"The Fly" climbing rope by New England Rope

My son and I ordered a 200' lenght of the Fly from Ben Meadows Company (1-800-241-6401) for 116.00. It was shipped right out the next day and we got it 3 days later north of Seattle. Our is a full 11mm, great for gripping and we love its flexibility. We descend with the Petzl Pirana and have had no troubles with kinks, of course we are a couple of light- weights and our rope is fairly new (we will watch it, though). I sewed a 1/8" poly loop into one end, whip stitched it into place and used rope dip to protect the whip stitching. This makes it way easier to pull over a limb as there is no big knot to catch. We are going for a 600' reel on our next order (338.00 and 12 lbs.) We'd like to be able to climb up one end of the line and Tyrolean traverse over to the ground or a neighboring tree - all on the same rope (we have some awesome old growth Firs on quite steep slopes). Climb safe and relish that "treetime!" Ben & Logan

I'm going to buy the Fly, too! I'm hearing from people here that it is 11mm in diameter, but some catalogues have it listed as 1/2 inch. Are there two thicknesses available, or are these suppliers just generously rounding up?

its apparently 11mm rope, but when i first got my fly and laid it alongside my 10.5mm beal, it seems a heck of a lot thicker for a supposed .5mm difference

You can add me to the list of people who like the Fly. I haven't used it in the wet, but my early impressions are very positive.

Steve Bullman, your impression of its size was right on. According to my trusty vernier caliper it measures a full 12 mm (unladen). By comparison my Sportline was an honest 11 mm, and my Yale XTC was 13.5 mm.

Not that I'm complaining; I find the extra mm. makes the Fly more comfortable in hand than the Sportline, yet it is still a lighter and more compact line than regular 1/2" arborist ropes.

And, in addition to all its functional virtues, it is an attractive rope. And that's good! Why should only the rock jocks have pretty gear?