I made a flexible, inexpensive, and customizable to any length "rope sleeve", that i feel is better than the big bulky leather sleeves.

I basicall took the OUTER cover (polyester) of a bull rope (5/8") and heat sealed the ends, then coated the entire outer surface with GOOP (it was a bit messy doing this, but rubbing the cover with GOOP on both hands worked well). I then slid the cover (after the coating was dry) onto my tree ropes. It stays put when your hoisting your rope up, is easily set into place with a slip knot ont he climbing line. It follows the bends and contours of a limb or turnk quite easily. The Gooped cover grips when your climbing, and the climbign line feeds thru with almost no effort.

cost me nothing. i have an old bull rope, i can make up about 60 of these covers with the outer sheath. RECYCLED and CHEAP!!!