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Burning Ropes on Lead Fall 15-Jun-2013 At 6:17:22 AM Jakob

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So I have been trying to break into new grounds in my climbing lately which has involved a lot of lead falls in an indoor gym (don't judge me, I've just moved from NSW to Florida which is an 8 hour drive from the nearest climbable rock). One route in particular has a crux that I am constantly falling on with my feet above the last draw, so I am maybe coming down 5 - 6 metres after pulling my belayer off their feet. I'll then climb right back up, then fall again.

After a recent session, I noticed that my brand spanking new, Mammut infinity 9.5m dry treated rope has some pretty significant friction burning over the sheeth. Its rough enough to have gone from buttery smooth clips to giving me rope burn as I pull up to clip. I bought myself a 9.8mm short gym rope, dry treated as well. After one session with maybe 8 lead falls on this new rope I noticed the beginnings of the same burning on the sheath. The sheath is becoming rough to touch, sort of like if you ironed it and it has slightly melted.

I have worked routes outdoors with my own draws, taking the same number of lead falls working a crux and have never experienced this type of damage to my rope. I'm wondering if this is due to using the aluminium draws as opposed to steel. Maybe steel has higher friction / lower heat dissipation?

Has anyone ever experienced this? A google search revealed nothing!