The 8mm 30m Beal Rando Dry Cover Rope is exactly what you need for technical descents that involve short rope work or glacier travel. This rope is best used when your partner has another 8mm 30m rope as then you have many possibilities for traveling through crevasse riddled territory. You can easily tie the two 30m ropes together to create a 60m rope for rappels, crevasse rescues, or glacier travel, and when used as a singular 30m rope it’s durable and safe enough to work on its own.
It’s important to note that an 8mm rope is much thinner than the rope one would commonly use for rock climbing. Therefore, you must take precaution and practice with your rope to understand how it works with whatever belay device you’re using as the stopping power of many belay devices is greatly lessened with such a thin rope-especially if it’s wet. A Munter Hitch is a great way to bypass this issue with belay devices. It’s also important to note that you should melt the ends of your rope with a lighter when you get it (or if you happen to cut a 60m rope in half to make two 30m ropes-which is fine and a method commonly employed by many ski mountaineers), and that these ropes do stretch quite a bit during a rappel, crevasse rescue, or whipper. It’s also common alpine sense to back up your rappels as well as be dialed in climbing out of a crevasse with prusiks. Although there are numerous other tools to help you climb out of a hole (Ropeman, Tibloc, etc.) applying the correct prusik cord to your rope on rappel will give you an added sense and reality of safety if something unforeseen happens when you put weight on the rope.
I’ve used my 8mm 30m Beal Rando rope for all of the aforementioned reasons; for rappelling into Liberty Chute off the Dana Plateau, tying it together with another rope for a longer rappel on bigger lines, traveling as a party of two, three, or even four while in crevasse territory, and during crevasse rescue scenarios on Denali. I’ve put this rope through the ringer testing it in a plethora of ways and it’s stepped up to the occasion each time. If you’re planning to ski in terrain that warrants the use of a rope this model comes highly recommended, has been tested thoroughly, and should give you the results you’re looking for. Beal also included a mark every twelve meters on this rope so you can space out multiple tie-ins, and at only 37 grams per meter it’s a lightweight option for those looking to keep their pack weights down.
Product Specs
- Retail Price: $69.95
- Type: Twin
- Diameter: 8 mm
- Dry Treatment: Dry Cover
- Impact Force: 8.5 kN
- Marks: Every 12m
- UIAA Falls: 12
- Weight: 37 g/m
- Recommended Use: Glacier Travel and Ski Mountaineering
- Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year