How to Speak Rock Climber’s Lingo

If you’ve ever gone out with hardcore rock climbers, you know how much we love to confuse the less experienced among us with jargon. It makes us feel elite, you know, like rocket science or something. Here’s a little guide to keep you from feeling so stupid next time around.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Brush up on some climbing terms. The most frequently used terms and their definitions are listed here in alphabetical order:

2. A
   Anchor: a set up of gear, either a four carabiners (two locking steel ’biners) through two bolts or a couple of ’biners through some webbing hooked around a sturdy tree or secure boulder, that is designed to carry the weight of a belay or top rope
   Approach: the route to the start of a climb. Although this is generally a walk a scramble, it is sometimes as hazardous as the climb itself.
   Arête: from the French word for knife, this is the outside corner of a rock.
   Ascend: to climb a cliff; to climb a rope with the help of ascenders, which slide up the rope but not down
   ATC: a belay device which you use in conjunction with a carabiner with a rope running through it

3. B
   Back-clipping: a dangerous error made while lead climbing. The belay rope is clipped into a quickdraw on the gate side causing an increase in the possibility of the rope becoming unclipped during a fall.
   Belay: the person who keeps the climber safe in case of a fall, from the French word for anchor
   ’Biner: see Carabiner
   Bolt: a permanent bolt in the face of a cliff with a hanger where you put a ’biner or ring through
   Bouldering: climbing on boulders. This is usually done to increase climbing finesse, and should remain low to the ground because there are no ropes involved. You should always wear a helmet and have a spotter while bouldering.
   Bump: To quickly move up a hand or a foot a small distance from one useful hold to another
   Bucket: a large, easy handhold

4. C
   Cam: a spring-loaded device that you wedge into a crack when trad climbing
   Carabiner: metal ring with a spring-loaded gate, used to connector ropes and bolts and harnesses. Also known as a ’biner.
   Chimney: a crack in a rock with mostly parallel sides which is big enough to fit a person’s body. Climbers often press against the parallel sides to climb chimneys.
   Choss: loose rock
   Clean: to remove all the gear from the cliff as you come down
   Clipping In: attaching your harness to belay lines and other forms of protection with a carabiner
   Crack Climbing: to ascend a cliff by jamming fists and feet into a small crack in the cliff face
   Crimping: very small handholds where you can barely hold on with the tips of your fingers
   Crux: the hardest part of a climb

5. D
   Daisy Chain: a sling of webbing with sewed-on loops used for carrying gear.
   Descender: a device used for a controlled descent on a rope, including ATCs, carabiners and figure eights
   Downclimb: to climb downward, which is significantly more difficult than climbing upward or even traversing
   Dynamic Rope: a rope that stretches, used in rappelling. A dynamic rope usually has three or more colors.
   Dyno: a jump to a handhold that is out of reach. You usually complete leave the rock, and really hope the hold you’re jumping for is a jug.

6. F-G
   Face Climbing: To climb the face of a rock as opposed to using cracks
   Figure Four: climbing technique where the climber hooks a leg over the opposite arm, and then pushes down with this leg to get to a hold that is slightly out of reach. Requires strength and a solid handhold.
   Fist Jam: jamming your fist into a crack and using that as a hold while ascending
   Free Climbing: Climbing without unnatural aids, other than those used for protection. So no using bolts as footholds.
   Free Soloing: climbing by yourself without any sort of protection. Also known as suicide.
   Grigri: a self-locking belay device
   Gumby: inexperienced or unsafe climber

7. H-J
   Harness: A webbing device that you put around your waist and thighs to clip onto a belay rope and keep you safe as you climb
   Hex: A hexagonal nut
   Hook: A climbing technique where the climber hooks the heel or toe around an arête.
   Jamming: Wedging a body part like a fist, elbow, or foot into a crack
   Jib: A small foothold only big enough for your big toe where you rely on a lot of friction
   Jug: a nice hold that you’re always relieved to find when you think you’re about to die—kind of like holding onto a milk jug

8. L-M
   Lead Climbing: Being the first climber on a pitch where you place anchors and attach the belay rope as you climb
   Lieback: A move where you pull with your hands and push with your feet while crack climbing
   Locking ’Biner: A carabiner with a gate that twists and locks
   Mantle: A move used to top out on a cliff. It involves pushing directly downwards with just your arms, then bringing your legs over the top.
   Nub: A very small hold that you can only grip with the tips of your fingers or toes.
   Nut: A metal wedge on a wire loop that you jam into cracks in the rock during trad climbing

9. P-R
   Pitch: One rope length or a portion of a climb between two belay points. Long climb such as Angel’s Landing in Zions National Park are called multi-pitch climbs.
   Pumped: To have such an accumulation of lactic acid in the forearm that forming even a basic grip is impossible. Often easy activities such as taking off your climbing shoes become difficult or impossible.
   Quickdraw: Two, non-locking carabiners hooked together by a short length of webbing
   Rack: The set of plastic loops on a harness used for carrying gear
   Rapp: Rappelling, or descending a cliff using a fixed rope and a belay device such as a figure eight or an ATC.

10. S
    Saddle: A high pass between two peaks
    Scrambling: Something between hiking and climbing
    Side pull: A vertical handhold that you can only use by pulling on it horizontally
    Sit start: a move where the climber starts a climb in a sitting position. This often adds an extra challenge to an otherwise easy start.
    Slab Climbing: a type of rock climbing involved in climbing rock that is less than vertical. The emphasis is on balance, footwork, and making use of the rock for friction to ascend.
    Slack: looseness in the rope. You usually call for this when your belayer is holding the rope too tightly.
    Spotting: standing under someone on a bouldering rock, ready to break their fall if necessary
    Smearing: using friction alone on your climbing shoes to ascend a rock. Often used in slab climbing.
    Soloing: climbing alone
    Sport: a type of climbing where you hook into preset bolts in the rock face as you climb
    Static Rope: a rope that is not designed to stretch. These are generally used in rappelling.
    Stemming: climbing by pushing on two opposing, roughly parallel, faces

11. T-Z
    Tension: tightness in the rope. You call for this when you’ve topped out and are about to descend.
    Top Rope: a type of climbing where the rope is anchored at the top of the cliff before you even begin to climb. This is the safest form of rock climbing.
    Trad Climbing: short for traditional climbing. This is where you hook into the rock as you climb by wedging hexes, cams, and nuts into cracks in the rock face. This type of climbing is significantly more dangerous than sport or top roping.
    Traverse: climbing sideways across the cliff face
    Webbing: hollow, flat nylon strip, mainly used to make gear slings and set anchors
    Yosemite Decimal System: a rating system to measure the difficulty of a climb. A 5.0 to a 5.4 is basically a steep hike, while a 5.13 is climbing a surface as smooth as glass that’s leaning out towards you. As you can imagine, no one actually climbs 5.13s.
    Z-clipping: Clipping into an anchor with the segment of rope from beneath the previous anchor, resulting in an unsafe configuration of the belay rope.
    Zipper fall: a fall in which each piece of protection fails in turn

12. Now, read some articles on climbing, including the many articles on eHow about different advanced climbing techniques.