UKH

How do people carry their 100m abseil ropes?

I have 100m, 11.5mm line as its a ruddy pig to carry! Wondering if a caving style bag would be best. 

I used a petzl caving tackle bag. Stick a knot in the end, feed the rope in, then, when you are using it to abseil just clip it to your harness and feed the rope out. No hang ups or tangles. That's a meaty rope to be carting around.

To stuff it into the caving bag I use the caving trick by clipping a carabiner to your chin strap whilst wearing your helmet then run into the top of the bag or put a sling on a branch or similar and do the same 👍

You can run it over your shoulder as well but make sure it wont mark your clothes.

Butterfly coiled, tied off alpine style and over the rope strap of my climbing rucksack. Option to secure the loose coils on either side using the compressions straps, which are set up for sleeping mat. This works well as only one bag to carry and its a faily balance load. the hard part is coiling the rope, but mine is only 75m.  

I was very lucky to get it for free, belay device only just fits! 

I thought something like that would be idea, just need to try and find a bag that a) fits the darn thing and b) doesn't cost the earth. 

The DMM Pitcher rope bag is pretty reasonably priced. It's simple, lightweight, would do the job (I've often used it for my 100m static) and is useful for other purposes as well.

I frequently do this, except that I tie a knot like a fig 8 and clip the end to bottom of bag with lightweight snap link before I feed into bag, so that I can't loose the bag, also pretty guaranteed not to abseil off bottom of the rope as the bag won't go through a device I loose flake it into the bag and it feeds out easy.

In addition I tie some 5.5mm cord to the bag through the haul loop and have a metre or so of length and then a loop/knot so I can clip the bag to my belay loop and abseil with it hanging below me. Years ago I abseiled with a heavy bag over my shoulders and met an unexpected overhang section when I then flipped upside down. NEVER AGAIN! Ab with a bag hanging beneath you is pretty convenient as the rope is feeding out of the bag as you go

I recommend LYON bags, although expensive they are very robust. I have a couple of these this https://www.inglesport.com/product/lyon-24-litre-standard-bag/ and can get 120m of 10.5 rope loose flaked in each one... just... By thumping and tamping it down (lift bag and drop base on floor)  as I fill it up. It might last you a lifetime (especially if you forget to anchor your rope correctly 🤣)

I recommend against Petzl transporter which used to be excellent bags but the manufacture changed recently and they recently gained a reputation for the straps snapping off (during use!)

If at all possible, i delegate to someone younger and fitter ! Last weekend in Pembroke i ended up lugging my mates 80m thick rope about.  Butterfly coiled and just strapped under the rucksack lid.

Podsacs dry bags on Planet X are cheap. Not the same quality as Petzl, DMM, Kyon etc but fine for storage and lugging around.

My 10mm 100m just fits into an old 20l version.

100m of brand new 9.5mm static (beal spel gold) will just fit in a petzl 22L classique caving bag. Those bags are superb - RF welded, no stitching, light and bombproof. 

100mm of 11.5m is bigger and will need a bigger bag. 

There was some discussion recently about this here :

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/abseiling_with_rope_in_bag_-_qu...

how often do you actually use the length? Surely most of the time you're carting around an extra 40m of static for no reason?

The best thing to do is most likely cut it to a more usable length or buy a second one if you want keep the 100m length for the likes of Mingulay etc.

I remember years ago a couple of lads turned up at Wilton 1 with a 200M drum of 11mm for abseil practice 

The Lyon bags are superb. One thing I've found is that it's better to get a 120m bag for a 100m rope, - makes life much easier.

11.5mm.......blimey that's a bit thick. Or did you mean 10.5mm

Even 10mm is fading out of caving use except on club trips may be.

Alot of modern abseil device won't work with rope beyond 10.5mm

9mm is the future

For the reason you mentioned, I've kept it at the 100m length for Pabbay/Lundy/etc. I am planning on getting a shorter one in future for 'normal' use. 

DMM Porter bag

I have had the opposite problem with some devices in the past, particularly with a heavy load. Going too fast on an ab is an experience no one wants to repeat. If you hang 90m of 10.5mm rope in between your legs then I expect most devices will work (and some very well if speed is your thing!)

My statics are mostly 11mm, I find that they handle nicely. I believe Dave MacLeod has a video explaining why he uses an 11mm to work routes with a shunt and grigri. I can't recall which version of the grigri he is using but I think it might be a 2, which I think has a max diameter of 10.5mm (but I could be mistaken). As I have been told many times, sometimes going up in thickness is warranted. 

Andy Kirkpatrick has an interesting article on rope thickness as well, I think it's called "the skinny". Thin ropes are trendy, if you are going to be retreating off a difficult alpine route then a thin rope (and the risks associated with it) makes sense. If you're hanging around in the sky or buying a rope specifically for abseiling, 9mm would not be my choice even just from a wear and tear point of view but then perhaps caving is different it is not something I have experience of.

I suppose at either extreme of the thickness scale, one needs to be careful about device choice however the consequences of messing up and going too thick is going to create much less mess than going too thin. 

Caving style sac. 

Can use IKEA bags too. But a wet 100m rope gets heavy. 

Good planning on those bigger trips. 

I'd recommend start with the furthest venue first. Stash the rope at the end of each day near your next days fun. You could leave rack etc too if there's no chance of theft, just don't leave food in!

Last day when you're spent is the shortest walk back. 

Hear me out...