The difference between top-roping and sport climbing is that you need to clip your rope into anchor points called bolts as you climb. As you ascend, your belayer pays out more rope. This means that if you fall, you will fall as far as the last bolt (the bolts are drilled and then glued or dynabolted into the rock by a route developer).However, you don’t thread the rope directly through the bolt. Instead, you place a quickdraw and then clip your rope into the lower carabiner. In some cases, the ‘draws are already placed (in a climbing gym, for example). Mitch Scanlan-Bloor takes a lead fall and ends up hanging below his last clip | Michael Evans The knowledge that you might fall a few metres onto that gnarly looking rock-horn adds spice to the whole experience – there is no better expression of this than “Elvis Leg,” when your limbs start to shake uncontrollably like the King’s as you pull your rope out to clip. The hardest routes in the world are all sport climbs.