Review: Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m Climbing Rope

Review: Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m Climbing Rope

Sterling Ropes Evolution
Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m

Today we review the Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m rope. This is one of the best ropes we've ever laid our dusty mitts on. I'm excited to write about our experiences with it because it has been a delight so far.

Caustic Cock 5.11b
Red Rock Canyon

We've had this green monster since Christmas and it's already visited Donner, Red Rock Canyon, Owens River Gorge, the Buttermilks, and more. One of the first things you notice is that it's incredibly easy to flake. It's really wonderful if you're cragging around at a place like ORG with a bunch of different areas and you end up having to flake and coil your rope every 25 minutes. Some days I feel like flaking the rope gets my arms more tired than climbing itself. The Sterling Rope Evolution Velocity 9.8mm Rope is about as easy a flake as you are realistically going to get with any rope. We've probably put a vertical mile or two on it already and it's still the easiest cleanup of any rope we've used. 

To say this rope is loud is the understatement of the century. It's bright neon lime green and visually pops! I love how loud it is. It's not just an aesthetic improvement -- it also has a great deal of contrast with natural rock and dirt colors. This is great when you're trying to find your ends, pull your rope out of a crack as you rappel, and keep track of where your rope is relative to the wall. The bright color is a nice convenience. And as a child of the 80s, the rope's jazzy neon flavor speaks to me on a mitochondrial level. We're connected, man. 

Getting started at Cannibal Crag

Another detail I love: the bicolor. Lordy lordy, the bicolor. Mark my words -- I am never getting a single color rope again. The middle marker on all our single color ropes wears out in the first 3 months, in my experience. Rappelling with a bicolor rope is so nice. Bicolor is such a small detail but a big quality of life improvement. 

A couple of downsides, though.. All that glitters. First of all, at upwards of $300, the Sterling Evolution Velocity is a heck of an investment. You could load the van and drive to WV for a week at the New for that much. If you want quality, you better start saving. The loud color isn't for everyone. Fortunately, the Sterling Rope Evolution Velocity 9.8mm Rope ($304.38 with Free Shipping on Amazon) comes in 11 different flavors and either 60m or 70m. The 60m version is around $40 cheaper if you're hard up for scratch.

Bottom Line: 

The Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m Dry Climbing Rope, in addition to having the longest product name ever, is one of the best ropes I've ever used. It flakes like a dream. It's about as light as you can expect seventy meters of anything to be. It feels smooth and solid. It plays nice with both tube and mechanical belay devices. The bicolor pattern makes rapping as easy as a dream. At 300 bucks, it's pricey, though. This is the Lamborghini of climbing ropes. Fast, light, sexy, and high performance. We love it.

Go hard,
Ariel Castro
Rugged Innovations

GoPro Video of Trad Climbing Lady Luck (4th pitch) in Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas Nevada

Check out this video of Team RI climbing some multipitch trad outside of Vegas! It's a GoPro video of leading the fourth pitch of the 1,000-foot, 7-pitch 5.7 multipitch trad route called Lady Luck in First Creek Slabs, Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hope you like it!

Ariel

Rugged Innovations

Gifts and Stocking Stuffers Ideas for Rock Climbers ($5 to $20)

The holidays are right around the corner and that means it's time to get presents for the mountain men and women in your life. This can be challenging because we have so many gadgets and doodads. All these little aluminum trinkets, and you have no idea what any of them do. What do they really want?

As certified mountain people and gear nerds, we're going to give you some gift ideas for the rock climber in your life. We'll start with the cheaper gifts between $5 and $20 and work our way up to the bigger ticket items.

Gifts / stocking stuffers for climbers (from $5 to $20)

Metolius Super Chalk Ecoball ($5.95 on Amazon)

I've been using these for a while. I prefer the Metolius Ecoball to loose chalk for a few reasons. First of all, this is non-marking chalk substitute. Normal chalk is a mixture of the white chalk powder and a drying agent. This product is simply the drying agent so it doesn't leave a mark. This is good for climbing in protected places or for hiding your first ascent project from poachers. Also, chalk balls are required in certain gyms. I find them less messy because I always tip over my chalk bag (or end up upside down somehow), dumping 20 ounces of white powder on my belayer and causing an anthrax scare. Chalk balls are great for the clumsy among us.

Black Diamond Neutrino Carabiner ($7.95 on Amazon)

A climber can never have too many of these. They're strong, versatile, cheap, and they last forever. These little guys come in a variety of colors which is extra handy for trad climbers. This is because the companies that make our cams, nuts, hexes, and other protection color their gear. Having a colored carabiner allows you to match it to the appropriately-colored piece of protection and be able to grab the right piece off your gear loops the first try. It's a small perk, but it shaves off a few seconds. You know how there's dog years? There is also an alternative time scale for trad leading. The three seconds a climber spends fumbling for the right piece of pro on trad lead feels like eternity plus twelve. Just trust me. Anyway, these little 'biners are perfect. Having a few extra carabiners on a climb can allow you to make an impromptu belay device and prevent you from dying. Dying: not cool. Carabiners: cool.

Black Diamond Nylon Runner (Starting at $5.95 on Amazon)

Runners made of webbing are also super handy. This is another gadget that you can never have too many of. Use them for extending gear, building anchors, or making a really floppy hula hoop. You really don't want to run out of these when you're trying to build an anchor. We've all had to MacGyver anchors out of suboptimal materials, and it's a horrifying experience. An extra 2-3 of these on my harness makes me feel safe.

Sterling Chain Reactor Anchor Chain ($20.71 on Amazon)

Anchor building is still one of the most polarizing topics in serious free climbing. A climber can tell you all about the differences between anchor chains, daisy chains, and other assorted anchor building/rappelling systems. I can say that anchor chains are great for a bunch of reasons and anyone who gets one will be happy they did, even if they don't use it all the time. I am partial to nylon as opposed to dyneema for these systems. This Sterling kit is very high quality and one of the cheapest I could find.

Petzl Maillon Rapide Screw Link ($5.95 on Amazon)

Petzl is a French company that names all of their products in fruity français. Allow me to translate into Freedom Speak: these little 2-inch loops of metal save my hide all the time. They're disposable get-out-of-jail-free cards. You want extras. A lot. The world of bail 'biners is an egalitarsomeone's gotta have them.
ian "take a penny, leave a penny"-style karmic loop. I'm going to be honest, I've never bought any of these, I just find ones that other people leave behind. Still,

That's all for now, guys! I hope that's enough info for santa's elves to bring the rock climber in your life some small gifts and stocking stuffers. In our next installment, we'll talk about gifts from $20 to $100.

Happy Holidays!

Ariel Castro
Rugged Innovations