Top rope climbing#Equipment

File:Toprope Zeichnung.jpg

In top-roping, the climber and their belayer (or "second"), arrange a fixed anchor at the top of the climb and then hang the rope down from this anchor at the rope's approximate mid-point, so that two parts of the rope are now hanging down the route. By definition, top-roping is only possible where the climbers can get to the top of the route by other means so that they can set up the anchor and pass the rope through it.

Once the top rope is set up, the climber is then tied to one end of the rope (using a figure-eight loop follow-through knot), and the belayer clips their belay device into the other side of the hanging rope. As the climber ascends the route, the belayer "takes in" the "slack" in the rope, so that a climber who falls can simply hang from the rope, unlike a lead climber who falls at least twice the distance to their last point of climbing protection.{{cite web | website=GearJunkie | url=https://gearjunkie.com/climbing/top-rope-vs-lead-climbing-explainer | title=Climbing Explainer: Belaying for Top Roping vs. Leading | first=Sam | last=Anderson | date=1 February 2022 | accessdate=4 March 2023}}{{cite book|title=Sport Climbing: From Toprope to Redpoint, Techniques for Climbing Success|first=Andrew | last=Bisharat|date=6 October 2009|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MI8TCgAAQBAJ&q=climbing+deadpoint+dyno&pg=PT73 | publisher=Mountaineers Books | isbn=978-1594852701|accessdate=23 August 2023 | chapter=Chapter 1: Ethics, Style and Emergence of Sport Climbing}}{{cite book | title=How to Rock Climb | isbn=978-1493056262 | edition=6th | first1=John | last1=Long | first2=Bob | last2=Gaines | author-link=John Long (climber) | publisher=Falcon Guides | date=August 2022 | chapter=Chapter 9: Top roping | pages=235–258}}

In top-roping, the climbing rope needs to be at least twice the length of the climbing route (because the rope goes to the top of the climbing route and back to the climber who is starting at the ground level). As typical climbing ropes are {{Convert|50-60|m|ft|adj=off}} in length, it means that top-roping is only done on routes that are {{Convert|25-30|m|ft|adj=off}} in height (if not shorter, for safety), which are single-pitch routes.

A belayer who takes in all the slack and maintains a high level of tautness in the rope is giving the climber a source of artificial aid in ascending the route. A physically strong belayer, or a belayer with a light climber, can physically haul the climber up the route by pulling on the rope. Because of this, top roping is not considered free climbing (and nor is it considered lead climbing),{{cite web | magazine=Climbing | url=https://www.climbing.com/skills/how-to-lead-climb/ | title=A Beginner's Guide to Lead Climbing | first=Stephen | last=Potter | date=23 August 2022 | accessdate=18 March 2023}} and a top rope ascent cannot be used to claim a first free ascent (FFA) of a new climb.{{cite web | magazine=Climbing | url=https://www.climbing.com/skills/how-to-toprope-belay/#_pay-wall | title=How to Top Rope Belay | first=Max | last=Ritter | date=22 April 2022 | accessdate=5 March 2023}}

Before the arrival of sport climbing in the mid-1980s, practicing a traditional climbing route using a top rope before attempting to free climb the route was considered poor practice. A first free ascent where the climber had practiced the route on a top rope (called headpointing or hangdogging), was noted in guidebooks to record its lesser status.{{cite web | magazine=Gripped Magazine | url=https://gripped.com/profiles/redpoint-pinkpoint-and-headpoint-what-do-they-mean/ | title=Redpoint, Pinkpoint, and Headpoint – What Do They Mean? | first=Aaron | last=Pardy | date=5 November 2022 | accessdate=21 December 2022}}{{cite web | magazine=UKClimbing | title=Franco Cookson's Guide to Headpointing | first=Franco | last=Cookson | date=15 January 2019 | accessdate=5 March 2023 | url=https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/series/franco_cookson/franco_cooksons_guide_to_headpointing-11593}} When the sport climbing definition of an FFA — the redpoint — became the standard definition in sport climbing and traditional climbing, such distinctions were dropped, and leading climbers now make extensive legitimate use of hangdogging and headpointing top-roping techniques when preparing (or projecting) for redpoint FFAs.{{cite web | magazine=Gripped Magazine | url=https://gripped.com/profiles/five-reasons-top-roping-cool/ | date=19 March 2019 | accessdate=5 March 2023 | title=Five Reasons Why Top Roping is Cool}}{{cite web | magazine=Climbing | url=https://www.climbing.com/places/history-headpointing-peak-district-gritstone/ | title=How the World's Boldest Climbing Area Got that Way: How headpointing became a legitimate, go-to tactic on Peak District gritstone | first=Mike | last=Huttom | date=3 November 2022 | accessdate=13 February 2023}}

In the 1998 climbing film Hard Grit, British traditional climber Johnny Dawes advocated for the use of a top rope — with enough slack in the rope to avoid any implication of aid (so that in a fall, the climber would fall a few metres before the rope became taut)— to qualify as a free ascent on extreme traditional climbing routes, however, his view was not adopted by the wider climbing community.{{cite web | magazine=UKClimbing | first=Nick | last=Brown | date=21 March 2016 | accessdate=18 March 2023 | url=https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/the_last_great_problems_on_grit-8068 | title=The Last Great Problems on Grit|quote=Johnny believes that moving forward, there has to be less emphasis on leading routes. "What's wrong with a slack top rope?"}}

{{see also|Rock-climbing equipment}}

File:Starr 071222-0266 Salsola tragus.jpg]]

In common with lead climbing, top roping requires the standard equipment of a harness attached to one end of a dynamic kernmantle rope (usually via a figure-eight knot). The second, who is belaying, will use a standard mechanical belay device that is clipped into the rope, and which pays out the rope as needed but can grip it tightly to catch the climber in the event of a fall.

Top roping requires a fixed anchor at the top of the climb, from which two sides of the rope can be hung back down to the base. Because top roping is either done by novice climbers, or by experienced climbers practicing to attempt a route at the limit of their capabilities, there is a high probability that the anchor will experience a load, and it, therefore, needs to be strong.{{cite web | magazine=Rock & Ice | title=Climb Safe: Top Roping is Not So Safe | url=https://www.rockandice.com/climb-safe/climb-safe-top-roping-is-not-so-safe/ | date=2022 | accessdate=5 March 2023}} Some climbing areas place fixed artificial anchors (such as iron rings or cement blocks) at the top of routes to assist top rope climbers in creating a strong fixed anchor.

Some indoor climbing walls offer auto belay devices that enable a solo climber to top rope without a belay partner. The auto belay is fixed to the top of the route and the climber clips into a wire that pays out from the device, which enables the device to belay the climber as if they were on a top rope. Top roping with auto belay devices is the format used in competition speed climbing and in the speed elements of competition ice climbing.{{cite web | magazine=Climbing | url=https://www.climbing.com/news/gym-and-auto-belay-manufacturer-to-pay-6m-in-settlement-for-auto-belay-accident/ | title=Gym and Auto Belay Manufacturer to Pay $6M in Settlement for Auto Belay Accident | first=Delaney | last=Miller | date=21 September 2023 | accessdate=1 October 2023}}

{{see also|Rope solo climbing}}

Top rope solo climbing is where a single-length static fixed rope, anchored to the top of the route, is laid along the length of the climb (unlike normal top roping, the two sides of the rope are not needed). The climber then clips-into the fixed rope using at least one progress capture device (PCD) such as a Petzl Micro Traxion or a Camp Lift, that will allow the rope to pay-through as the climber ascends but will grip the rope tightly in the event of a fall.{{cite web | website=GearJunkie | url=https://gearjunkie.com/climbing/rope-solo-rock-climbing-how-to | title=Rope Solo Rock Climbing: Understanding How It's Done | first=Christian | last=Black | date=3 February 2022 | accessdate=3 March 2023}}

Big wall climbing can also use top rope solo climbing for the "second" (and other non-lead climbers), to speed up their follow-on ascent, and give the lead climber time to rest.{{cite web | magazine=Climbing | url=https://www.climbing.com/skills/how-to-toprope-solo/ | title=Top-rope soloing: How Josh Wharton Climbs Multi-pitches Faster and With Less Energy | date=25 August 2022 | accessdate=5 March 2023 | first=Josh | last=Wharton}}

File:The Elevator Shaft (WI3-4) Montana.jpg), Montana]]

Ice climbing, and the related sports of mixed climbing and dry tooling, also use top-roping techniques to provide greater safety to climbers as an alternative to lead climbing the routes. Lead climbing on ice is considered even more challenging than on rock, as the placement of secure ice screws is a complex task that requires judgment on ice quality and stability. The technique of top roping in ice climbing is identical to that of rock climbing but sometimes the creation of a secure anchor point at the top of the route can be more complex if it involves securing into the ice (e.g. it may require the creation of an Abalakov thread anchor point).{{cite book | title=Ice & Mixed Climbing: Modern Technique | date=2003 | publisher=Mountaineers Books | edition=1st | isbn=978-0898867695 | first=Will | last=Gadd | author-link=Will Gadd| chapter=Chapter4. Leading and belaying | pages=92–117}}

{{commons category}}

• Aid climbing
• Rope solo climbing
• Competition climbing

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | title=How to Rock Climb | isbn=978-1493056262 | edition=6th | first1=John | last1=Long | first2=Bob | last2=Gaines | author-link=John Long (climber) | publisher=Falcon Guides | date=August 2022 | chapter=Chapter 9: Top roping | pages=235–258}}

• [https://scl.cornell.edu/coe/lindseth-climbing-center/rock-climbing-resources/top-rope-overview Top Rope Belay Setup Overview], Cornell University (2023)

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