Equipment notes (12): "its enhanced price is prohibitive"

Advice on alpine outfitting from the mid-1930s. 

Rope.—In choosing a rope it must be understood that the method of tying the necessary knots in it will depend on whether the rope has a right- or left-handed lay. An expert in ropes may prefer to use different kinds on different occasions and to vary his knots accordingly, but the ordinary man will do well to choose one or other of the various makes and remain faithful to it; by doing so, his method of tying his knot will always be the same, and the knots few and easy to learn.

Of the best-known English ropes, the old Alpine Club rope, made of Manila hemp by Beale of Shaftesbury Avenue, has a right-hand lay; the newer Italian hemp rope known as the Frost and made by British Ropes, Ltd., is left-handed. The former of these two wears a little better, and the latter is slightly stronger. Jones & Co., of Victoria Street, Liverpool, the makers of another Alpine rope, also supply one that is lubricated to make it conveniently supple. It is not stated, however, whether the lubrication affects the durability at all.

Most ropes are troublesome to handle when new, and at first they will require moderate straining after use, in order to take the kinks out of them. There used to be a legend that a silk rope was a desirable luxury, but the manufacturer states that a silk one is not much lighter, while its breaking strain is approximately the same as for the ordinary rope. There is this fact to be noted, too, that, although the silk rope is agreeable to handle when new, it has a tendency to become pulpy as soon as it is wet. Its enhanced price is prohibitive to most mountaineers.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.