Took me 3 hours to figure out why my rope was fraying on a big white oak removal

Was doing a removal on a huge white oak in a tight backyard in Nashville last week. Kept noticing my climbing line getting chewed up after just a few setups. Thought it was a bad carabiner or a rough crotch. Spent way too long swapping gear and re-rigging. Turns out the bark had this gritty sand-like buildup from years of city dust stuck in the crevices. It was basically acting like sandpaper on my rope. Switched to a friction saver and the fraying stopped instantly. Anyone else run into weird stuff in urban trees that destroys ropes faster than normal?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericp6727d agoTop Commenter

Man, that's like finding out your rope's been fighting a losing battle against city grime the whole time... nature's little joke on us, huh?

johnthompson27d ago

Yeah the rope's just slowly rotting from city air and rain too.