REASONS TO BUY
Lightweight
Good handling
And soft catches
REASONS TO AVOID
Not very durable
Expensive
Petzl Arial Review
A nice handling rope that is great for redpointing
Petzl Arial
Credit: Backcountry
RELATED: Best Rock Climbing Ropes of 2024
Our Verdict
We tested the Petzl Arial and were pleasantly surprised in many ways. The handling, catch, and weight per gram are all great! The only thing we are concerned about is the durability — our rope is showing quite a lot of wear, with sheath fuzz and some “glazed” sections of the sheath, which ultimately make it stiffer. Like all ropes made by Petzl, this one is very soft and supple, such that it bends easier than almost any other rope you can buy. Most people we know love this rope. That said, Petzl states that the Arial is made for experienced climbers for high-end climbing, and we agree with this designation. It handles well and provides a soft catch, but it's probably not the line you want to use for dogging your project.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Petzl Arial is a 9.5mm rope that weighs 58 g/m and has an 8.8 kN impact force rating. Most ropes arrive still in a spool configuration, which is a hassle to unwind and can add tons of kinks to your rope that are difficult to remove. Petzl solves that problem for you and packages this rope stacked. We have to say that we didn't notice too many kinks when using it.
Performance Comparison
Cam McKenzie Ring staring down her project on the Arial. This rope is great for your hard redpoints where you want a lightweight rope with a soft catch.
Credit: Landon Evans
Handling
It feels a little stiff and slippery when brand new, but quickly softened up and became one of our favorite ropes for quick clipping and belaying. In fact, we like the way this rope handles just as much as our Editors' Choice winner. This rope is 9.5mm in diameter, and may not be appropriate for newer climbers. Skinnier ropes like this can be more challenging to hold on to when arresting a fall when using a standard ATC-style belay device, so if you haven't had much experience climbing you'll be better off sticking with a thicker rope at first.
Catch
We took some whippers on the rope, and felt like we got a soft catch every time. We also didn't feel like the catches got significantly harder when working a route and falling repeatedly at the same spot. Some ropes felt really hard after the first fall, but this one didn't seem to lose too much stretch. It also feels fine when top-roping, although it seems to stretch a bit more than most ropes, which can be slightly frustrating for avid top-ropers who like to rest and suss out the moves without losing all their hard-won progress in the process.
Don't let the face fool you - the catch is fine! When things don't go as planned and you fall off your project, the Arial will give you a soft landing.
Credit: Landon Evans
Weight
This rope is relatively light for its diameter. It weighs 58 g/m, which is 5 grams less than some of the 9.8mm ropes in this review. What does that add up to though? We did the math for you, and for a 70m rope that's a difference of 12 ounces. If your approaches are short and your pitches even shorter, you might not notice the difference, but over longer hikes and pitches, that weight can add up. For those who are really looking to save every bit of weight that they can, we encourage you to check out the skinny sending lines featured in this review, some of which weigh as little as 52 g/m.
You may or may not notice that this rope weighs almost a pound less than an 9.8 or 9.9 mm rope, but when you go light on all of your gear those differences do add up.
Credit: Cam McKenzie Ring
Durability
We've tried to test all of the different ropes an equal amount, keeping a rope log and noting the number of falls we took, and if there were any particularly rough edges that they encountered. The Arial did get a couple more days than some of the ropes in side-by-side testing, because after a while we couldn't get our testers to keep climbing on some of the other ropes with poorer handling. Everyone likes this rope, but after roughly the same number of pitches as the Mammut and Edelrid ropes we compared it directly against, the Arial looks a little worse for wear. There is extensive sheath fuzzing and also some areas where it looks like the sheath has glazed from heat.
This rope was showing a lot of sheath fuzz after our testing period. It also had several sections where the sheath seemed a little melted. Although it got very dirty, we could still make out the middle marker.
Credit: Cam McKenzie Ring
Value
The retail price of this rope is up there with many of the other higher-priced ropes that we've tested. It's only available with a dry treatment, so there isn't really an option to forego this option to save money. Since it is relatively expensive and seemingly not as durable as other similar 9.5mm ropes that we've tested, we don't consider it an excellent value.
We liked this rope for sport climbing, either for warmups or redpoint attempts, but not for actually working a route.
Credit: Cam McKenzie Ring
Conclusion
There was a lot to like about the Petzl Arial, and if it had withstood the abuses of our climbing a little bit better, it could have been an award winner. As it stands, this is still a great option. Especially if you can find it on sale.
—Cam McKenzie Ring
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