Why Do I Need To Fill Out This Log Book Every Time I Use a Rope?

The following has been put together from current British Mountaineering Council (BMC) guidelines and outlines implications for bothImperial College Union (ICU) Outdoor Club and its members who use club ropes.

GUIDELINES

Current British Mountaineering Council (BMC) guidelines for where a rope pool is maintained, such as in a climbing club, say….

“detailed logs of (rope) use should be maintained, all ropes should be individually identified and checks should be made after every period of use for external or internal damage and the log sheet annotated”

(Quoted from BMC Technical Series: Ropes, 1998)

“A duty of care exists between clubs and their members.Clubs should ensure that rope users, i.e. its members, familiarise themselves with good practice, such as logging the use of ropes, and be aware of rope degradation mechanisms”

(Compiled from BMC Technical Series: Ropes, 1998)

IMPLICATIONS

Given this ICUOutdoor Club should:

  • inform all club members of the information contained in this document
  • ensure all usage of club ropesis documented.
  • permanently display notices in club store rooms detailing when a rope should be retired, disposed of and/or taken out of service.

The Outdoor Club keeps a unique log book for each rope. These are kept on the rope racks in stores with the relevant ropes. Rope use forms should always accompanya rope i.e. when a rope is signed out a rope use form must be taken with the rope. The form should be filled out by the user and returned with the rope. The information from a rope use form should then be written up in the relevant rope use log book, which is kept in the club store.

Meanwhile members have a duty of care to other members to ensure they understand and familiarise themselves with the information displayed on notices in stores andadhere to them. Members shouldfollow standard operating procedures regarding rope use, which include logging rope use and minimising rope degradation where ever possible e.g. using rope bags when transporting ropes.

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

The BMC says…

“In any environment where a duty of care exists, a demonstrably competent individual should be responsible for monitoring rope use. This person need not be a recognised ‘technical expert’ such as a suitably qualified mountain instructor or guide, they can be just an experienced climber with comparable expertise. This person need not be responsible for the routine checking of ropes but should oversee and approve of the systems in place for equipment monitoring.”

(From BMC Technical Series: Ropes, 1998)

The Outdoor Clubinterprets this as follows…

-the day to day checking of ropes should be done by the user and is therefore the club members responsibility. This should be documented by logging the rope use.

-experienced climbers with comparable expertise are responsible for the routine checking of ropes (recommended at least once a term) determining when a rope should be downgraded or retired.

-club equipment officers are responsible for ensuring equipment monitoring is properly and thoroughly undertaken. Equipment officers should do this by overseeing and approving the systems in place for monitoring equipment.

INFORMATION

Below is some basic information regarding rope management which the Outdoor Club believes all members should familiarise themselves with.Their is no definitive answer on when a rope should be retired or how long a rope should last as there are too many variables for such a simplistic answer. The following has therefore been put together to assist in making such as decision.

Independent of frequency of use,a rope should be disposed of / retiredif

  • The rope comes in contact with chemicals, particularly acids.
  • The sheath is damaged and the core is visible.
  • The sheath is extremely worn, or particularly fuzzy.
  • The sheath has slipped noticeably.
  • Strong deformations are present (stiffness, nicks, sponginess).
  • The rope has been subjected to extreme loads (e.g. heavy falls, clearly over fall factor 1).
  • The rope is extremely dirty (grease, oil, tar).
  • Heat, abrasion or friction burns have caused damage.

The following table gives reference values for a ropes approximate lifespan given NONE of the above have occurred:

FREQUENCY OF USE / APPROXIMATE LIFE SPAN
Never Used / 10 years maximum
Rarely Used: twice per year / Up to 7 years
Occasionally Used: once per month / Up to 5 years
Regularly Used: several times per month / Up to 3 years
Frequently Used: every week / Up to 1 year
Constantly Used: almost daily / Less than 1 year

The above information has been compiled from the Mammut rope information booklet.

Online at

To help prolong the life of club climbing ropes and for your safety, whenever possible newer ropes should be preferentially used for leading and older ropes used for scrambling, top roping, abseiling and on glaciers. Given the frequency with which ICU clubs use their ropes newer ropes are typically classified as less than 3yrs old, while older ropes are ones which have been downgraded either because they are degraded or because they are more than 3yrs old.

Given this and the above information all Outdoor club ropes should be retired after a maximum of five years. However in short when you start thinking it may be time to get a new rope then it probably is.

For specific information pertaining to the recommended lifespan of ropes see the BMC Care & Maintenance Guide & the BMCRope booklet together with the manufacturers instructions, kept in the filing cabinet.

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