Mammut is shaking up the market with a new impregnated climbing rope with high cut resistance: the Core Protect Rope. For extra protection, the Swiss mountain sports equipment manufacturer has combined its proven Core Protect technology with an additional aramid protective layer.
Modern climbing ropes don't actually break anymore - except when they are subjected to stress over edges. This is more common on alpine routes or crack climbing. But even in sport climbing, for example, old fixed carabiners with sharp edges can pose a danger to the rope and climber. With their new Core Protect Rope effect Mammoth found a way to significantly increase the safety of climbers.
Every year there are accidents involving ropes that fail and break. With Core Protect we have developed a product that can reduce these and make our sport safer.
Magnus Raström, Senior Product Manager Climbing Gear
Better cut resistance with equally good handling
The focus during development was on safety. In other words: The new climbing rope sets new standards in terms of cut resistance and thus increases safety when climbing.
At the same time, the development team did not want to make any compromises in terms of handling. For the end user, the Core Protect Rope is no different from a standard climbing rope in terms of dynamics and handling, despite the additional aramid protective layer.
The task that was set was anything but easy, as textile engineer Adriana Stöhr explains:
The biggest challenge when working with more cut-resistant materials is to maintain the dynamic behavior of the rope.
Adriana Stöhr, textile engineer climbing equipment
According to Adriana Stöhr, the fact that aramid does not naturally expand has been overcome thanks to a hybrid yarn construction. “This enabled us to incorporate cut-resistant fibers into a dynamic climbing rope.”
Heat-resistant and strong protective layer made of aramid
The additional layer of aramid that covers the core of the rope provides additional cut resistance and thus better protection against dangerous shear loads. Aramid is known for its heat resistance and strength.
The developers deliberately placed the aramid sheath between the dynamic rope core and sheath made of polyamide 6. On the one hand, this protects the aramid from UV radiation, and on the other hand, this positioning reduces wear on carabiners and safety devices.
The aramid shell is braided in such a way that it optimally protects the core without being exposed to the maximum fall energy.
Core Protect Rope: Many years of development
Mammut invested a total of twelve years in developing and testing the Core Protect Rope. Why this long period of time? Because they wanted to ensure its performance under realistic fall scenarios.
The tests show that the rope can survive falls over sharp granite edges while outperforming standard ropes, offering climbers a new level of safety.
The new Core Protect climbing rope was developed in Switzerland. Experienced climbers and alpinists such as Stephan Siegrist and Jonas Schild have tested it extensively - the latter also during his most recent trip to Patagonia.
The fact that the Core Protect Rope behaves like any other dry climbing rope from Mammut, despite its high cut resistance, impressed not only the two athletes. The ISPO jury was also impressed and awarded the 2024 climbing rope the ISPO Award.
Mammut Core Protect Rope: The most important things at a glance
- Available as 9.5 mm single rope (59g/m) or as 8.0 mm double rope (43g/m)
- Significantly more cut-resistant when exposed to sharp edges thanks to additional aramid coating
- Optimized abrasion resistance through dry finishing
- Permanently water and dirt repellent according to UIAA for maximum safety under the toughest conditions: Achieves < 2% in UIAA water absorption tests
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Credits: Cover photo and article images Mammoth