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New England "Safety Blue" (13mm) 

ropes/safety_blue_rope.jpg
Image courtesy SherrillTree
ropes/safety_blue_rope.jpg

User reviews

Average user rating from: 3 user(s)

Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Type of Use
3.7
Frequency of Use
3.3
Durability
5.0
Ease of Use
4.3
Safety
5.0
 

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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Franklin Klock
Like a favorite old sweatshirt..., Thursday, 24 April 2008

Written by Franklin Klock   -  View all my reviews  - Top 10 Reviewer

Overall rating (weighted)
5.0
Type of Use
3.0
Frequency of Use
3.0
Durability
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0
Safety
5.0
When I began recreational tree climbing, a 120' hank of safety blue was my first choice. I like it. It's comfortable, familiar, and safe. like an old sweatshirt.

After using static line for rescue for so many years, I was really surprised at how soft the hand of the Safety Blue was. It ties easily and holds knots well. At first I thought it was slippery, but then I realized that it was the abrasion resistant coating. I use a Petzl ascender on my foot loop and this rope is holding up very well. No pulls or loose fibers.

At the risk of forsaking my favorite old sweathirt, I bought a second hank of High V Safety Blue. My wife can use it when we climb together. Good Rope - period.
Last updated: Thursday, 24 April 2008

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Miko Del Giudice
NE Rope Safety Blue braid, 1/2", Monday, 26 November 2007

Written by Miko Del Giudice   -  View all my reviews  - Top 10 Reviewer

Overall rating (weighted)
4.7
Type of Use
5.0
Frequency of Use
4.0
Durability
5.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Safety
5.0
11/26/2007 - New England Safety Blue, 1/2" 16 strand
1/2", 16 strand NE Safety Blue braid (NE SBB) is among my oldest and newest climbing lines. Because if something works for me, I replace it. Safety Blue braid, in case you don't know, gets its name from the deep blue fibers in its core that immediately become starkly visible against the rope's outer covering if any real damage is done, such as cutting with a chain or hand saw.

Safety Blue is LIGHT.
Safety Blue knots well.
Safety Blue holds up to UV pretty well, considering mine is white. (You'd think the lighter the color the better for exposure, but it's actually the opposite - as a rule, darker is better for prolonged exposure to sunlight.)
Safety Blue is durable.

I used my original 105' NE SBB line for SRT, "Texas Style" with Petzl ascenders. I went up that same piece of rope nearly every day, twice a day, for 2 years. I climb mostly for the exercise and the love of it, so it was getting a lot of use, day and night, spring-summer-winter-fall. You'd think those ascenders would have killed that rope, but that same section is now part of my mobile climbing rig I carry in my truck. Even being outside in a tree for years, all that UV exposure didn't kill it. I purchased that rope back in 2002, so I am getting close to retiring it as a climbing line - but I haven't yet.

Any rope sheds some fuzz when descending using a figure '8'. This one, as it gets older, is now throwing off some dust, i.e. polyester fine particulates. Maybe as this line (or any line for that matter) gets used more and more, it might be a good idea to think about a mask to keep from inhaling the polyester dust.

I give it a 4, not a 5, for ease of use because, after having experience with a 12 strand line like Safety Pro, I feel that friction hitches like the Blakes require a little more care and attention with any 16 strand.

It's furred up a bit, and I can feel the difference betwixt my old and new NE SBB lines insofar as the old line is less "supple". But the old line still performs well and I'm currently using it as a lifeline for a removal right now. Good stuff. Hey NE Rope ... Thanks for making it great!

R.Boreal

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Durable and easy on the hands., Thursday, 08 November 2007

Written by Mark Fulton   -  View all my reviews  - Top 10 Reviewer

Overall rating (weighted)
4.7
Type of Use
3.0
Frequency of Use
3.0
Durability
5.0
Ease of Use
4.0
Safety
5.0
A 120 foot hunk of Safety Blue was my first climbing line when I started 2 1/2 years ago and it was all I ever climbed on for the first 1 1/2 years. I now climb on this rope (same one) about half the time and on Chameleon (the green version of Blaze) the rest of the time.

Whenever I go back to this line after climbing on the Chameleon it is like relaxing into a comfortable old couch. It is wide and soft and easy to handle during DdRT. It actually works fine for some combinations of SRT gear; I've been going up on CMI ascenders and sliding down on a small rack for a good hunk of the Fall during research climbs - all on Safety Blue, because one of my students is using the Chameleon in another tree. The outside surface of the rope is fuzzy now after a couple years of regular if not really frequent use, but it shows no signs at all of serious wear or damage. I can't say the same for the Chameleon, which is a nice rope but doesn't look like it will wear anywhere nearly as well.

Is it heavy? Yes; I will probably pick up the Chameleon if I need to walk more than a mile or so to get to a tree. But it isn't that much heavier than a comparable length of 11 mm rope. I could more easily shed an extra pound or two by going a little more minimalist in my other gear.


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