Millet Climbing Ropes

Aspiring Enterprises supplies dynamic climbing ropes from the French manufacturer Millet. The rope division of Millet was formed by merging two of France's long-standing rope manufacturers, Cousin-Trestec and Rivory-Joanny in 1999. The operation was consolidated in Cousin-Trestec's factory, but incorporated many of the Rivory-Joanny design features, including the thickened sheath and the three-strand core (see below). Some of the ropes, including the Diamond 3 and the Altitude 3 are in fact Rivory-Joanny designs which have been continued.

The Braided Core

Millet is now the only rope manufacturer in the world to make a braided core rope. The braided core comprises three sections braided together, and costs more to make, but is much tougher than the standard twisted core. As each strand of the core operates on its own, there is much greater resistance to cutting of the rope, and there is also improved adhesion between the sheath and the core. The ropes achieve high fall numbers in testing. These ropes are designated by a "3" after the name. Braided core ropes are Diamond 3 and Altitude 3.

The Thickened Sheath

Millet can also make ropes which have a thickened sheath. In these ropes the sheath is 20-30% thicker than in a normal rope, which gives the rope much better resistance to abrasion. Therefore these ropes are desirable when there is repetitive wear on a rope, such as in climbing gyms. Thickened sheath ropes are Top Rock and Pro Force.

Middle marking

Middle marking is important for indicating the centre of the rope. This marks the mid-point of the rope for abseiling and for coiling the rope doubled, but also has a vital safety function when the rope is used for lowering from sport climbing cliffs, as is increasingly common practice. If the halfway mark has passed through the belay when lowering starts, the rope is too short to lower the climber to the ground. This might seem obvious, but provision of a middle mark might have saved several climbers from death or injury.

Single ropes

Top Rock 10.8 mm single rope Standard treatment	A heavy duty hard-wearing rope for climbing gyms, rope courses, and outdoor centres. The specially thickened sheath provides excellent abrasion resistance.
Diamond 3 10.4 mm single rope Standard treatment	A mid-weight but hard-wearing single rope for sport climbing and general use. The three-strand braided core will handle multiple falls well
Magma 9.6mm single rope Water resistant	A super-light rope with excellent handling, supplied in 50 metre lengths with water resistant treatment for extreme mountaineering routes.

Half ropes

"Half ropes" are designed to be used in pairs as double ropes. They are subjected to the same drop testing as the standard single ropes, but with a 55 kilogram weight instead of 80 kilogram. They are particularly applicable to "trad" climbing with gear, especially if the climb meanders, uses two cracks, or involves overhangs.

Altitude 9.0 mm half rope Water resistent	A half rope for light-weight mountaineering on moderate routes. Three-strand core improves resistance to cutting.
Pro Force 8.8 mm half rope Standard treatment	Double ropes particularly suit climbs with natural protection. Very low impact force, sustains a high number of falls.
Pro Alpine 8.5mm half Water resistent	For technical alpine climbing, a pair of Pro Alpine ropes is ideal for versatility as well as for the convenience of abseiling with double ropes.

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Climbing rope bag

Our state of the art climbing rope bag has a lightweight zip-off tarp which is a bag in its own right, closed with a shock-cord draw-string, so that the rope can be packed inside the tarp for carrying in a pack, separately from the satchel. The satchel incorporates a piece of carpet for wiping boots, and there is a small pocket for storing keys and watches, etc.

The tarp itself is quite small and is a tub shape, so that the rope will not slide off onto the dirt. The tub also makes it easier to convert the tarp into a bag for packing, either into the satchel or by itself.

The tarp is made of black ripstop nylon, and the satchel is a heavy-duty kodra fabric, jade in colour. The satchel is provided with an adjustable carrying strap.