Hey everyone, Sorry we’ve been out of touch for a while. We thought it would be helpful to provide a short description of climbing terms and such, so that you all could become part of our jargon-y world, and know what we are talking about. Here are some of the most basic forms of climbing.
Top Roping
Top Roping is the most basic form of climbing. It is what most people do at gyms when they begin climbing, and it simply means that the climber’s anchor is above their head (on top). When the climber begins climbing he (or she) is at the bottom of the climb and is tied in to one side of the rope, the rope continues up from their harness through some sort of anchor (some manner of fixed protection, it could be bolts on a wall, or could be a pipe that a rope is wrapped around like you will find in most gyms) and continues down to where your belayer is attached. As the climber moves upwards, the belayer simply takes in the excess rope generated and keeps the rope taut. If at any point the climber lets go of the wall and rests on the rope, they will essentially stay in the same place and the rope will catch them
Here I’m topping a 5.11 in Shelf Road. Notice how the rope goes upwards from my harness.
Lead Climbing (Sport/Traditional)
Lead Climbing is similar to top roping in that the climber and belayer are attached by a rope. Except in this case the anchor is dynamic, and the climber moves the rope through different anchor points as they climb. When Sport Leading there are a series of permanent stainless steel bolts placed into the wall throughout the route. These bolts are usually 5 – 15 ft apart, and serve as the the temporary anchors for the rope until the climber reaches the top of the climb and can set a more permanent and secure anchor.
To clarify, when the climber begins climbing, the rope is connected directly from him to the belayer with no intervening anchor so any fall at this point is a ground fall. As the climber begins climbing he will clip one end of a quickdraw (two carabiners connected by some sort of sling or nylon webbing) to the permanent bolts in the wall and clip his rope through the other end of the draw. This creates a new anchor for the climber.
The scary part of leading are the falls in between the bolts. As the climber moves above his most recently clipped bolt his potential fall increases at twice the rate that he is climbing. So, if the climber is 3 ft above his last bolt his fall potential is at least 6 ft.
Here I’m on an easy route at Shelf Road. Notice the path of the rope. It travels through my most recent quickdraw creating a temporary anchor, and continues to Wes at the bottom.
Traditional Leading is when the climber places their own protection instead of using permanent bolts. There are various devices that when properly placed into cracks in a rock wall will hold thousands of pounds of force. We don’t climb trad.
Bouldering
Bouldering is the act of climbing smaller boulders while unroped. Bouldering problems usually have very intense difficulties and seem to condense the hardest moves of a route into a short climb. When bouldering you should have a couple crashpads (mattress-like pads) under you and some spotters to help with the falls.
Alpine Climbing
We don’t do this. It involves a ton of gear, experience, and long slogs through crappy weather. Someday maybe.
General Terms
Crimp – any really small hold that you can only fit your fingertips on.
Sloper – a hold with no positive features (or really crappy ones) so that you are mostly relying on friction. Think of the top of a basketball, no real “holds” but you could hang on it… for a little while
Jug – any great hold that is easy to grab.
Flake – a section of rock that has separated from the general face and has formed a gap.
Pockets (2/3 finger) – any sort of small hole you can only get a couple (sometimes one) fingers in to pull on.
Cracks – A crack in the rock. Most trad climbing revolves around cracks since you can place fairly secure gear in them. There are also unique climbing techniques associated with cracks, that I won’t go into since I”m mostly ignorant of them.
Smears – Pressing your foot against the wall where there are not specific holds is called smearing. It sucks, but sometimes you need to do it.
Sidepull – Any hold that’s oriented so that the best way to hold it is to put lateral pressure on it. Think of pulling shut a sliding door.
Gaston – The inverse of sidepull (kind of). Think of pulling open a sliding door so that your hand is eventually pushing outwards with the thumb pointed downwards. That’s a gaston.
Mantle – pushing upwards off the flat of your palm. Think about getting out of a pool.
Dyno – Any sort of Dynamic Motion, essentially jumping on the rock, or making any sort of movement that can’t be stopped halfway.
Stemming – Using legs and arms in opposition to themselves and one another to work your way up a climb. Most often useful in Dihedrals.
Dihedral – A section of cliff where two faces meet. Think about climbing up the inside corner of a cube.
Arete – The outside corner of a cliff. Think about climbing up the outside corner of a cube.
Redpoint/Send – Climbing a route without a take or a fall. You never rest on the rope when climbing, so you could theoretically do the climb unroped or free.
Flash – Sending a route that you haven’t attempted before, but you have talked to people about it, checked it out, and planned your moves.
Onsight – Sending a route that you have never seen before. Essentially, walking up to a climb and doing it first time.
Beta – Any sort of information about the climb. It could be which way to go at a certain section, what hold to grab, what to avoid…. anything.
