OK... I have seen a nice deal on an Edelrid Live Wire Hyperdry 9.4mmx70m rope. I have never really needed to own a rope as my outdoors climbing tends to be done with more experienced (better kitted) friends or climbing clubs. But at the price I have seen it (about 117 Euros), it seems to be a pretty good price for a very useable rope. For me that would mean mostly spring-autumn French sport routes with the possibility of an occasional trad session in the UK. It might find itself getting some use in winter too, but that doesn't seem particularly likely with my current circumstances.
So I am tempted, but was wondering whether any of you had tried these ropes. And do the climbers amongst you consider this to be a reasonable spec for a general purpose 'do-anything' rope?
Dry treatments... great stuff verging on "no brainer" for winter routes, if you're not paying too much extra then "might use" is probably enough reason to get it. For plain rock I wouldn't particularly bother if you can get an otherwise similar without the dry treatment for less.
70m is a long rope... I've moved from 50 to 60 for that extra bit of faff factor on mountain routes but unless you're looking at routes where the extra is going to come in handy you could be carting around 20m of rope you don't need, so all the weight and bulk you save getting down to 9.4mm goes straight back again.
Which doesn't answer your question, of course! For me, I think I'd draw my useful length line at 60, though of course if it's a real steal you could always just cut the end off after a couple of years if you're not using the whole lot.
depends what you count as a steal. I reckon 117 Euros (about £93) seems very good. And French sport routes seem to be getting very long these days. What you lose in rope weight, you gain back by not having to carry much traditional protection.
But as I said, I have never needed my own rope to date and I don't have a good feel for the typical prices in the way that I might for jackets, boots etc.
