The Glacier Black Cascade PolliWog rope: 6.5mm, Sheath: 50% Mass, UHMPE/ Vectran (Liquid Crystal Polymer: LCP) Core: 50% Mass, UHMPE, 23g/m. Photo: HowNot2
Eyeing Skinny Rope Alternatives, the Glacier Black Cascade PoliWog gets our attention for general ski mountaineering.
Not too long ago, it felt pretty reasonable to say that I had experience with every ski rope available on the market and could tell readers exactly what rope they wanted for a given application. Come 2025, I’m not sure it’s reasonable to strive for this anymore. A gear closet can only fit so many ropes. Similar to skis, climbing harnesses, helmets, or any other widely used gear, we can make educated guesses on what the best products are, given what we may value. As a reviewer, I get more opportunities than most to try things and prove myself right or wrong.
Back to ski ropes. The landscape has changed since the Espirit Personal Escape Rope, Petzl Rad Line, or some variety of accessory cords were only options for lightweight, static ski ropes. The Rad Line reigns king these days, the Kleenex of ski ropes. Many folks newer to technical skiing might not even know that other options exist. At nearly $500 for 60m, Rad Line is wildly expensive—not to single out Petzl, Mammut glacier cord is about the same cost.
Until a few years ago, I strongly advocated for the Beal Backup line, although it sacrificed some durability relative to the Petzl/Mammut options. Still, it was significantly cheaper and offered similar enough performance. Over the last couple of seasons, however, I’ve started looking elsewhere for more performance, value, and longevity. I outlined some options that have ‘worked out’ here and won’t mention the various bits of cord and rope that haven’t worked so well. Long story short, the CE4Y slick line and, for some uses, the Marlow R8 have worked out well for me as non-mainstream options that are better in some ways and offer few real-world downsides to the common options. A few weeks ago, I got my hands on a third quiet alternative, the Glacier Black Cascade PoliWog. It may be the most compelling option for general skiing use that I’ve covered thus far.
PolliWog (left) at 6.5mm and 23g/m and the Beal Backup Line (right) at 21g/m and 5mm.
PolliWog (right) will take up just a bot more volume in the pack relative to the Beal Backup Line (left).
Here is what the PoliWog has going for it:
- $180/60m
- 6.5mm diameter
- UHMWPE/Vectran sheath and UHMWPE core
- 20kN straight pull
- 23g/m (verified)
What are the downsides? Being 6.5mm and having a touch stiffer hand than something like the Beal Backup line adds a touch of volume to the packed size. The only other downside is that it is not currently EN564 certified. Does this matter? I’m not so sure it does. After some conversations with Shawn at Glacier Black, along with reading the specs for EN564rating, it is apparent that this certification is wildly under-specced for the performance we desire for rappelling and glacier travel. By my understanding, EN564 defines practices for determining rope diameter, tensile strength, knotted loop strength, and mass per unit length. The standard also provides a minimum spec for tensile strength for each diameter—the relevant values here being 7.2kN for 6mm and 9.8kN for 7mm. This certification does not go into anything related to rappelling or glacier travel adequacy. These recommendations come directly from manufacturers and are advanced use cases that require care, experience, and understanding of the risks posed by these applications.
All this is to say that Glacier Black recommends the PoliWog as a pull cord. Use as a rappel or glacier rope is currently outside the recommended scope.
Do with this as you will. I’ve been working on my friction testing setup to round out my big rope test with some good quantitative data. Stay tuned for some good porch rappelling content.
PoliWog is available directly from Glacier Black or from Hownot2.com.
