Low mount needing female climber's second rope ... (7)
I believe the answer is:
sheltie
'rope' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'low mount needing female climber's second' is the wordplay.
'low mount' becomes 'tie' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'needing' says to put letters next to each other.
'female' becomes 'she' ('she' refers to a woman).
'climber's second' becomes 'l' (ind letter of 'climber').
'she'+'l'='shel'
'tie' after 'shel' is 'SHELTIE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sheltie that I've seen before include "dog or pony" , "Type of 17 -- the lies (anag)" , "Sheepdog" , "Shetland pony" .)