Retiring a rope: the checks we use
How to inspect a climbing rope, and the signs that mean it is time to cut it up for the garden.
A rope rarely fails all at once. It wears, it stiffens, it takes a hard fall, and at some point it should stop being used for leading. We check every rope at the start of each season, and after any fall that felt wrong.
Run it through your hands
Flake the whole rope, slowly, end to end. Feel for:
- Flat spots or soft sections. A core that has been crushed feels different from the rope either side.
- Stiff or lumpy sections, often near the ends from repeated lowering.
- Sheath damage. Fuzz is normal. White core showing through is not.
Retire it when
- It has held a severe fall, high fall factor or over an edge.
- Any part of the core shows through the sheath.
- It has been in contact with acid or battery fluid, even if it looks fine.
- It is ten years past its manufacture date, used or not.
Before you buy the next one
Cut a few metres off a worn end if the damage is only there, and re-mark the middle. When the rope is too short for the routes you climb, retire the whole thing. Ours become dog leads and garden ties; the gym rope here hung for one more winter as a top-rope before it went the same way.