A top-rope is a climbing rope that is anchored above a climber, so that he is always protected by the rope. Climbing with a top-rope or top-roping is the safest way to climb since you are less likely to get hurt than if you are lead climbing, that is climbing and pulling the rope up after you. Most top-rope falls are short since the rope is kept snug by the belayer, who is situated either on a ledge above or on the ground below.
Almost all the routes at Otter Cliffs in Maine are top-rope routes.
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
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- Definition of Top-Rope, a climbing word that refers to the rope being above a climber or climbing a route with the rope above.
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