Comments on: How to Make a Fast Rope for Climbing

By: Fabian

Fabian — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:39:33 +0000

Thank you for this article (and the other two), I really enjoyed it. I’ve been making similar ropes for circus arts for a while, and I found a couple of neat stuff I didn’t knew. Like the electric ropecutter, I didn’t knew those existed! I’m going to buy one tomorrow.

A technique that greatly improved my braiding time is to keep each pair of ropes coiled while I braid them. This way I don’t have to fight with twists because I’m only moving 1-2 feet of rope at a time, the rope doesn’t brush on the floor, handling the braid is way easier, and everything is much more manageable. A loop like the one in your deployment lanyard article is the best one to use, since you can pull out of it just a short lenght of rope each time, keeping the working ends short.

This enabled me to work alone on braiding – since I have a short working end, I can take care of twisting by myself… and also I don’t have dirty ropes because they brush on the floor while I braid them.

TL;DR – great article, but keep your ropes coiled while you braid and everything is going to be much easier. Keep up the good work!

By: JS

JS — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:59:37 +0000

Nice article!

Question: I’m wondering if there’s any way to build a climbing rope like this by acquiring less expensive ropes to build it? Nylon is out of the question due to it’s slickness as you stated, of course. Thoughts?

By: Charlie

Charlie — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:24:26 +0000

Angel – buy a sewn sling from a climbing shop – look for a 36″ probably. Tie a small weight into a length of paracord a bit longer than your climbing rope and the other end to the sling. Throw the weight over your branch, clip your rope into the sling and pull the rope up until you can get the bottom end of your rope through the sling to girth hitch to the branch. Pull your climbing rope down and the sling should cinch around the branch(make sure that the tied paracord is on the loop portion that cinches over the rope side). When you’re done with your workout, pull the paracord and that loop down and you should be able to retrieve the climbing rope.

Try it on something low first to make sure you understand the mechanics and can retrieve it easily.

By: Angel

Angel — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:47:44 +0000

So I’ve made my fast rope out of retired 11mm rock climbing rope. I did not have enough length to have a functional climbing length AND make an eye splice. I am now left with 4 bites at the end of my rope that I’ve taped into 1 group. I have attached a locking oval carabiner rated for 3300lb but i’d like to be able to transport it for use at a local park, school, etc. since i don’t have a suitable tree on my property. Do you have any suggestions on how I could deploy this over a tree branch, but still be able to get it down once I’m done with my workout? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

By: Bryan Black

Bryan Black — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:09:39 +0000

Thanks Travis, the reason for the Eye Splice was to create the same Fast Rope configuration that the Military uses. Also to challenge myself to see if I could do it :)

By: Travis

Travis — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:53:19 +0000

I just found this tutorial and it is awesome. Thank you. I have to ask why you went with an eye splice versus just halving the 8 strands and beginning the braid a foot or so down the rope?