New Edelrid Neo 3R Is 50% Recycled
This new offering might be the greenest climbing rope out there.
Review Rating
Basics
Helps reduce our carbon footprint without sacrificing performance or safety. Reliable and versatile cragging cord that is durable enough for route working but is lightweight enough for redpointing.
60 and 70 meters
61 grams per meter
$220
Edelrid
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Edelrid’s Neo 3R is likely the greenest rope out there—it’s made 50 percent from recycled pre-consumer rope materials. How Edelrid derives the material is a complex story (visit edelrid.de/en/microsite/neo-3r.php). Essentially, they take leftover cuttings/yarns from the manufacture of other ropes, blend these polyamide materials into a fluffy grist, and then process that grist into regranulate pellet form. Finally, the regranulate is extruded into yarns woven into the final rope.
I tested both locally and in Ten Sleep. The Neo 3R is rated to five UIAA falls, weighs 61 g/m, and has a dynamic elongation of 37 percent, a static elongation of 8.3 percent, and an impact force of 8.6 kN—pretty standard rope specs. Even new, the rope had a remarkably soft, broken-in hand that made for easy handling and soft catches. At 9.8 mm, it was a reliable, versatile cragging cord—thick enough for working burns and toproping but not cumbersome on redpoints. The Neo is also bluesign certified—a certification for textiles made with ecological rigor during sourcing and production