The pink striped version that we tested is no longer available, but you can find a solid pink version as well as the fluorescent green shown in the photo above.
November 2018The BlueWater Ropes Lightning Pro is a 9.7 mm rope that weighs 61 g/m. It has a maximum impact force rating of 7.8 kN, with 8.9% static elongation. This rope is available in both a double dry and standard option.
We really like the way this rope handles. It feels soft and supple out of the bag, and it didn't lose that suppleness even after ten days out and over 60 pitches on it. Some ropes change with wear (start soft and stiffen up, or vice versa), but this rope stayed consistent. Clips are quick and efficient, and it is easy to pass into an ATC or another belay device. We did seem to have an excessive amount of kinking though. While all ropes might kink up due to bad anchor placements, this one seems to do it a bit more than others, so we dropped its handling score down slightly.
We had mixed reports on the catch of this rope. Going solely by the numbers, it should have been one of the best catches around, but instead, we felt jarred by how hard they were. Just to note here that there are many factors going on in the forces created and felt during a fall, and we weren't conducting drop tests off a tower with a dynamometer. However, some things were consistent, including the climber and belayer, and the same typical amount of slack out. With most of the ropes, all of the catches felt “soft” due to good belaying technique. But this one felt anything but soft, and both the climber and belayer felt the jarring effects of falls on this rope. The dynamic elongation is 32.2%, which was around the middle of the pack in our test group and should have resulted in a fairly soft catch. The only thing we can think of is that it doesn't have a good “rebound” rate. Think of an elastic being stretched and not going back to its original shape afterward. Then successive falls will feel harder and harder.
It did feel a little stretchy when top-roping though, and if we said “take” with no slack out we'd still sink a bit with this rope.
This rope weighs 61 g/m, which is the same as the 9.5 Maxim Pinnacle, making it lightweight for a 9.7 mm. It's not the lightest rope we tested though, so if you are looking to shave some ounces, check out the Mammut Infinity or Petzl Arial, which weigh 58 g/m.
We also weren't impressed with the durability of this rope. We tried to use them all in similar conditions and terrain so that we could more or less accurately compare the wear on them after a certain number of pitches. Note that we're comparing sheath damage, which is the way that most ropes get worn out. This rope showed the most wear on the sheath after 60 pitches compared to the other ropes in this review, including one six-inch section with significant fraying and lots of little fuzzies and wear throughout. Compared to the Mammut Infinity and Maxim Pinnacle, which look brand new with even more pitches than this on them, this was disappointing.
For a dry treated 60 m length, this rope is about average in price. It is more affordable than some other ropes in this review. Our Best Buy winner, the Beal Booster III, is a little less expensive, and held up much better in our tests.
