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Sierra ski mountaineering easy with Sterling Rope 7.7mm Ice Thong

Kip Garre

Posted on: May 25, 2006

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MSRP: $115

When the Sterling Ice Thong 7.7mm 30-meter twin rope arrived at my door, I spent the night rearranging my gear in different backpacks to see how well it stored in each. I was so stoked to see how little space it took up in my daypack. At 40 grams per meter, it is the lightest Sterling Rope in the Evolution Rope Series line and one of the lightest ropes available on the market. The next morning I was off to ski "O for 1," a local run that has a 30-foot repel in the middle of it.

The run is steep and technical so I like to have a light pack if possible. And my pack was noticeably lighter with this rope, no joke. Mentally I was psyched to have the light pack climbing up, but skiing down was where a felt a huge difference. With the pack being lighter, the skiing was nicer, and that�'s the reason I was there. Right? The rope is a 7.7 so it did move fast through a repel device. There was no problem with snow sticking to the rope and before I new it, I was stuffing it back into my pack to get some sweet pow turns. I will be able to carry this twin rope for a while. Sterling twists the sheath yarn in production, making this baby last longer. The rope is also versatile: the manufacturer claims the Ice Thong is a good choice for ski mountaineering, alpine/mixed, mountain/expedition and ice climbing. I will definitely carry the 7.7mm Ice Thong in my pack in the future.