Mammut 9.5 Crag Dry Duodess Rope Review

In 2018, it felt like every climbing partner of mine bought the 9.8 Mammut Crag Classic. There were killer deals on it that year, and the dirty people cashed in. That rope absolutely rocked. For an approachable price, you got superb handling and rope feel, and good durability. This Spring, I finally gave that line its final assignment: being fixed on a project. It’s an inglorious end to an otherwise glorious life. The crown had to be transferred though, and I can’t think of a better rope to transfer it to than the Mammut 9.5 Crag Dry Duodess. It is even better than my old, beloved Crag Classic.

Mammut 9.5 Crag Dry Duodess Climbing Rope Features:

• Lasting effectiveness in repelling water and dirt according to UIAA for maximum safety in the toughest conditions
• Achieves < 1.5% in UIAA water absorption tests
• Optimized abrasion resistance thanks to Dry finishing
• Ready to climb: the rope comes tangle-free and does not need to be uncoiled before first use
• Duodess version features a durable and always visible center mark
• Weight: 8lbs 7oz (as measured when new on my scale; 60 meters)
• MSRP: $280

A Beautiful Line

As anyone who’s been climbing for a while knows, a rope is not just a commodity item. They each have their own character and feel. My first rope was a budget Edelweiss line. It was the worst. Durability was terrible, handling was stiff, and it pigtailed constantly. Compare that to my Black Diamond 9.9, a living room sofa of ropes – reliably comfy, but sluggish, and heavy through devices – and you have a wholly different experience. Then the Mammut 8.7 Crag Sender Dry Rope comes along – a spritely, swift-handling line which isn’t ready for daily abuse – and you’re at the whole other end of the spectrum.

And with that, the character of the rope affects the character of your climbs. A thin sender line will flow up climbs easily and a thick workhorse will drag, but it’ll take a beating and keep going. A 9.5 line like the Crag Dry Duodess fits in the lower middle of the diameter range among modern ropes. It’s the size I recommend to friends asking for a good first rope – a do-it-all, if you will. A 9.5 line won’t weigh you down too badly in the backcountry, and it won’t linger on your mind as an unaddressed risk for your sketchy, sharp project. This rope sits right in that sweet spot. Thick enough for mental reassurance, and thin enough to feel agile.

That’s exactly what this rope feels like, too. It’s the sweet spot. The Crag Dry Duodess handles wonderfully well. It’s predictably supple without being soft. It’s just as happy flowing through a Grigri as it is running through an ATC, and I never had trouble with it locking up in the ATC when loaded, an issue that can come up with some softer, thinner lines.

More than anything else, the Crag Dry Duodess just feels good in the hand. It’s comfortable to clip, tie knots in, flake, and coil. Perhaps as a result of the dry treatment it carries, it has a smooth, tight-weave feel in the hand. It’s a nice quality for a rope that sees a lot of pitches, and not a given, by any means.

It’d be a big miss to not address that this rope is dry treated. I’ve been using this rope as my primary line for the past 2+ months and have been working on an FA project in the North Cascades which has required heavy cleaning. The poor Crag Dry has seen an absurd amount of wet moss, plants, dirt, and coiling on snowfields. Never once has it saturated. The dry treatment does its job.

Seems like a good enough time to address durability. Nothing eats a rope like FA work. This unfortunate rope has seen it all, as I alluded to above, even a fair amount of ascender use. Somehow though, in spite of it being my rope for all things these past months, it’s still going strong. No soft spots, minor sheath cuts, or even fraying really. So far, I’m prepared to call this a durable rope. It’s very much on the right track to go into my beaters hall of fame.

It’s also ready to climb right out of the packaging, which is nice. I’m pretty easily irritated by pig-tailing, personally, so I still flaked the rope 5 times out of the packaging. The rope has not pig-tailed on me even once. It hasn’t even displayed any more minor twisting. Thank goodness. I’m not patient enough for rope twisting.

What on earth is Duodess, you ask? It’s just Mammut’s fancy feature word for bi-pattern. One half of the rope is one pattern, and the other half is another pattern. I can’t stress enough how useful this is. The challenge of finding the middle-mark of an old rope is needless and frustrating. No matter how tired your bi-pattern rope is though, you’ll know where the middle is, because the pattern is materially different from one meter to the next. As a result, rigging rappels is easier and quicker. It also makes for an easier indication when you’re putting up a new route you want to be able to rap with a single 60, but admittedly, that’s just my own edge case perk.

Pricing for this line is more or less on the mark for a dry treated, bi-pattern 60 meter single. $280 is a lot for a rope generally, but it’s near the middle of the pack, or perhaps a tad high, for a rope with similar features. Of course, you can find other ropes with similar features for less, but again, ropes are not a commodity item. Budget options may vary in quality. Still, $280 is not nothing.

Buy Now: Available at Mammut