Wiktionary
n. (context climbing English) A rope, used for the climber's safety, which runs from a belayer at the foot of a route through one or more carabiners connected to an anchor system at the top of the route and back down to the climber, usually attaching to the climber by means of a harness.
Usage examples of "toprope".
Upon the whole the Cornélie's gunnery was far less accurate - 'and it is scarcely surprising,' observed Jack to Fielding as he stood peeling an orange over the taffrail, 'for if they have been pumping like this all night I wonder they can run up their guns at all, let alone point them straight' - but five minutes after this stupid remark (for which he cursed himself), at the moment when at last they were about to sway up the new topmast - all laid along - and when the far end of the Passage was opening, the Cornélie, well within range, yawed and fired two careful, slow, deliberate broadsides that did much damage, above all by cutting the toprope itself and its attendant tackle so that the half-hoisted mast plunged straight down, piercing the deck and wrecking its carefully worked heel and fid-hole.