REASONS TO BUY
Smooth handle
Skinny
Good catch
Lap coiled upon purchase
REASONS TO AVOID
Not the most durable
Could be lighter
Middle mark fades quickly
A bit stiff
Mammut Revelation Review
A solid rope for alpine and multi-pitch climbing, but not the most durable
Credit: Backcountry
RELATED: Best Rock Climbing Rope
Our Verdict
The Mammut Revelation Dry is a skinny 9.2mm diameter rope that actually feels even skinnier than its listed thickness. Like all Mammut ropes, it is tightly woven, slick and smooth handling, and a pleasure to use. The dry treatment fully impregnates both the sheath and the core to prove effective at shedding water and adding to overall longevity of the rope. It makes a solid choice for alpine and multi-pitch climbing, but according to our testing isn't quite the best that you can buy for these purposes. We don't think it will live up to very much intensive sport climbing, and feel that you will wear it out very quickly if you try to use it daily at the crag.
Our Analysis and Test Results
While we enjoyed climbing with this rope, we took it on a week-long alpine climbing trip to the Bugaboos where we tested it head to head with the Petzl Volta 9.2mm, trading ropes between two parties on successive climbing days, and found that it was outperformed in most ways by the Volta. Like most Mammut ropes, it feels thinner than the 9.2mm diameter listed, and is slick right out of the package. The dry treatment works well, but seemed to wear off the sheath quite quickly climbing on abrasive granite — within a couple days. It is a bit stiff, but not overly so, and while it is a light rope, it is only barely lighter than the 9.5mm Mammut Infinity, and far less durable. It can be bought in lengths from 60-80m, and can also be purchased in a "Protect" version, which includes dry treatment only on the sheath, and not in the core as the Dry version does.
Performance Comparison
We like using skinny 9.2mm ropes on alpine climbing and multi-pitch missions. Ben Hoyt coiling the rope over his harness as he prepares to belay up the second on a finger crack variation to the Beckey-Chouinard in the Bugaboos.
Handling
The Revelation Dry feels and handles much like other Mammut ropes. It is a bit stiffer than the super soft and supple Petzl or Sterling ropes, and so is slightly more difficult to manipulate when trying to bend it through a belay or rappel device, although not enough to be a concern. It starts out super slick from the dry treatment, but soon enough becomes rougher feeling as the slickness wears off with use. The thinness of the rope makes it slide through belay devices super easily, and overall it handles as well as you would expect from a top-quality climbing rope.
Rappelling in a snowstorm from the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col, coiling the ends of the rope before tossing them down the gully. This rope handles nicely, although like most Mammut ropes tends toward the slightly stiffer side.
Durability
Compared to other Mammut ropes that we have used, and in particular the super durable Mammut Infinity Dry, we found that this rope is not as durable, so it will last you a lot longer if you use it in low abrasion situations and avoid tons of sport climbing on it. The sheath proportion percentage is 36%, which is not a small number, but is less than the more bomber all-around 9.5mm ropes.
Dragging the rope through the melting snow on alpine glaciers is one way to really put their water repellency to the test. We found that Mammut's dual dry treatment, which impregnates both the sheath and core, works great, but wears off of the sheath fairly quickly after a few days of climbing on rough rock.
Considering the fact that it has a lower percentage of sheath fibers, and it is thinner overall, there is no doubt that this sheath is also thinner than the thicker ropes in the table above. After a week of climbing on abrasive rock, but not subjecting it to repeated falls, we found that this rope had fuzzed up a lot more than the rope we were testing it against. We also felt like the dry treatment had pretty much worn off the sheath, and noticed that the middle marker was fading very quickly.
These three ropes were purchased at the same time and used roughly the same amount, both at the crag and in the alpine. As you can see, the durability of the middle marker is seriously in question for two of the ropes, both made by Mammut, while the middle marker remains nicely intact on the Petzl Volta (grey). This is a solid argument for why paying the extra money for a bi-patterned or duodess rope can be worth it, especially if you commonly alpine or multi-pitch climb and often need to rappel.
Comparing the relative wear to the sheaths of the Mammut Revelation, orange on top, and the Petzl Volta, grey on the bottom, after a long week of alpine climbing in the Bugaboos. These ropes were shared by two teams who traded each day. The Volta retains more of its shiny dry treatment and shows less sheath fuzzing, while the Revelation feels a bit rougher and has a bit more abrasion to the sheath.
Weight
While it is a skinny 9.2mm in diameter, the Revelation weighs a surprising 57 g/m, which makes it 3 g/m heavier than the similarly thick Petzl Volta, and 5 g/m heavier than the 9.0 and 8.9mm options in this review. The fact is, this rope is not actually super light compared to its competition, and so the benefit that you are gaining by bringing it along compared to the far more durable Infinity, which weighs 59 g/m, is very little. The fact that this rope doesn't save you all that much weight while losing a fair bit of durability means that it will only provide good value if used in the perfect, low abuse, situations.
Coiling half of the rope over the shoulder in a mountaineers coil in order to reduce rope drag while simul-climbing, Ben is appreciate of his lighter alpine rope. That said, at 57 g/m, the Revelation isn't nearly as light as some of its other thin rope counterparts.
Catch
While we only took a few falls on this rope during our testing period, they felt perfectly fine to us, and were neither overly hard or super soft and springy. The 8.3kN fall force and the 31% dynamic elongation figures are right in line with the average climbing rope, and don't present any sort of an outlier, leading us to expect the soft catches that we received. As a thin rope, it will stretch a tad bit farther when seconding or top-roping than most thicker ropes, but this is normal and the difference is negligible. Overall, you can rest assured that there is nothing to worry about when it comes to falling on this rope.
Embarking on some very fine hand crack pitches on the upper half of Surfs Up, Snowpatch Spire. The Revelation provides soft and well cushioned falls, and is a nice rope for seconding on when you have to take, because it stretches less than a lot of other skinny ropes.
Value
A 60m length of this rope will run you $260 retail, while you can expect to pay $300 for a 70m. This is the exact same price as the Infinity Dry, but due to our findings that this rope offers significantly less durability, and likely less life span unless you are only using it on snow and ice, we feel that it isn't the best value purchase you can make.
Mike Donaldson dragging the rope up another rope-stretching pitch high on the Beckey-Chouinard in the Bugaboos, a situation where weight really begins to matter. Despite its thinness, this rope isn't as light as one would expect, calling into question how much value you are getting by choosing this thinner, less durable climbing rope over a thicker one that costs the same.
Conclusion
The Mammut Revelation Dry is a thinner dry treated line that is best used for alpine climbing and long multi-pitch routes. While it handles nicely and has a tightly woven sheath, our testing revealed it to be less durable than the competition, and unfortunately, it doesn't offer much in terms of weight savings over longer lasting 9.5mm alternatives. While we feel like it is a good rope, compared to the competition it is not the first one that we would recommend buying.
The author tossing the ends of the rope on one of many rappels to get off of S. Howser Spire. A rope that handles well can really make long rappelling sessions like this one go easier.
—
McKenzie Long
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