Breaking the world record is now down to points of a second. Apart from the climbers fitness and footlock style the choice of rope is one area where a climber might be able to shave a few milliseconds off the result. The weight of the rope, sheath slippage and stretch are a couple of factors to observe.
Nicky Ward-Allen used 10mm Globe 5000 made by Teufelberger for her record breaking climbs.James Kilpatrick chose 10mm Armor-Prus from Donahys New Zealand for his successful attempt. Armor-Prus is primarily used as a friction cord. It is typically sold by the meter but is also available on a 25m roll - custom lengths are by special order.
Have a look at the comparison specs below and you'll see Armor-Prus is slightly lighter than Globe 5000 but otherwise they are very similar.
Hong Kong-based Treetools blog reader ling ling ling used powerful computer software (Cyberlink PowerDirector for the nerds amongst you) to analyze the video footage of James' climb. Ling Ling reckons the actual time is closer to 13.22 seconds.
Does that mean we are likely to see a sub 13 second climb (for the mens event) at the World's in Sydney?