What kind of rope for bear bag?

[Jarrett Lambright]

I used to carry some pretty heavy cheap dept store rope to hang my bear bag, I am going to probably just take some paracord this year. How much length is recommended? Is there something better/lighter out there than paracord? I just happen to have some 50 foot lengths of it laying around.

[Brad Rogers]

Arborist Throw Line. I use 50' feet of Zing-It and it weighs 1.05oz in a rock size stuff sack.

[Travis Leanna]

Any rope will do, but some are better suited for the task; i.e. very light, strong, a smooth flat weave which will aid in sliding over the branch, and long enough.

I had been using Kelty Triptease because that's what I had lying around, but I switched to the AntiGravityGear's Treeline. 40 feet of Spectra rope with built in rock sack. 1 ounce, $18. Not a bad deal.

[Brad Rogers]

The only problem with using any type of rope, like triptease, is that it is very abrasive and harmful to the trees (or so I am told). The "bear bag" lines are coated and much easier on the trees. That being said, I did use paracord for years.

[Travis Leanna]

>The only problem with using any type of rope, like triptease, is that it is very abrasive and harmful to the trees (or so I am told).

That's why I switched. Though, it was fun to shine a light on the Triptease at night and have it look like laser beams in the trees.

[Ken Thompson]

I just switched to an ursack. Life is good

[Unknown abc]

Paracord or dacron kite cord works fine… at least 40ft worth.

"That's why I switched. Though, it was fun to shine a light on the Triptease at night and have it look like laser beams in the trees."

yeah that has another purpose as well, to make sure your food is still there lol :D

[Travis Leanna]

Ken,
Are those still not allowed to replace bear canisters where bear canisters are required?

[Ken Thompson]

Yes, but if you are able to hang it is a good option.

[Hiking Malto]

The thin cord like triptease could be a problem if it does cut into the branch. Had that happen and it took several minutes to free it up. There may be a "slippery" version but until I find it I'm switching back to paracord. (On the few occasions that canisters aren't required.)

[Corey Miller]

I always use 550 Paracord. It has other uses as well. Melts well to hold together, inner strings are easily removied and used for other things. I always carry 50 feet with me.

[josh wagner]

i too use it. $5 for 50 ft of it at the local army/navy. i took out the inner core as others have said. truthfully though most nights i just put my food in my pack under a tree near my hammock

[Jack H.]

Is AntiGravityGear's Treeline the stuff to get? I'd consider carrying heavier lines. I'm looking for durability on the order of resisting damage from 30-40 pounds of food about three hundred nights. I had been thinking of 3 mil accessory cord. Paracord tends to break on me or get stuck. I don't like it anymore. I don't think that triptease is heavy enough for my needs, but wonder about some full spectra stuff.

[Quinn Nelson]

REI sells this PMI reflective/glow in the dark line off the spool for $.30 a foot. Although i'm not sure how heavy it is it might be a decent substitute.

http://www.rei.com/product/716688

[Greg Mihalik]

Jack,
Not knowing your style of hanging, I'll offer for consideration the use of a very small pulley, especially for those weights.

Throw a line over, thread "light line #2"(LL2) through the pulley and haul it up. Then tie the food to LL2 and hang it. To retrieve the pulley, lower the food, and pull on Both ends of LL2.

We have also tied off the pulley to the center of a long line and then thrown each end, remembering to thread the pulley with LL2 before tieing off the 2nd end.

This greatly reduces the sawing action of a line into the limb. It greatly increases the life of the line.

If this has merit for you, the challenge will be find a small, quality, pulley tight enough in the shackle to keep LL2 from inadvertently wedging between the two.

[Ike Mouser]

dynaglide 2mm, speer no tangle, paracord, zing it, all will work.

@jackH:

Speer no tangle is tough.

[Elena Lee]

i got the aircore from this website (the same rope as they use in their bear bag system) and we are pretty happy with it. first it feels like its covered with wax so it never soaks thru like other ropes do. it's flat so it's easier to get it off the tree. and we also always got it off the tree without being stuck in the branches and bark, and believe me, we've done some crazy tangly throws.

[Bob Gross]

Fortunately, most people here are hanging normal quantities of food, like for one or two people for one week.

I witnessed a strange sight one time. One leader was leading a group of 14 or so on the JMT from Tuolumne Meadows to Reds Meadow, and they were going to be out for a week or something. I had temporarily intercepted them to deliver 20 pounds of wine and beer. After the evening meal was done, they had two gigantic Army duffle bags full of food to hang. It must have been well over 200 pounds of food. The strongest guys were pulling away on a skimpy rope, and it looked like a tug-of-war that they would lose. It is really hard to get a good grip on a skimpy rope. Finally I showed them how to wrap the skimpy rope around a stick, and then pull the stick. Somehow I had a feeling that the skimpy rope was not going to last all the way down the JMT. Make sure that you can grip the rope!
–B.G.–

[Anonymous]

Not only are skimpy ropes hard to pull, they are hard on trees. They slice through the bark when hauled up/down loaded. I use a nylon utility rope similar to, but lighter than, clothes line, even at the cost of an ounce and a half or so, to avoid damaging trees.

Good point, Bob, about wrapping the rope around a stick. It works especially well for me for controlling the rope with one hand while tying a clove hitch with the other using the PCT bagging method.

[Bob Gross]

I never used the PCT bagging technique.

I used the two-rope technique. It wasn't so bad as long as you had three or four hands.

But then, Yosemite got strict about bear canisters, so the bagging technique is now becoming a lost art.

–B.G.–

[Anonymous]

"But then, Yosemite got strict about bear canisters, so the bagging technique is now becoming a lost art."

One more reason I don't backpack in Yosemite.

[Bob Gross]

The reason that I do backpack in Yosemite with a bear canister is that most of the rest of the oldtimers quit because of the canister rule. It isn't so crowded anymore.

–B.G.–

[Anonymous]

"It isn't so crowded anymore."

Maybe I'll give it another look. Last time I was there was for a climb of Cathedral Spire in the Valley in 1990. Traffic jams, smog, traffic cops, McDonalds. Swore I'd never return. Almost as bad going out of Tuolomne Meadows in 1974, which was the last time before that. I haven't ventured noth of Bishop ever since, or in between those dates for that matter. :(

[Bob Gross]

There is the problem. You confuse Yosemite Park with Yosemite Valley. I almost never go to the valley. That's where all of the tourons go. When I go to any of the standard backcountry locations, I go in the off-season. During the season, I go to the Old Secret Lake or the New Secret Lake, or to similar places where I am unlikely to meet anybody.

Yosemite Valley is less than 10% of the overall park area, yet that is where more than 90% of the tourists spend their time.

Let me see if I can approximate the quotation by Dr. Paul Ehrlich. He found it hard to understand why people would live in a place like Los Angeles, where the population density is so high, and the air quality is so bad. They live there for fifty weeks of the year so that they can be close enough to take their two-week vacation to a Yosemite Valley campground where the population density is even higher, and the air quality is even worse.

–B.G.–

[Anonymous]

"There is the problem. You confuse Yosemite Park with Yosemite Valley."

Reread my post, Bob. Notice I mentioned Tuolumne Meadows as well. I'm not quite that big an idiot, although some might question that bold statement.

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