ISPO Award Winner 2025: Mammut 9.8 Crag Recycled Classic Rope

A rope isn’t just equipment. It’s the lifeline. And while sustainability always played an important role in production in recent years, safety is still what is even more important. The Mammut 9.8 Crag Recycled Classic Rope respects that responsibility while proving that sustainable production can now match the demands of modern climbing.

For years, recycled polyamide was seen as a compromise in performance gear. Abrasion resistance, longevity and handling were the sticking points. Mammut set out to challenge this assumption. The result is a rope made from 100% recycled polyamide that performs on par with its virgin-material counterpart. On the wall and in the lab, the rope demonstrates identical abrasion resistance, smooth handling and dependable performance for sport, trad or indoor use in the climbing gym.

Mammut’s Product Manager Magnus Raström describes the significance of the breakthrough for the brand: “The Mammut 9.8 Crag Recycled Classic sets a new benchmark in sustainable climbing gear. Combining high-performance handling with bluesign® certified, recycled materials, it delivers the reliability climbers expect, while actively reducing CO₂ emissions. We are proud of it, since it’s a large step forward toward truly circular production.”

A major driver behind the rope’s reduced footprint is its use of BASF’s Ultramid Ccycled polyamide, produced via a mass-balance approach. A mass balance approach is a certified method ensuring that the amount of recycled content fed into the system is accurately allocated to specific products and this way makes their impact more traceable. Even though materials flow through the same production streams, an independent certification verifies that the correct share of recycled feedstock is used. This allows manufacturers to reduce fossil resource use and lower CO₂ emissions without changing product quality or performance. By replacing fossil-based feedstock with recycled materials, the Mammut 9.8 Crag Recycled Classic cuts CO₂ emissions by 56% across production. That’s a saving of 17.1 kg CO₂e for a single 60-meter rope which is an impressive reduction for such a safety-critical product category.

Just as important is what does not change. Rope handling feels smooth and no different. The 9.8 Crag Recycled Classic also offers abrasion resistance and durability comparable to Mammut’s standard 9.8mm Crag Classic rope made from virgin materials. The brand has rigorously tested it both on their rope abrasion test machine and through real-world trials with Mammut athletes, where the results demonstrate that it withstands wear and tear just as effectively as the brand’s virgin material rope.The rope also remains bluesign approved, reflecting Mammut’s longstanding commitment to responsible textile production. It follows the brand’s classic rope design with vibrant orange stripe, strong color contrast, intuitive visibility while adding a green base tone that reflects its sustainable mission.

The Mammut 9.8 Crag Recycled Classic Rope shows that circularity isn’t a distant ideal but a step-by-step process. This rope marks a significant milestone: a fully functional, high-performance climbing rope with dramatically lower emissions. No compromises. No shortcuts. Just progress woven into every meter.

• 100% recycled polyamide with a 56% lower CO₂ footprint
• Abrasion performance equal to virgin-material ropes
• bluesign approved production
• Versatile for indoor, sport and trad climbing
• Proof that circular materials can meet modern safety and durability standards