Help with rope drag on rock

Hello I’ve been doing a lot of top rope climbing at the crag near me and I'm always scared that my rope can get cut by the rock if I fall and it slides against it.
I am still learning and am a beginner so anything helps.

I saw Brent barghahn (owner of avant climbing innovations) while he was top rope soloing and what he did was go to the bolt just below the anchor, pull up slack in the rope, tie a figure eight, attach it to the bolt (QuickDraw, carabiner) so that there’s slack in the rope below the anchor so if he falls he’s falling on the bolt below the anchor not the sharp part of the rock, but then he’s top roping on one bolt and if that bolt fails wouldn’t it be a harder cut/fall for the rope onto the rock when it gets tight due to him falling?

I know there’s other ways like using whatever you have to put something between the rope and rock.

I’ve also heard to extend the anchor past the sharp ledge but then my problem with that is wouldnt the slings or whatever you used to extend the anchor rubbing on the sharp part of the rock and still could be cut?

The only time I've damaged a rope was jugging (climbing with ascenders) on a rope over a sharp edge. It was a problem because the repeated weighting and unweighting is the most likely thing to saw through a rope and it was always on the same part of the rope.

To extend the anchor I often use 2 strands of static rope, 1 a little loser than the other. Static rope is less likely to cut thru (with less rope stretch come less sawing action) than dynamic rope. If you really want to be certain you can use static rope and a rope protector like this one. You could also cut an old garden hose and put it on but that requires tape to hold in place. pmirope.com/product/spiroll…

You won't be able to do what Brent does; that's only for fixed (unmoving) lines.

You should definitely extend your anchor over the edge! Anchor rope won't move side to side as much as your climbing rope if you connect each leg to distant components. The reason your TR moves side to side is because it only goes through one point, pivoting on that point. Think about a standard V-shaped anchor: the left leg keeps the focal point from moving to the right and the right leg keeps the focal point from moving to the left. You can do the same thing with static rigging rope and more distant components. If the angle between the legs is wide enough the static won't move much.

If you're still worried about the static rigging rope you can protect it with a sling, wrap a sling around it to pad it, or use a garden hose or a carpet scrap.

Gloweringwrote:

The only time I've damaged a rope was jugging (climbing with ascenders) on a rope over a sharp edge. It was a problem because the repeated weighting and unweighting is the most likely thing to saw through a rope and it was always on the same part of the rope.

To extend the anchor I often use 2 strands of static rope, 1 a little loser than the other. Static rope is less likely to cut thru (with less rope stretch come less sawing action) than dynamic rope. If you really want to be certain you can use static rope and a rope protector like this one. You could also cut an old garden hose and put it on but that requires tape to hold in place. pmirope.com/product/spiroll…

When you say “I often use 2 strands of static rope, 1 a little loser than the other.” I don’t quite understand it, you have 2 strands of static rope tied together, connected to the anchor, long enough to place over the sharp edge?

thanks for the link will for sure be getting a rope cover!

A bit of tubular webbing that you thread your static through is a very cheap and super effective rope protector also, and tends to stay where it is pretty well

Nathaniel Nivisonwrote:

When you say “I often use 2 strands of static rope, 1 a little loser than the other.” I don’t quite understand it, you have 2 strands of static rope tied together, connected to the anchor, long enough to place over the sharp edge?

thanks for the link will for sure be getting a rope cover!

Yes two stands of static rope long enough to place the carabiners the top rope goes thru over the sharp edge. It could be one rope (tie an 8 on a bight which is where the TR biners go) and the two ends are tied to the anchor, or it could be two separate ropes. Just making one rope a little longer so only one rope is weighted during climbing and it that happened to cut through it would drop a little and the second rope would be the back up.