Trad / Sport climbing
Trad and Sport climbing are both a form of climbing where the climber is not protected by a top rope but places protection while climbing. The big difference lies in the placement of the anchors. MAXIM Climbing Ropes offers a wide range of rock climbing ropes for trad and sport climbing, like the Apex, Airliner, Pinnacle, Glider or MAXIM Platinum® and Charity Series.
Trad Climbing
In trad climbing routes, no permanent anchors are installed in the route. The climber carries a set of protection enabling gear with them that they place by themselves in the rock while climbing. The protection can be active or passive. Active protection has moving parts and wedges itself into cracks and holes, a good example of this are. On the other hand, passive protection has no moving parts but gets placed into cracks in a way that will arrest a fall if needed, examples of passive protection are nuts, hexes, chocks or stoppers. Once the climber reaches the end of their climb or pitch in a multi-pitch route, they need to build themselves a belay station for rappelling or belaying the following climber. The following climber then takes out the protection equipment when climbing the wall (called cleaning or seconding).
Sport Climbing
In contrast to trad climbing, sport climbing routes are equipped with fixed bolts in a distance of 3 to 10 feet from each other. The climber only needs quick draws to clip the rope into those bolts when climbing. At the end of a sport climb, the climber can expect to find a belay station with fixed bolts and rings. Sport climbing is often used as training for long and demanding routes. Mostly, the sportive effect is more relevant in sport climbing, that’s why sport climbing routes are mainly shorter routes that are climbed with less equipment. Therefore, the MAXIM Platinum®, Airliner and Pinnacle rock climbing ropes are the perfect choice because they are very skinny and light.
MAXIM Climbing Ropes recommends our Charity series, Apex and Equinox for projecting and guiding in both disciplines since those are the workhorses with a robust cover and long service life capable of withstanding a high number of falls. The MAXIM® Platinum, Airliner, Pinnacle and Glider are thinner, light-weight and have a smooth cover. They are perfectly suited for multi-pitch routes and red pointing as they run easily through quick draws and protection. When it comes to sharp edged environments, ropes with thicker diameters like 10.2mm and a higher sheath proportion should be preferred. The Bi-Pattern version is an advantage for multi-pitch climbing or rappelling. As a back-up or for hauling equipment, the static Personal Escape Rope can be a light-weight option.
The following ropes are perfectly suited for Trad / Sport climbing:
Airliner
Pinnacle
Glider
Apex
Equinox Elite
“MAXIM ropes are simply the best ropes I have ever used for every type of climbing from offwidth to sport. They handle better than any other brand and they are indestructible. I would never use any other rope after using Maxim.”
Pamela Shanti Pack
About MAXIM Dynamic Ropes
Dynamic climbing ropes are the most important piece of gear you have, because they keep you from hitting the ground. Their high elongation absorbs most of the shock in a fall, thereby taking the load off of your body and your anchors. MAXIM ropes are made of 100% high quality nylon and feature a kernmantle construction with twisted nylon cores and a braided nylon cover. MAXIM’s long lasting dynamic climbing lines are designed as a compact rope with high-energy absorption. Each of our dynamic climbing lines offers excellent handling, superior abrasion resistance and high durability.
Special features of MAXIM dynamic ropes
The core of every dynamic MAXIM Climbing rope is dry treated with our special Endura DRY treatment process, including our indoor gym ropes. This is for the ultimate level of safety protection since nylon loses a lot of strength when wet. In addition, for maximum water-repellency, selected models also feature Endura 2x-DRY and have both a dry core and a specially treated dry cover. Those ropes fulfill the requirements of UIAA water-repellency.
Our Pinnacle and Glider series also feature MAXIM’s TPT (Twill Pattern Technology) which aligns the sheath yarns with the direction the rope moves through your protection. This dramatically reduces rope drag and provides for buttery rappels.
The Chalk Line gym ropes also feature our Str8 Jacket technology, in which we tightly weave the sheath around a mid-sheath which grips the core. These are the longest lasting gym ropes on the planet.
Standards for dynamic climbing ropes
Dynamic climbing ropes are generally certified in three categories; single ropes, half ropes and twin ropes. All of them are certified to the European Standard EN 892 and the international standard UIAA 101. Within these standards, the rope’s construction, sheath slippage, static and dynamic elongation, maximum impact force at first fall as well as the minimum number of falls a rope has to withstand are regulated. Please find more information on climbing rope types and requirements of the standards in our Tech info section.
"MAXIM sets the standard for durability of climbing ropes in the industry. In the end, a rope is our lifeline, and for many years now I've felt 100% confident trusting my life to thee amazing cords. "
Jonathan Siegrist