Goodbye Top Rope Soloing (TRS), hello (again) to Self Lining?

Although I thought I was at the finishing line for my TRS book 'On the Line' (90% funded via Kickstarter within two days, so thanks for the support!), a question has cropped up that has been niggling me from the start.

Is the term Top Rope Soloing correct, or should we call it something more appropriate to what it is? 

For example, TRS is actually an offshoot of rope climbing, but when someone climbs a rope using ascenders, we don't say, "I was solo rope ascending" do we? Or, I was solo rappelling down a rock ace.

By using the word 'solo', this may somehow give the impression that doing a half-assed job at not dying doing it is OK; after all, it's got the word 'solo' in the title. It's like adding the term elite to something, or pro, in order to make it something better than normal. In reality, TRS is neither soloing, elite, or pro; it's a meat-and-two-veg climbing technique. Yes, you need the skills to do it safely (it's not for novices), but any climber worth their salt needs to learn these techniques in order to be a climber (rope climbing, self-rescue, anchor building, rigging etc). 

Top roping is also maybe not a term to use, as generally, a top rope is not a fixed rope and could further confuse people easily ("Do I attach the rope to the bottom, or the top?".

Lastly, it bleeds into the dark and murky world of lead rope soloing (just swap 'lead' for 'top'), which is like confusing shark fishing with shark diving ("Hey, they both involve sharks, right?"). One of the reasons I wrote this book was I tried to integrate TRS into the 3rd edition of Me, Myself & I (big wall solo book), but soon found the two things were totally incompatible. If TRS were to be lumped in with another book, it would be a book on climbing ropes. 

In the UK, the term used to be 'Self-lining', as in, you set up a climbing line and climb on it by yourself. The term Top Rope Soloing, or that one is solo climbing, seems to have sprouted from Petzl and US forums.

So, what do climbers think? I know I've already tried to ditch the term 'daisy chain' and "Prusik loop" in my other books, but is this a step too far?

Best

Andy

Is there any reason not to revert to the rather less cumbersome term that was in common use in the 1980s - in the UK, at least: ie shunting? I realise, of course. that the Shunt itself is now viewed with some suspicion due in large part to one particular failure mode [which I think might not have been possible when used on doubled 9mm rope, again common at the time] but I see no problem with its adoption as a generic term; after all, most people jumaring these days aren't actually using a 'Jümar'-branded device - and original Jümars certainly had their failure modes. I suppose the term 'traxing' might have some traction [sorry!] - which, in view of the various other devices used, is also generic.

Top rope solo it is. My immediate response to self-lining is it must be some British sailing term.

I think Monsieur Petzl would come around and throw a brick through my window if I went for "Shunting", as the Shunt has already given them many a sleepless night (a device that went from doing one thing to doing everything, even belaying, to a device that can now only do one thing again, and ideally, nothing).

Andy Kirkpatrickwrote:

Although I thought I was at the finishing line for my TRS book 'On the Line' (90% funded via Kickstarter within two days, so thanks for the support!), a question has cropped up that has been niggling me from the start.

Is the term Top Rope Soloing correct, or should we call it something more appropriate to what it is? 

For example, TRS is actually an offshoot of rope climbing, but when someone climbs a rope using ascenders, we don't say, "I was solo rope ascending" do we? Or, I was solo rappelling down a rock ace.

By using the word 'solo', this may somehow give the impression that doing a half-assed job at not dying doing it is OK; after all, it's got the word 'solo' in the title. It's like adding the term elite to something, or pro, in order to make it something better than normal. In reality, TRS is neither soloing, elite, or pro; it's a meat-and-two-veg climbing technique. Yes, you need the skills to do it safely (it's not for novices), but any climber worth their salt needs to learn these techniques in order to be a climber (rope climbing, self-rescue, anchor building, rigging etc). 

Top roping is also maybe not a term to use, as generally, a top rope is not a fixed rope and could further confuse people easily ("Do I attach the rope to the bottom, or the top?".

Lastly, it bleeds into the dark and murky world of lead rope soloing (just swap 'lead' for 'top'), which is like confusing shark fishing with shark diving ("Hey, they both involve sharks, right?"). One of the reasons I wrote this book was I tried to integrate TRS into the 3rd edition of Me, Myself & I (big wall solo book), but soon found the two things were totally incompatible. If TRS were to be lumped in with another book, it would be a book on climbing ropes. 

In the UK, the term used to be 'Self-lining', as in, you set up a climbing line and climb on it by yourself. The term Top Rope Soloing, or that one is solo climbing, seems to have sprouted from Petzl and US forums.

So, what do climbers think? I know I've already tried to ditch the term 'daisy chain' and "Prusik loop" in my other books, but is this a step too far?

Best

Andy

You’re over thinking it, TRS is common nomenclature. 

Andy Kirkpatrickwrote:

I think Monsieur Petzl would come around and throw a brick through my window if I went for "Shunting", as the Shunt has already given them many a sleepless night.

Hah; fair point. I suppose a term that doesn't have any brand association is probably safer these days - and Cherokee might assume that shunting is something to do with maneuvering rail freight [although not specifically British]!

Much ado about nothing. TRS is descriptive and easily understood. And, it's become a standard...at least on this side of the pond. Witness the FB TRS group with over 20k members.

I do quite a bit of both lead rope soloing and 'Self Lining'  . I had never given a thought to the term TRS and use it all the time, but now that your post makes so much sense I totally agree with your thoughts and will switch to 'Self Lining' in my climbing diary and conversation to see if it sticks. 

On the other hand, I'm not writing a book that hopefully has commercial appeal. Trying to change convention can be a fool's errand. I've tried this in other genres and found myself having to explain myself and then getting into a meta discussion about why I was going against convention, taking the whole conversation off topic. I finally gave up in the cases that come to mind.

On the whole I think I would advise sticking with convention and maybe adding a paragraph somewhere in the book explaining your misgivings.

Agree with commenters above.  Don’t overthink it and re-invent the wheel and add confusion.   TRS is totally fine and the accepted norm.

Self lining sounds more “via ferrata-ish” to me, or slack lining by yourself. 

I thought Self Lining was when you tied a rope around your neck while masturbating,

And Top Rope Solo is what you do when people think you are the kind of guy who does a lot of self lining.

Rprops, you're getting it confused with autoerotic asfixandfollow 

The term free soloing should also be updated then with the rise of lead rope solo, which is also a form of free soloing.  We have lots of terms that don't make the most sense, but they have a lot of cultural inertia and changing them would require a massive campaign, which I can only see doing if there was some really significant benefit. And ultimately there isn't really a big communication problem here, so I don't think we could change it if we wanted to. 

Ricky Harlinewrote:

The term free soloing should also be updated then with the rise of lead rope solo, which is also a form of free soloing.

Hah! I guess I'm playing the old guy here again, which is exactly what I am, but how about a return to the term 'third classing'? It appeared to be self-explanatory and generally understood, both within the US and without. It does, of course, lack that little word 'solo'; but would that be a problem, and if so - why?

Self-belayed top rope would be appropriate. But its fun watching the hand-wringing!

Cherokee Nuneswrote:

Self-belayed top rope would be appropriate. But its fun watching the hand-wringing!

Are we becoming kindred spirits!?

+1 for "Fixed lining", we don't call fixed lines top ropes.

Free soloing should just be called rock climbing, everything else is what should come with qualifiers, for logic, respect, and tradition, it came first.

Lead climbing (trad)

Bolted lead

top roping

Soloing (lrs)

Aid Soloing

Aid climbing on lead

Free Soloing(auto belays) ;)

Ricky Harlinewrote:

The term free soloing should also be updated then with the rise of lead rope solo, which is also a form of free soloing.  

come on man. no.

PWZwrote:

come on man. no.

You're free climbing while soloing. I agree it shouldn't be changed, hence the entire rest of my post, but if we want our terms to actually make any damn sense then we should recognize that there are multiple ways to free solo. 

But ultimately our terms don't really make much sense. And that's fine, that's true of every hobby I've ever participated in it. That's just how language works. 

+1 for "Fixed lining", we don't call fixed lines top ropes.

OK I see your point. Yall have my approval for the new nomenclature.

Ricky Harlinewrote:

You're free climbing while soloing. I agree it shouldn't be changed, hence the entire rest of my post, but if we want our terms to actually make any damn sense then we should recognize that there are multiple ways to free solo.

No. The very definition of 'Free solo' is ropeless.

Ricky Harlinewrote:

The term free soloing should also be updated then with the rise of lead rope solo, which is also a form of free soloing.

And a lot of people "free solo" in groups.