In alpine climbing, mountaineering or mountain climbing, the journey is the reward. Climbers committing to these disciplines like long tours where the goal is to reach the summit. The whole experience is more important than the technical mastering of a route. The most popular alpine tours are the highest summits of each continent.

Ice climbing is a special field within climbing. Instead of rock, ice climber’s object of desire is frozen water. Ice climbing is divided into alpine climbing, where the main goal is mostly reach a summit and ice climbs are part of the route, water ice climbing where the technical challenge is climbing on frozen water flows, waterfalls or cliff runoff and mixed climbing. The difficulty of the disciplines depends on the characteristics of the ice and varies with weather conditions.

As alpine conquests are often multiple day trips, it is important to carry as little extra weight as possible. They should be as thin and as lightweight as possible. Most of the time, alpine climbing and mountaineering are a combination of rock climbing, ice climbing and glacier travel. Therefore, ropes for alpine climbing and mountaineering need to have special features like high abrasion resistance, long service life and dry treatment.

Ice is very fragile, it breaks easily under load and the tools of the trade have sharp edges. Therefore, half and twin ropes like the MAXIM Unity and Airliner are used. These will create higher redundancy and reduce impact force on the single strand. This way, less drag is produced in the quick draws and rappelling over the whole length of the rope is possible.

The other big issue in ice climbing, alpine climbing and mountaineering is the water itself. Nylon tends to absorb water which makes the rope stiff. In addition, absorbed water that freezes creates sharp particles that harm the load-bearing core. Hence, ice climbing and alpine travel ropes are dry-treated to become water repellent. The MAXIM Endura DRY treatment protects our ropes from water in multi-stage process. Standard dry (STD-dry) ropes have a dry treated core while 2x-DRY (UIAA Dry) treated ropes also have a dry treated cover for even higher water resistance.

MAXIM recommends the skinny Airliner and the Unity ropes for these activities, as well as Pinnacle and Glider. The Airliner is triple certified and 2x-DRY treated. This rope is easy to carry but still has a high abrasion resistant cover, a smooth surface and very long service life. The Unity is a half and twin rope available in an 7.8 mm diameter. As a backup rope or for hauling equipment, the static Personal escape rope is a good and light option. Glider and Pinnacle also offer 2x-DRY treatment and a slightly higher diameter that offers greater safety.