Dave Birkett

Dave Birkett has for a long time now been a fan of Edelrid's rope making abilities so it was no surprise to find that he had used a pair of Edelrid ropes on his bold new route at Wasdale ‘Nowt but a fleein’ thing’ E8 6C.

Rope companies have come and gone over the years but Edelrid started up in Southern Germany in 1863 and have been making ropes in the same area ever since creating a rope manufacturing pedigree that is hard to better. During that time they have had some noticeable firsts, producing the first ‘kernmantle’ construction rope for climbers in the 1950’s (The term kernmantle which is now used worldwide to describe the modern climbing ropes was in fact Edelrid’s term for the core/sheath (kern/mantle) construction that they pioneered.

Following on from this was the first ‘dry’ treated rope, the first ‘twin rope’ concept and the first rope to be used in space for tethering astronauts so if you want a company that really know their ropes…