ProView – Beal Joker 9.1mm Golden Dry Review

Knowing how a rope will perform when looking at figures like impact force, sheath percentage, or dynamic elongation can be more confusing than helpful. That’s why we took the Beal Joker out to several of the Eastern Sierra’s finest crags and alpine playgrounds to see how it performed. While an experienced climber can tell a lot about how a rope will perform based on the stats, the handling and catch can be hard to decipher with numbers alone. We’ll save you some time and say right now, the Joker is one of the best handling ropes we’ve used.

The Eastern Sierra is a climber’s paradise throughout every season. Here, winter and spring are for bouldering and sport climbing at a mix of world-class venues such as the Buttermilk Boulders, the Owens River Gorge, and Pine Creek Canyon. In the summer and fall, it is alpine season with attractions like the Incredible Hulk and Mount Whitney drawing international crowds. This fall we tested the Beal Joker across several crags at Rock Creek and Lee Vining Canyon, as well as some local alpine venues. 

From the get-go, it was apparent that Beal pays special attention to small details. As many experienced climbers know, it’s important to remove twists from a new rope before weighting it as, whether superstition or not, it seems to set permanent twists in the rope. While some companies have invested in machines that lap coil new ropes, Beal created the shockingly simple “Magic Pack” which is a small hole in the plastic packaging. The new rope is pulled out through this which reverses the twist that’s created during packaging, sort of like how mountaineers’ coils have to be taken off of a climber one by one. 

This didn’t entirely eliminate coils, unfortunately, though it’s possible that our extra efforts, running the rope through a carabiner, may have been detrimental. The first session, as it often does with a new rope, involved plenty of pigtails and coils. This did resolve fairly quickly, by the second day out, the Joker was running smooth, which was in our experience better than normal. By the time we took the Joker out in the mountains, coiling was as much of an issue as weight (at only 53g/m), while they were never nonexistent, they were negligible.

Performance

At 9.1mm, the Beal Joker is closer to a cragging rope than a true skinny line. While 9.1 was as thin as it gets five years ago, many now use a 9.2 to 9.4 as a workhorse, and the Joker felt capable of some abuse. Though its sheathe percentage is a touch lower than similar diameter ropes, the Unicore construction, which binds the sheathe to the core, seems to provide additional support to the sheath and likely decreases the “sheathe mass” as the figure typically comes from the percentage of total weight. While this still means the sheathe likely has a slight bit less material compared to other ropes, it makes up for it in the ability to take sheathe damage without propagating down the rope. In fact the Joker, along with their other Unicore ropes, can be used with a core shot. While nobody would feel comfortable prolonging the life of a core shot rope, it’s an extra layer or backup when using the Joker in the mountains. 

Durability

Durability in ropes is also aided by dry treatment. The “Golden Dry” treatment protects both the core and sheathe, whereas their “Dry Cover” treats just the sheathe yarns. While keeping water out of a rope keeps it running well and prevents change of dynamic properties, it also improves durability and is often the real reason to drop extra cash for a treated rope. The dry treatment helps lubricate the yarns and keep dirt out, decreasing friction, which is the ultimate cause of wear and tear, and even catastrophic failure in ropes (not that it happens much outside of test labs). This increase in durability is hard to overstate, which is why most people recommend and buy dry-treated ropes for any outside use. We were lucky enough to climb with a Joker that’s a few years old, and the durable feel was evident as the old rope was only a bit puffier and softer than the new one, with the owner using it mostly for sport climbing in the Gorge. 

Rope Feel

One of the best features of the Joker was the smooth handling characteristics, which may be a result of a higher yarn count at 48, comparatively, similar diameter ropes often have 40. During testing, it ran smoothly through belay devices and found a sweet spot, being stiff enough to clip easily, but soft enough to knot and handle well. Compared to similar ropes, it felt a touch on the softer end which we liked. 

The supple nature of the Joker also resulted in a soft catch, thanks to the slightly lower impact force at 8.2kn. This goes hand in hand with a term known as dynamic elongation, which is length during the peak force of a fall, minus the original length, divided by the original length. In the case of the Joker, the dynamic elongation is 34%. Compared to similar ropes, the Joker has a slightly high elongation and low impact force. 

To put it simply, more elongation means a softer catch. While too much elongation can make a rope feel too bouncy, and actually provide more speed when a climber accelerates back into the wall, too little provides a harsh catch and higher forces on gear. Elongation and impact force are complicated as there is no perfect number, but we liked the performance from the Joker, even taking some bigger falls to test it out. The decreased impact force of the Joker is also an important feature when climbing with gear, as the decrease from 8.9kn to 8.2kn might mean a cam that stays in place instead of blowing out. 

These forces should also be mentioned to be a bit on the extreme side, as forces above 4.5kn are very uncommon in most realistic scenarios. When ropes are tested to give impact force and “UIAA Falls” they’re subjected to a possible but uncommon amount of force. These tests are done by dropping an 80kg rigid weight with a fall factor of 1.7, which means the fall distance is 1.7 times the amount of rope in the system, usually a fall of 4.8m with 2.75m of rope in the system. The impact force is measured as the peak of force on the first fall, and the test can repeat until a rope fails, with no time for the rope to relax in between. While the test is considered a bit contrived to some, it is important that ropes hold up to more abuse than climbers are likely to give, which would be at least five UIAA falls, which is the number the Joker is given. While some similar ropes are tested to seven or eight falls, it’s not a metric that should be too concerning, as most thin ropes that provide a softer catch do worse in this test. 

Overall, the Beal Joker was a joy to climb with, providing good handling within the first few uses, and a supple catch when we weren’t up to the task. Most of all we enjoyed the handling, which reminded us of thicker more durable ropes in some ways, it felt confidence-inspiring whereas some other ropes in the low 9mm category feel a bit too thin to use for cragging.

You should know:

• Climbers and belayers were all within approximately 30 lbs of one another. 
• We belayed with the Petzl Neox, Petzl GriGri, DMM Pivot, and Petzl Reverso
• The Joker is rated as a Single rope, as well as a Half and Twin, as it can be used in unison with another rope.

What sets the product apart?

Ropes in the low 9mm category are often dedicated towards only alpine climbing, or high-end sport climbing, whereas the Joker excels at both. 

Who is the product for?

Climbers who want one rope that can be used as a daily driver just as much as an alpine workhorse. The Joker would also make a great red-point rope for sport climbers trying to save grams and maintain a good clip, as well as a more durable option for alpine climbing or mountaineering, especially thanks to the Unicore construction. 

Friendliness to the Earth

Beal is making some efforts to have less impact on the environment recently launching a new rope that is claimed to be the world’s first 100% recycled rope. They have ropes that are Bluesign compliant, one of the most strict environmental certification boards in the industry, and they even plant a tree for every rope sold. While we can’t comment on the realistic benefit of that tree, some of Beal’s practices are quite good. That said, the Joker is not a Bluesign product and does not contain recycled materials. Beal does offer rope recycling, though not completely uncommon, closing the loop after product life is a key factor to environmentally friendly practices.   

The Final Word

The Beal Joker is one of the best choices for a one-rope quiver for sport and trad climbing. Straddling the divide between being a dedicated alpine or sport rope, the Joker is a low compromise line that adds excellent handling and catch to a list of impressive features. Our only complaint was that we wished it was available in a bi-pattern. 

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