I am new to climbing and am in the process of choosing my first rope. I had settled on the "Fly" but when I called New England Rope, they mentioned a new rope that is known as "Tachyon" and is sold at Sherrill as the "Lava". The "Lava" is 11.5mm so it's a bit thicker than the "Fly". Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be better?

Thanks,

Ginko

Do a search on the old Postings on htis board about rope discussions or go to the Coalition Site and read a discussion we had a couple of weeks back. Hope this helps. Moss has a one, Nick, I thing has one, and a few of the regular posters have used it. Also, go to Treebuzz and see a long discussion there on this topic. It is is a popular rope these days. I have not used it but Sherrill and Wesspur sell it.

Do you have a paticular reason for wanting a rope that is 11mm or 11.5mm? The only reason I ask is because when I started, I started on 1/2" rope and I think most people start on that too. I really think 1/2" rope is good for beginners since it is easier to grab and hold onto. If you plan on using any mechanical devices, you are probably on the right track with the smaller diameter ropes. If you are just looking at buying the "hot" kind of rope, you might just want to reconsider. I know I am glad I learned on the larger ropes, but I am also very glad that I made the switch.

I hand my hands on a piece of tachyon at Treestock and I thought it hand a nice hand, tight brait, and very low stretch.

I wouldn't discourage someone new to the sport from buying any rope, as long as it met my two citeria for a beginners rope.... Can you tie a traditional system with it? Meaning the closed system, DRT, rope tied to itself with a fully functional Blakes.

And the second requirement being that the rope is not Arborplex.

I have to defer to Moss on this one.... it was his rope. Can you tie a traditional system with the tachyon??? If so I think it is a great rope. If not, it is not versatile enough to be considered an entry level rope in my opinion.

Yep, you can tie in traditional with Tachyon.

To correct something said earlier, don't pay much attention to stated rope diameters, I don't think any of the so-called 11mm ropes are the same diameter. Fly is is thicker than Tachyon.

Fly is an excellent first rope, it's great for trad climbing and it works well with mechanical devices (can even be squeezed into a Grigri) but is easy on the hands for grabbing, it's more like a 1/2" rope that way. It is lighter per 150 ft. than any of the 1/2" 16-strand arborist ropes. I highly recommend Fly as a first rope.

Tachyon is my current favorite rope but it is on the skinny side, similar in actual diameter to Blaze, Chameleon and Velocity to name a few. It is firmer in the hand than any of those ropes and is slightly smoother. I wear rubber palmed smurf gloves (Atlas) when I climb with it, otherwise it's a little challenging to grip because of the small diameter and smoothness, at least for me.

Just a note on Poison Ivy. I find that the hitch tends to seize when tied traditional (Blake's). Remember that every rope performs differently for every climber, there are many variables - body type, climbing _style_ etc. that effect rope performance. For instance someone panned Chameleon on the New Tribe comments section. I like climbing on Chameleon, it's an excellent rope.
-moss

Thanks for the advise Moss- very helpful and appreciated.

Ginko