Mammut Crag We Care Classic 9.5 Review

The Mammut Crag We Care Classic 9.5 is a fantastic rope at a good price. It is available in 60m, 70m, and 80m lengths. It has outstanding handling, great durability, and you can feel a (little) good that you are using a rope with partially recycled materials.

Performance Comparison

Handling

Although this rope doesn't receive absolute top scores in areas, it offers solid performance in most of them. Handling is one of those areas. Our testers praised the supple feel from day one. They also appreciated how easy it was to manipulate while tying knots or clipping draws. Throughout our testing, the rope maintained a round cross-section, rather than flattening into an oval like many competitors.

Its environmentally friendly sheath utilizes the common 2-over-2 weave seen on most climbing ropes. This is our favorite weave to see because seems to suffer from less sheath slippage than 1-over-1 weaves. The sheath itself is tightly woven and this helps it maintain a consistent and confidence-inspiring feel even as it wears. Our only handling complaints were minor. The rope was rather slippery when new so extra care was needed during belays. The other issue is that the 2-over-2 weave feels a little more coarse on bare hands than some other ropes. This can make it less comfortable to lower your partner or rappel barehanded. However, we recommend everyone wear gloves for these tasks to improve safety and to save extra skin for the actual climbing.

Durability

When it comes to all-around climbing ropes, the Mammut Crag We Care Classic strikes a nice balance between minimal weight and respectable durability. Its 9.5mm diameter resides in a nice middle ground between low-9mm sending ropes and high-9mm workhorses. Forty percent of the rope is sheath by weight. That equates to an impressive 24 grams of sheath per meter, which happens to be more than even 9.8mm competitors. In our tests, we were really impressed by how well this sheath resisted the abrasion from repeated lead falls and top-roping while showing hardly any fraying.

Although the Mammut Crag We Care Classic stood up to abuse as well as almost any rope we've tried, the light-colored sheath discolored quickly. Due to the variability in the color of the recycled sheath fibers, each rope looks different. The model we tested featured a lot of pale blue and pink fibers that soon darkened from dirt and aluminum dust. This didn't harm performance at all but it made the rope appear dirtier than it really was. Another durability issue is the impermanence of the middle mark. Like many ropes, this one features two dark marks to mark the middle that soon wore off. Unlike other ropes, however, this one isn't available in a bi-pattern so you need to be willing to reapply your own middle mark.

Weight

Different manufacturers measure climbing rope diameters in different ways. In addition, some ropes are round in cross-section while others are closer to oval. These issues make diameter a flawed specification to rely on when trying to decide which rope to buy. However, when most shoppers say they want a skinny rope what they really mean is that they want a lightweight rope. Fortunately, all climbing ropes conveniently report their weight in grams per meter which allows for easier and more reliable direct comparisons.

The Mammut Crag We Care Classic weighs in at 59 grams per meter. That's on par for an all-around rope with a 9.5mm diameter. If you want to go skinnier, there are 9.1mm models that check in at 53 g/m which would measure to nearly a pound of weight savings for a 70-meter rope. In the other direction, some thicker workhorse ropes weigh 62 g/m which would mean a half pound more for a 70-meter length. In our view, the Crag We Care Classic is an ideal weight for casual all-around cragging. For alpine climbing, sport projecting, or big walling, it would be wise to select a lighter or heavier model better suited to the task.

Catch

Evaluating the catch of a rope is a tricky proposition at the crag. Small variations in a fall or a belay can have big effects on whether a catch feels "hard" or "soft." Our testers do their best to control these variables by repeating falls from identical positions with different ropes, yet even after going to these lengths it can be hard to confidently identify differences between similar ropes. Nevertheless, on occasion we have been able to reach conclusions about certain ropes feeling too hard or too soft.

Fortunately, we were unable to detect any issues with the Mammut Crag We Care Classic 9.5. Our testers consistently reported feeling soft lead fall catches along with acceptable amounts of stretch during top-rope falls. The rope's UIAA specs support this conclusion with impact force, static elongation, and dynamic elongation numbers that reside near a "sweet spot" that we've identified for climbing rope performance.

Should You Buy the Mammut Crag We Care Classic

In our opinion, the Mammut Crag We Care Classic is one of the best deals out there for a rock climbing rope. This rope scored near the top of the field while also costing the least. That makes it a fantastic value. There are a couple of reasons, however, why it might not be the best rope for you. The light-colored sheath on the model we tested stained quickly and was difficult to see in photos. Take these small drawbacks into consideration if aesthetics are important to you. One more tangible downside is that the Crag We Care model is not available with any dry treatments. Dry treatments should be considered essential for ice climbers and mountaineers or for any locales where cragging days are often disrupted by rain showers. If this describes your situation, check out one of the many other high-performing ropes that offers a dry treatment.

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