Swiss based CE4Y burst onto the scene a couple of years ago with a range of canyon specific ropes made from more technical fibers than the polyamide (Nylon) used in most standard ropes.
The ropes are aimed at being more cut and abrasion resistant while still being light weight.
To achieve this the sickline 8.7 uses a UHMPE (That’s dyneema to us uncouth types) and Polyester sheath and a Polypropylene core.
I’d have to say I was a little skeptical for a couple of reasons.
- Previous ropes I’d tried with a polypropylene core I found to be a bit bouncy. CE4Y counter this with stating the sick line is super-static with less than 1.8% stretch.
- Both Dyneema and polypropylene can be a bit melty, so they aren’t recommended for abseiling on while dry. This kinda limits their use in a lot of blue mountains canyons which often need a dry abseil to at least get into or out of them. All that said CE4Y claim “tests have shown that abseils up to 50m on dry ropes with a standard sized figure-8 kind of device can not damage the rope fibers due to heat generated by the friction of the abseil device.” and the old option was to throw your rope in a puddle before setting up the abseil
- Price
But curiosity got the better of me and I thought I’d give one a crack
Here’s my first impressions
Cost: At around $390au for 60m It’s not cheap but not the most expensive either, being a lot cheaper than the CanyonLUX for example.
Specs: CE4Y lists the rope specs as
| Model | Breaking Strength | Weight |
| Sick Line 8.7 | 20kN | 42g/m |
So on the weight and strength you’d give it a tick with it being in the ball park with the premium canyon ropes.
Colours: To paraphrase Henry “Modle T” Ford, You can have any colour you like as long as its a weird rose taupe speckled with blue.
First use:
After the obligatory tie it on to something and run a descender over it a few times I took her out for a spin in Empress
My first impressions.
Handling: It’s soft and supple, knots easily. Not much else to say really
Control: She’s fast!!! Damn fast.
Other reviews I’ve read suggest it will calm down a bit with use but at this stage, a few trips in, I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners or people using a standard figure 8 or hydrobot style descender. You definitely want options to quickly add friction on the go. An experienced friend had a few issues with getting the right friction on a pirana. Finding the different settings either too quick or too slow and not so in between
Saying that, with the right amount of friction on my CRITTR (more than I’ve used on any other rope ever) it ran nicely through the hand and CE4Y were not lying on the super-static call, it felt solid and smooth.
Anyhoo, for now I’m liking it. Once you get the friction setting sorted it feels smooth and not too hot on your hand (I don’t like wearing gloves) and the weight factor is a plus but it needs more play dates before I settle on my final call in a long term review.
Stay tuned.
Or not, go make up your own mind. I aint care, I’m not your mum.
sleepwhenwearedead 