Again, I realize 9mm EzBend isn't for everyone, but for those that want to lighten their ‘kit’, here’s a way to shed 2 lbs with one item. Compared to Velocity, the lightest 11mm arborist rope on the market, 9mm EzBend is over 2 lbs lighter per 100 feet. Most rec climbers I know, don’t climb on Velocity, so 9mm EzBend could be as much as 3 lbs lighter per 100 ft.

So what this video is about, is 9mm EzBend performance on a reasonably high climb. I thought I was on an 86 ft TIP, but it turned out to be about 80’. Still, that’s a pretty good test. There were actually two things I wanted to look at, stretch on a 80 ft ground anchor and rappel performance with a Grigri.

In the video, I started the descent with just the Grigri and safety knots. I had done a number of descents with a Grigri on 9mm rope numerous times, so I knew about what to expect. After a short descent, I stopped and added a braking carabiner below the Grigri. I wasn’t impressed with that, so I stopped again and installed a single-rope ATC below the Grigri in the low friction mode – that worked great! Control was fantastic.

While one could use the ATC alone, and I have, it would be fast and could result in a runaway. So one could put an autoblock below the ATC and that would probably help, but the Grigri makes an SRT changeover so easy and provides a hands-off stop as well.

Anyway, you’ll se some bounce, not so much that it’d be a problem, but unless you’re on HTP, Isostatic, or Talon, you’re gonna have some bounce on a ground anchor with 150 ft in the system. BTW, my 150 ft of EzBend had to be supplemented for the ground tie. It was about 10 ft short, so I made up the difference on the anchor side with Talon rope.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFOApeKzGAw