How much & what type cord do you take out?

[emma_melbourne]

I am curious to know how much cord, and what type of cord you all take out in your pack, on a multi-day hike?

I recently bought some Titan Survivor Paracord to cut some to throw into my pack for longer hikes and bug out bag. But now I'm just pondering what length to put in my pack, and whether to take a smaller diameter cord.

I will be interested to hear what you all do re cord.

Best,

Emma

[Moondog55]

If with kids I include a safety rope, 6mm Dyneema cored. Either 15m or 35m
In winter because I may need to get from one snow pole to another in a total whiteout I keep 100m of brickies in my bum bag. Apart from that a 15m length of Zing-it and an unknown length of Lash-it, probably 30m but it is whatever length Tier-Gear were selling at the time. I still carry a pair of boot laces even tho I haven't broken a boot lace in 30 years

[Mark F]

I carry two guy lines (1.5mm dyneema) about 1.8m long. These can be used to make my tent more stormproof or increase pitching options in awkward locations and will fill in a clothes line if necessary. Otherwise I don't bother.

[Huntsman247]

I've added 2-3m lengths of 2mm dyneema to all the peg out points of my tent.
Super useful when camping a lot on hard dirt or rock and a lot more secure than pegs when tying off to shrubs. Hardly ever use pegs now.
Then I have another 10m length of the same 2mm dyneema which I use as a clothes line/emergency cord/ect.
Depending on where I go, I might bring along a 20m length of 8mm static rope and a prusik loop for pack hauling. Or 2 lengths of 4m climbing webbing/tape for scrambling. I tend to favour the tape over the cord as you can grab it better.

[FatCanyoner]

The obvious question is what kind of trip are you doing and what do you want to use the cord for. That would greatly influence the answer to your question. There's a lot of factors that determine what items and in what quantities I carry them.

For basic offtrack / exploratory walking where scrambling is potentially involved, I generally take a tape rather than rope (tubular tape / webbing is much easier on the hands and easier to get a firm grip on). About 5m would be a standard length, but I sometimes take more (or two lengths to share the weight).

If the scrambling is going to get more challenging, to the point where top belays may be required for some people, or short abseils needed, I obviously take rope (usually 20 - 30m). For trips where abseiling is likely, I carry a proper 8mm canyoning rope (Bluewater Canyon Extreme). If it's more about having something for unforeseen / emergency settings, I currently carry a fancy 6mm emergency abseil ropes (I use the AustriAlpin CORE.DY). Combined with a tape harness and mini-descender, I can abseil short drops or set up solid top belays for only a few hundred grams pack weight.

For around camp, I'd second the others who recommend thin dyneema cord. Traditional cords, including most of what gets sold as paracord, is made of nylon. It isn't particularly strong, but more of an issue is that it's naturally stretchy (and becomes more so when wet). If you use it for a clothes line or to tie out a fly or tent in the rain, it tends to sag. The dyneema cords are stronger, more static, and you can get away with thinner diameters (reducing bulk and pack weight). Dyneema cord is as strong as steel cable of the same diametre, and if you use good quality stuff it's almost as static. Much better for holding things firm. That said, it's not much chop as emergency boot laces because it's so slippery.

There are lots of different types of trip, and what you carry should vary between them. Carrying the same setup for every trip means you'll either be lugging unnecessary items, or not enough gear, on most trips.