Sterling Solid

The purpose for this testing is to try to determine the “best practices” when it comes to providing belays for firefighters who are performing escape systems training. Motivation for the testing comes from both documented c … read more about Belaying for Firefighter Escape Training: Researching Best Practices

H3 Tech 11 | Klementovich As part of our commitment to making the best quality life safety products, we recently received 3rd party certification for the H3 Tech11 to meet ANSI Z359.15 by UL. As part of the Fall Protection Code, ANS … read more about The H3 Tech11 is 3rd Party Certified to ANSI Z359.15

Sterling Athlete Anna Pfaff Summer, 2022 I had always wanted to climb in Alaska. With its epic peaks and stories of alpine endeavors, I knew my time to go there would come sooner than later. This past April I found myself boarding a … read more about Dyad Performance Review on Mount Huntington, Alaska

Sterling Athlete Rob Pizem climbed over 100,000 vertical feet on an early prototype sample of XEROS and never even trimmed the ends. He did this as an extreme test of durability. We do not recommend pushing the life of your rope so long … read more about XEROS Climbing Rope Testing

Photo taken by Joe Stylos Congratulations to Sterling Athlete Kevin Lindlau on sending his long-term project "A Line Above the Sky" D15 in the Italian Dolomites. This is significant as the climb has seen relatively few ascents over t … read more about Kevin Lindlau Sends "A Line Above the Sky" D15

Ten Sleep RJ Griffis @pabloaguilar-esplanada It has been brought to our attention that it is possible that a small number of Sterling accessory cord spools, from a recent time period, may contain a splice using transparent heat shrin … read more about NOTICE TO INSPECT: 6-8mm Accessory Cord Spools

The AZTEK (Arizona Technicians Edge Kit)multi-use rescue tool The AZTEK was created by Reed Thorne of Ropes that Rescue with Sterling developing the sewn cord components. The Kit has evolved through the years and in pursuit of const … read more about Aramid Fibers Testing for the AZTEK HD

We put together the following recommendations to help answer some of your questions about your ropes and equipment regarding the novel Corona virus, COVID-19 and other contaminates. Sterling has conducted testing on two disinfectant cle … read more about Cleaning and Disinfecting your Climbing Equipment

As the Technical Advisor here at Sterling, I handle a lot of customer service questions. One that I receive quite often is: Hey, I just measured my rope and it’s only 58 meters (188.5’). What’s up with that? My … read more about How Long is My Climbing Rope?

So, you may be wondering, "When was my rope born? How can I tell, so I know when to retire it?" We're here to help you solve the mystery. Every single rope that comes out of our factory has a lot number on the end label- the little yell … read more about How Do I Read Sterling Lot Numbers?

As part of being a world-class life safety rope manufacturer, the R&D department at Sterling Rope has the ability to carry out a wide variety of tests on rope, webbing, hardware, and systems in accordance to a range of standards from: … read more about Sterling Test Facilities

I hope you can appreciate that we are not at liberty to disclose too much technical detail given the heavy R&D investment we’ve made and the proprietary nature of the entire process. I suspect you’d get a similar respons … read more about What Goes Into the DryXP UIAA Water Repellent Treatment

3-sigma testing, determines the minimum break strength (mbs) of our ropes Sterling Rope uses 3-sigma testing, also known as the three-sigma rule, to evaluate and determine the minimum break strength (mbs) of our ropes. Three-sigma is … read more about What is 3-Sigma?

Back tie, also known as tieback, is a method for applying tension on an anchor in order to reduce or eliminate an undesirable leverage (moment) on that anchor. I was recently asked by Reed Thorne of Ropes that Rescue to test a particula … read more about Tie Back Testing: Which Method is Strongest?

Tree care professionals use rope in a variety of ways every day, sometimes in applications the rope manufacturer may never have even imagined or intended; and no matter how skilled, talented, experienced, or smart a climber or branch ma … read more about Arbor Rigging: Knots, Hitches and "Do Nots"

The simple answer is yes, they certainly can be. There are a couple of reasons why you want to keep your rope as dry as possible while climbing. Reason 1: Wet ropes lose their dynamic (stretchy) properties thereby decreasing the ove … read more about Are Wet and Icy Ropes Dangerous?

Bicolor and Bipattern Bumps It’s important to know where the middle of the rope is on a climbing rope, and the best way to determine the middle is to use a bicolor or bipattern rope. Sterling uses two different techniques for a … read more about Bicolor and Bipattern Bumps

Many brands and styles of quickdraws (from the rock climbing world) on the market today come with rubber or elastic doodads (keepers) that keep the carabiners oriented properly. People have sometimes taken these doodads off the quickdra … read more about Use of a Keeper on the Chain Reactor is Not Recommended

Marina Inoue It’s important to purchase your life-safety equipment from respected and certified manufacturers. Part of understanding this significance is knowing whether products are certified, what the certifications mean and … read more about A Primer on Certifications

Rope Elongation One of the most critical elements in the specification of any rope is its measure of elongation: how much the rope stretches under varying degrees of load. Elongation is not a bad thing. For example, one good way to re … read more about Static Vs. Dynamic Ropes for Arbor Use

The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) promotes the growth and protection of mountaineering and climbing worldwide by advancing safe and ethical mountain practices through the development of safety standards for … read more about UIAA Certifications

Sterling is dedicated to producing the best possible product, and that means researching and testing our products thoroughly. Some testing is required for certification, but that’s only the beginning. We submit our ropes to a batt … read more about Testing: Fire Escape Anchors

Sterling is dedicated to producing the best possible product, and that means researching and testing our products thoroughly. Some testing is required for certification, but that’s only the beginning. We submit our ropes to a batt … read more about Testing: Abrasion Resistance

Sterling Rope Company, Inc. unveils a Design Clinic project through Smith College’s Picker Engineering Program. As a leading US-manufacturing company, Sterling will work with a team of students for the 2016-2017 academic year to d … read more about Press Release: Collaborative Project with Smith College

Sara Fleetwood Sterling Product Engineer When designing our new CanyonLux rope, we sought out expert canyoneers and guides to test the prototypes. We sent our rope engineers into the field to see, firsthand, how the ropes are used in … read more about Testing: The New CanyonLux

Patric Santerre Industrial Designer-Architect The athleticism of an arborist swinging high in a tree cutting dead branches is impressive, as is a firefighter hanging from a building or ladder in a daring life-safety rescue. What they … read more about The New Sterling Training Center

Drop testing for dynamic ropes Most standards for rope construction contain a requirement for drop testing. A drop test involves anchoring one end of the rope to test frame or tower and the other to a mass, raising the mass to a cert … read more about Sterling R&D Report: An Overview on Drop Testing

As part of new product development and ongoing product testing, we conducted a series of static and dynamic tests of popular hitches commonly used in the arbor industry. The purpose of the testing was to provide comparative data for the … read more about Testing: Friction Hitch Cords