the fall. Terrifying shit man

You just made me run through all my carabiners and check them. I'd also be interested to see if there is a life span for tube style devices (reverso, ATC) and when should we retire them. The middle part underneath can also get sharp at one point.

Man you're f***in' awesome! I'm not even a rock climber, just a mountaineer, yet I feel already an "expert" in terms of carabiners, ropes, gri-gris, falls, and it all begun from a random video of yours I ran into at KZfaq one lazy day! Keep up the GREAT work Ben, you ROCK my world! (see what I did there with the word "rock", huh? 😛)

Perfect content like always. I'll never understand why people try to save 50 or 100 bugs, instead of decreasing a rope cut which could cost your life.

Great video! Thanks for the knowledge! That carabiner edge cutting rope like butter will make me inspect my carabiners more that's for sure

The body of the carabiner should always be round where the rope runs against it. That greatly extends the amount of wear it takes to form an edge. Flat or eye shaped sides will firm an edge quite quickly. Great video You’ve likely saved lives with this one.

Tbh, this just really wants me to use twin/dual rope.

Not teaching people to inspect the gear is the biggest problem and most common factor in accidents. Knowing most accidents have multiple factors in the scenario, a failure to inspect and discard damaged gear somehow is very common among accident investigations.

It's worth mentioning that the sharp edge resistance of a rope quickly decresses with increasing loads/weight. In case of the accident with the swiss mountaineering guides in training, the fact that they were both on one rope was probably responsible for the accident. Lowering only one person over that edge would maybe have not lead to the rope failure.

I love free information. Especially when it can save lives. Thank you

You can rappel past a damaged sheathe on a unicore rope. Thats why i use them for ice climbing. A sport with blades everywhere, it is way safer

The realization in her eyes in the beginning... be mindful of your carabiner. I also like the interviews you had with the pros.

lol I never plan on climbing but i guess I do spend a lot of time outdoors and it wouldn't hurt to know this stuff. Mostly I just think this is interesting, thanks for making this.

I took a high-level rescue rope class (circa 1978) which included rappeling' traversing with a self made(from scrap pieces of rope) harness and shoulders sling and traversing in a Stokes basket. We made several hundred rappels and the other moves. We had to complete 3 trips for each fireman/EMT to qualify. We used a single 3/4 inch ( 19mm) Goldline rope from a 100 ft. tower. We were told not to worry because the concrete pad would break our fall if the rope broke or we tied a substandard boliine. That rope was brittle and slick from friction, stress, and heat. I realize how foolish it was later, but it got me interested in rock climbing and bouldering. On the plus side, you only had to mess up one time, therefore we paid close attention to the instructors.

Im a safety professional, not a climber, but this is a very helpful bit of information for me in my profession. Thank you!

Carabiner-$12 Your life- priceless

Don't classify worn out gear as "sharp". Consider the radius the rope has to go over. Any rope has a minimum radius it can handle and this radius is increased as the difference in direction increases (that's why large blocks are preferred in sailing for lines that need to move fast and a lot with large changes of direction). As this radius gets smaller the difference between the tension on the outside and inside corners of the rope increases a lot, in extreme situation you will get compression on the inside which further will increase the (already high) tension on the outside and.... pop goes the sheath.

Unicore ropes literally have an added layer of protection between the sheath and the core while completely preventing core slippage without trusting the... marketing (15:00). Also, because they basically have a bonded core and sheath, the rope is essentially a whole which is, arguably ofc, much more resistant to violent snapping when a cut actually occurs during a fall. I'm not a climber but I honestly can't see any reason not to use unicores.

I am not sure why KZfaq recommended this to me but it was fascinating to watch. I have the utmost respect for this hobby but it is a passion I cannot even begin to fathom.

Amazing content all these videos! I love the fact he's pronouncing sheath correctly and then straight away the lady says "sheth" lol

I can't possibly have any more fear of falling. This changes nothing because I would never trust a little metal thing wedged into a brittle and somewhat unpredictable rock. So this doesn't make me any more or less concerned. I am however very concerned about your safety and I admire your courage. I don't think it stupid. It's inspiring. But I'm still too afraid.

Hi, Nice video! Would definitely be interested to see you do an in depth investigation into the effects of your testing on unicore rope…and also study specifically the recorded accidents on unicore ropes and whether they were used as single or doubles…

The algorithm has blessed you my friend. I'm pretty happy with it myself, super interesting stuff! It's always fascinating to get a deeper look at something I'd normally not think about

Very interesting. Still have an old rope from the 1970s (used only for tie-downs). Thinking now of all the sharp edges it encountered during my serious climbing days.

Thank you KZfaq algorithm. My fascination with carabiners ignited again. And this is really educational. Thank you for this video.

No idea why google recommended this, but I’d be using all new equipment, every time

I use a 11mm 24 strand arborist climbing rope for the climbing I do but I have been following your channel for a short time now and have learned so much

Great video, as always. Appreciate your work.

Wow, that is shocking to find the standard is left to the manufacturer. I would have hoped that a standard was set that manufacturers would have to abide by, particularly as a person's life is dangling from that rope. There should be a standard set to abide by. There should be a minimum thickness of rope and set standard for carabinas too.

Brilliant video as always. Thank you!

I love stumbling on niche subjects outside my expertise. Neat.

I like to use uni-core because I only solo and feel that when I fall, if the sheath tears at my rope catch on my harness, I might not slide down as much...hopefully. Also, thanks for your practice- falling videos and others. I was really struggling lead soloing and they drastically helped me start getting higher above my rope and the fall fear not hindering my upward progress. Thanks yall, Zack from Tennessee

It might be worth mentioning the Bulletproof line of carabiners and quickdraws from Edelrid. They have a steel insert on the rope side which should prevent deep grooves from forming, while not being ridiculously heavy. I've never tried them, but they looked interesting.

Very cool video!! I think it is great that companies like beal (unicore) and edelrid (protect) are doing things to improve the safety of ropes, especially skinny ropes! Watching the unicore and protect test videos was enough for me to switch over and never go back.

Jesus man, I don't sport ofter (trad mostly), but those videos are VERY usefull. Thanks a ton for the content. I have a lot of friends (some of them guides) that really get exciter over 8.9mm ropes et thin stuff, and I can't wait for them to see that.

I have exactly zero interest in rock climbing, but this channel is Interesting enough for me to watch more videos.

Wow. Looking at it, i probably would've clipped that carabiener if it was a perma-draw. Good to know.

I have not been rock climbing in almost 40 years ever since the guide pushed me over the edge because I was taking too long going over, yes he got fired but he’s also the reason I have never gone again. His boss had to climb over the edge to help me down the rest of the way, I can not remember the actual hight in meters other than it was around 40 floors of a high rise building. We were meant to abseil down and then climb back up, it was a training exercise, I could not do that so we took the long slow hike back following the trail back,it took 4 hour to walk. The team members up top sent down food and water for the walk back. After watching this I never realised how close to death I was on that day, I do know that my fear of heights has gotten worse with age, I can not even climb up a step ladder any more past the 2nd step. I’m 59 now and only just learning what that day all those years ago has cost me ever since, if my arm had not been broken maybe I might have climbed backup and beaten my fear of heights but I was not able to climb up and by the time we walked back my fear had set in concrete.

Been watching the channel all day. I wish you could do this content for ice and mountaineering. I wrote in another comment: you should be a translator for technical specs in gear. Congrats.

Hi there from the rope access industry the most dangerous thing we can ever do is run our ropes over sharp edges I have seen core shots from one rappel over a brick ledge stay safe !

16:10 yes, there are. With less than great ropes, after some time, because of all the core slipping, the rope looks in sections like a snake that's swallowed a big rat and that section gets harder to belay and really annoying. I bring my own rope to the climbing gym and had one that got like that, I couldn't wait to get rid of it. It was harder to belay, annoying to bring the climber down, etc.

Thanks for very informative content...and nice to see you with a fresh new pair of Testarossa on the wall!!😍

I dont even climb but I watched the whole video. Nice job.

That's why i only climb on the ground and tilt the camera to pretend the ground is a vertical wall.

I honestly thank you for offering your hand. Really. Thank you.

Makes ya want to use DMM Revolvers everywhere! :)

I want to send you a piece of our local slate to test with! It's so sharp you dont even notice when it cuts you! I imagine some types of rock faces you'd never attempt!

4:40 Well.... That inspires confidence

I cited this video in my research paper about climbing accidents 😁

So far as I know that Mammut is not making ropes anymore, they sold all their rope braiding machines to Tuefelberger many years ago. I have used many ropes from different Europe brands, like Mammut, Beal, Edelrid, Millet, Singing rock, Tendon etc. The best rope for me is made by Beal, especially the rope with the unicore techniques. Joker 9.1mm unicore, Cobra 8.6mm feels perfect.

gonna put this out there but any thing that can break, when under tension will do so dramatically easier

There are three climbers in the world that care and all are on this video.

That clip at 9:30 is chilling, it's a miracle the guy survived that fall. The damage he took from the fall must have been severe.

I love the fact that you offer to imagine holding your hand... and the white hair

About 18 years ago a Check company called Roca used to sell the Tasmania or Tasman series in 10.5mm, 9.8mm and also 8.5mm. It was marketed as being able to with stand a factor 2 on an un protected 90 degree edge.

I'm kind of angry that KZfaq suggested this channel because I have zero interest in climbing, but a word of advice. KEEP YOUR KITCHEN KNIVES SHARPER.

8:40 WOW! good idea!

Replace equipment regularly

Maybe I will use a longer sling now on top-rope climbing so that the rope is further away from the edge

Non-professional here, but I could see unicore ropes actually being a negative in cases where a rope is put under enough stress to snap - it looks like in those instances where some of the cords snap, the first thing to go is the outer sheath, which would cause the force to lessen as it happens over a longer period of time and spread out some of the energy being applied to the rope. With a unicore, all of that force would be applied at once to all of the parts of the rope and not have that energy spread at all. That being said, it's difficult to imagine there is enough of a difference between the amount of impact that would break a standard rope vs a unicore rope for it to matter in most instances.

the amount of stress felt seeing you someone walk around a load of suspended weights barefoot was unreal

11mm rope for Trad and Alpine. I've never used Double Ropes but they make sense for Alpine and Wandering routes.

Essential reading before playing Lily's Well.

I actually almost died on a homemade zipline due to not thinking about this, used an old piece of pipe I had laying around for a handle for the zip line, it went from about 50 feet up in a tree, down to about 6 foot off the ground, relatively far away. Was brand new climbing rope, jumped out of the tree for the first try of the zip line, the inside edge of the pipe cut right through the rope immediately, sending me into the ground from about 45 feet, got fucked up pretty badly, luckily the ground was dirt and grass, rather than rock, and 80% of the piece of pipe was wedged into the ground right next to my body on the ground, almost stabbed by it too.

7:58 that biner should be an exhibit piece for all climbers to touch once :D

This video made me realize that I don’t have a fear of ‘heights’. I have a fear of ‘falling’. 😂

this gave me an idea, what if the carabiner had a rotatable feature that would mean there's less friction on the carabiner therefore less rope cutting

In rope access, the rule is that if you jave a wear of more than 10% from the thickness of the carabiner(or other device) where the rope runs through, than you retire that device. The carabiner used in the tests was definitely over that 10%.

The loud music massively overplays the .5 seconds at the start where you actually show the flaw in the carabiner. "someone died because of that flaw!" "well then, show the flaw for more than .5 seconds".

I have a decent story about how a friend became unclipped and fell about 35’ and lived. Two climbers begin on a 5.9+ semi smooth faced crack heavy climb. The first climber clips through the first 6 out of 8 clips. Climber 1 is lowered off of the quick draw, and unclips each descending draw on the way down. (Mistake 1.) climber 2 begins to climb, as if top roping off of a single draw attached to bolt number 6. He climbs past bolt number 6 and approaches bolt 7 and has trouble attaching the quick draw and takes a fall. Because the quick draw on bolt 6 was back clipped to the bolt, it twisted upside down and came off of bolt 6. His life was saved by him landing on his belayer, who both then bounced off of the ledge he was on and both of them landing on me. I was belaying a girl about 5 bolts up, from a ledge 10’ below them, using a cinch and was tied in to another bolt at the belay point. Had I not been tied in all 4 of us would probably have fallen off that cliff. Be safe out there, the more things attaching you to the wall the better. :)

I climb Mammut Crag Classic 9,5 mm rope indoors and Beal Booster Unicore Safe Control 9,7 mm on rocks. There is definitely huge difference in rope behavior, Mamut tends to curl cos of separated sheath/core also it causes inconsistent thickness after longer time, similar as if you would roll up your sleeve. Both ropes are 1y old now. So saying that unicore makes no difference is just lie. Rather say, we don't use this technology so I can't recommend or disprove since I don't have enough experience with it.

I'm not a climber, but I do Shibari. We typically use ~6mm jute rope with climbing carabiners for suspending people. I try to steer new riggers away from the lightweight carabiners because they are sometimes sharp enough to damage or break the rope. I personally use Black Diamond Rocklocks. We don't use our equipment to catch falls like climbers do, but I'll definitely still be on the lookout for wear on my gear like you showed.

Thanks dude ... seriously considering taking up climbing and doing the research. 😎🇦🇺

I dont climb at all... yet i watched many of your vids. 👍 great science

never had a fear of climbing, its the falling that gets me

You'd really think they'd have a piece of vinyl or something there to reduce friction and an actual rounded surface designed for it. Wild.

its confusing that a climber can take so many falls on a rope but fall arrest ropes we use at work are thrown out after just one fall or if there is any fraying you decommission the equipment.

Aren’t there gloves made from fabric materials that can’t be cut or pierced? Surely someone’s thought of this but even if they made a more elastic version that could elongate with the rope I’m sure it would have great resistance vs cutting on sharp edges!

The Jumar wud never slip like that under load, as u proved in your first demo. Interesting video. Thanks.

As a crane operator I would suggest that there is a lot to be learned from the Hoisting Industry. We use steel wire rope which is engineered and actually considered to be a 'machine'. A couple of rules we use are the diameter of the rope determines the radius of the pulley grooves (think carabiner), one inch rope needs a one inch pulley. Absolutely Zero sharp edges and never allow anything to touch the hoist line while under load. We also use Aramid and Nylon slings, very much like your ropes. Cuts or abrasion on a sling will cause it to be condemned by the safety officer. All hoisting wire rope, slings and metal shackles must by law be Safe Working Load certified. Good luck.