Currently, there is no way to accurately measure the lifespan of a climbing rope. A rope can be invisibly damaged after taking numerous big falls and without destroying a rope’s sheath to look at its core, there isn’t an accurate and repeatable way to determine whether it is fit for use or not.

‘LIFELINE’ is a piece of climbing equipment that measures the impact of a fall taken on a climbing rope. It is paired with an accompanying app that logs the falls and uses software to calculate the remaining lifespan of the rope before it should be retired. The product can be integrated into the lead or top-rope climbing for single rope setups.

The form of the product is not only elegant but incredibly functional, as it has been led by an iterative design process. This involved carrying out many simulations in Solidworks and Fusion 360 to optimise how the product can distribute the forces as efficiently as possible, whilst also being as light and compact as it can be. What also makes ‘LIFELINE’ so strong and light is that it’s made from 7075 aluminium that has been hot forged, heat-treated, bead blasted, and anodised to increase its overall strength and durability. Designing in this way with this material has meant that the product can take over 40kN of force whilst only being 232g, making it twice as strong as your typical carabiner!

‘LIFELINE’ is the only product of its kind on the market; giving climbers the peace of mind that they aren’t using a potentially life-threatening rope ever again.