UKC

Hey, 

So i've been climbing indoors for about a year now and i've finally decided to take it outside. 

I've never had to set up a top rope anchor before - I was just wondering what are the advantages / disadvantages to using a sling or lenth of static rope to do so? Or is it a matter of personal prefrences?? I've seen both used and wasnt sure why you'd pick one over the other. 

Sorry complete Noob Q i know. 

Tanks in advance! 

It depends what you are stringing together to make your anchor... I've been happy with a single sling wrapped around a rock before, sometimes I've tied up three (or more) trees with a 30m static rope. As long as the finished product is bombproof, it doesn't really matter what systems and tools you use, and there are often many ways to build a safe anchor out of one single location. What matters is being able to work with what you are given, and making sure that whatever setup you use, it is completely safe. There might be a few Newtons difference either way between your ropes and slings depending on how you use them, whether they are knotted or not, if there are extra bits of metal linking everything... but as long as each piece in your finished anchor is good enough, then those few Newtons shouldn't matter, because you'll be so far inside their maximum working limit.

If you are just starting out with climbing outdoors... find someone knowledgeable to help you build your first few anchors. Don't just wing it.

To add to what Pete has said, make sure that, whatever you use, the karabiner that the climbing rope goes through is properly over the edge on the "route" side of the top lip, i.e. the climbing rope will not be rubbing on the rock lip at the top of the climb. Otherwise you run the risk of damaging/cutting the rope with repeated falls from the same point on the route. 

Make sure you have redundancy in your set up.

Slings are much quicker to set up with

Static rope is more abrasion resistant.

Static rope is generally much longer, so very useful if the anchor (e.g. tree) is a longer way back from the cliff top.

Slings, especially dyneema are not rated for shock loads so should always be kept taught, which generally isn't an issue for top ropes.

In general I use two (or more) slings for a top rope, even if they are around the same bomber tree. I'd be happy with one static rope correctly tied however.

So in summary this is what I tend to do (others may do it differently):

- Easy to reach bomber anchor near the top (tree or bolts), two slings equalised.

- Anchor further back or risk or abrasion - static rope.

- Multi-point anchor on Trad gear - slings and dynamic rope for equalisation to avoid shock loading.

I also tend to use two screwgates for the rope to run through, but then I'm paranoid about redundancy/safety when top roping as it usually involves kids or beginners.

I don't know if this is always the best advice, some things you have to make an assumption are bomb-proof and don't require redundancy, it sounds like jrobinson is climbing on the southern sandstone? I (personally) wouldn't add any redundancy to this, and rig either a sling or static rope to a bolt, or both to a suitable tree.

Sometimes complexity through over-caution introduces the chance for mistakes, don't you have to assume (after inspection) that your slings and rope are safe for use at their marked strength?

Edit: Have lots of fun jrobinson!

Where/what are you planning to top-rope? Are you rigging your anchor on bolts, or trad gear?

If it's on southern sandstone, for example, there are particular things you need to make sure of in your top-rope rigging in order to protect the rock.

If you give some more details about what you have in mind, people can probably give you more useful and specific advice.

And to add to that, make sure that the gate of the krab is not against the rock when loaded. 

Hey thanks for the reply!
I'll be climbing in the Swanage and Portland areas down in Dorset which I think is limestone(?), we'll be rigging up on bolts,

Cheers!

ah great, thanks for the advice super helpful. 

Yes, of course. I deliberately used just a few words rather than writing at length about redundancy, with the idea that if the OP was unfamiliar with the concept then he/she could research further. However, it appears a few more words were called for! I had in mind scenarios with two or more anchors, not single-bomber-anchor ones

I have experimented with both. The one time I tried using a sling (10mm dyneema) I noted there was abrasion damage after only a couple of climbs. This was with sling draped over a well rounded, not particularly abrasive edge. After dozens of climbs with a static rope set up, I'm yet to notice any significant abrasion damage, so for that reason, I'd suggest you use a static rope, but perhaps a chunkier sling made from nylon would also suffice - I couldn't say. 

Edit: I still use the sling - it's clearly still strong. I'm just concerned by how quickly it abraded.