UKC

top roping at anglezarke chorley

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 duffy82 09 Jun 2013
hi guy's am a newbie climber and being checking out some out door climbsin my area, and noticed a few comments about top roping at anglezarke ruining some of the routes? can some explain what it is about top roping thats making a mess? obviously i want to preserve the face for the next person cheers
 tmawer 09 Jun 2013
In reply to duffy82:

Try to ensure that your rope is not causing erosion to the top/ top edge of the crag; this will be achieved by setting your top rope up so that the screwgate your toprope is running through is just over the edge, you will probably want to protect the rope that is on the edge by placing something under it. Take care.
 quirky 09 Jun 2013
In reply to duffy82: It is more to do with the rope damaging the top of the climb. Make sure you protect the edge or set up your top rope so it is not running over the edage. You will get people telling you that top roping is not climbing and you should be instantly leading e4 with minimal gear.....but if you enjoy it and it gets you out there then dont listen to the "purists" and go have fun!
In reply to duffy82:

There's nothing inherently damaging about top roping (as long as the karabiner hangs over the top of the crag). But inexperienced climbers on top rope frantically pedalling at the footholds wears the rock out in a way that carefully placed feet on lead don't.

It might not sound like the scrabbling of rubber-soled feet could damage the rock very much, but it doesn't take too many minibuses full of dirty-trainer-clad top-ropers before the sheen starts to appear.

If you're going to top-rope, then just make sure you think about your feet and make sure your boots are squeaky clean. In any case, you'll probably find that you'll want to move on to leading as soon as you're comfortable on outdoor rock, it's much more fun, and (with careful route choice) as safe as you want it to be.
OP duffy82 09 Jun 2013
In reply to duffy82:
cheers guys ive being using a piece of old carpet at the top for protection of the rope and the sandstone edges
Rosco P Coltrane 09 Jun 2013
In reply to duffy82:

Agree with quirky. The purist will always get their knickers in a twist about top roping claiming it causes this that and the other. Most of what they moan about is utter rubbish. As long as you protect the top then you'll do no harm.

Moaning about minibus loads of poeple 'pedalling' up routes just sounds like tw*ttery.
 kyaizawa 09 Jun 2013
In reply to Rosco P Coltrane:

> Moaning about minibus loads of poeple 'pedalling' up routes...

Have you seen the state of routes in places like Cubic Block, Brimham or Sociology area of Stanage??

I'm not anti-toproping, but the advice about cleaning shoes and using careful footwork is probably as valid and as important to reducing route erosion as protecting the rope at the top.
 Goucho 09 Jun 2013
In reply to crossdressingrodney:
> (In reply to duffy82)
>
> It might not sound like the scrabbling of rubber-soled feet could damage the rock very much, but it doesn't take too many minibuses full of dirty-trainer-clad top-ropers before the sheen starts to appear.
>
How many 'proper' climbers will want to do the routes that the 'mini-bus beginners brigade' climb in the first place.

And I think this comment is a bit rich considering the 'chalk plastered' state of most grit grags - 90% of which is totally unnecessary.

To the OP - just enjoy, I've seen dozens of supposedly 'proper' climbers doing a damn good impression of a 'scrabbling beginner!
In reply to Goucho:
> How many 'proper' climbers will want to do the routes that the 'mini-bus beginners brigade' climb in the first place.

Depends what you mean by 'proper' climbers. If you mean people who (like you) climb quite hard, then maybe not. But I still there's reason enough to try to minimise the rate at which we wreck easy routes.

> And I think this comment is a bit rich considering the 'chalk plastered' state of most grit grags - 90% of which is totally unnecessary.

I don't know about that, since I've hardly climbed in the peak for quite a while now (and what gritstone I do climb on isn't overhanging enough to retain chalk for long). But isn't that just an eye-sore that could be fixed by a bit of brushing/rain?

My local rock is limestone, so I'm much more sensitive to routes getting polished than I am to overuse of chalk.
In reply to kyaizawa:

Thanks.

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