Edelrid Boa Eco 9.8mm – An Environmentally Friendly Rope From Edelrid
Having put off the purchase of a new rope for too long, I couldn't turn down the offer of an Edelrid Boa Eco 70m 9.8mm for review.
Edelrid Boa Eco 9.8mm
The first thing you notice is that this is a rope of many colours. It's built from materials recycled from the manufacturing of other ropes---hard to imagine using post-consumer waste for safety-critical items like ropes. Ropes are textile products, and Edelrid has also achieved bluesign certification, indicating that they adhere to best environmental practices in the manufacturing process. In pursuing this certification, they have reduced CO2 output and water/energy consumption by over half.
From a distance, the rope looks mostly white. But a fun activity for when your climbing partner is resting on the rope is to follow the different coloured strands in the sheath. As you'd expect, the rope has a prominent middle mark; it's way too colourful to be bicoloured. I tested the rope both at Grand River Rocks and the Red River Gorge. It feeds well through both a Gri-Gri and an ATC. It feels sturdier than my usual gym rope, and its Thermo Shield treatment makes it look shinier. Subjectively, when taking some victory whippers (for research purposes!), the catch felt softer than a stiffer rope that I own; the Boa Eco's impact force is 8.8kN. The other, too-stiff, rope is hard to pull up to clip, so I can even empirically confirm that I can climb stronger with this rope. The Boa Eco's 62g/m weight is also on the lower end for its diameter. The Edelrid Boa Eco is a solid choice as a mid-range generalist rope for rock climbing. Its construction from pre-consumer recycled materials is a plus for environmentally-conscious climbers, and certainly gives it a unique aesthetic. This rope is most appropriate for working your sport project but will work for the outdoors uses that most of us put our ropes through.
From a distance, the rope looks mostly white. But a fun activity for when your climbing partner is resting on the rope is to follow the different coloured strands in the sheath. As you'd expect, the rope has a prominent middle mark; it's way too colourful to be bicoloured. I tested the rope both at Grand River Rocks and the Red River Gorge. It feeds well through both a Gri-Gri and an ATC. It feels sturdier than my usual gym rope, and its Thermo Shield treatment makes it look shinier. Subjectively, when taking some victory whippers (for research purposes!), the catch felt softer than a stiffer rope that I own; the Boa Eco's impact force is 8.8kN. The other, too-stiff, rope is hard to pull up to clip, so I can even empirically confirm that I can climb stronger with this rope. The Boa Eco's 62g/m weight is also on the lower end for its diameter. The Edelrid Boa Eco is a solid choice as a mid-range generalist rope for rock climbing. Its construction from pre-consumer recycled materials is a plus for environmentally-conscious climbers, and certainly gives it a unique aesthetic. This rope is most appropriate for working your sport project but will work for the outdoors uses that most of us put our ropes through.
You can find out more about the new Edelrid Boa Eco 9.8mm and other Edelrid climbing gear at http://www.edelrid.de/
