Rock Climbing - Terminology

Free Climbing
Free climbing is rock climbing which does not involve any direct aid. That is, the climber uses only the features of the rock to climb with. Any gear or bolts which he uses are only for protection in nthe event of a fall and never hold his weight. Free Climbing does not mean un-roped climbing. That is called soloing (or free soloing).

Aid Climbing
Aid climbing uses gear such as nuts, pitons, hooks and bolts to pull up on and make progress in a climb. Although it is less practiced today than in the past, it is still widely used on big walls and mountaineering.

Traditional Climbing
Often called trad climbing or referred to as ‘slinging gear’. Basically, climbing without placing bolts. Only natural protection such as nuts and cams in cracks, or slings around trees or rock horns are used.

Sport Climbing
Increasingly popular is climbing on routes with only pre-placed bolts for protection. Usually short, often hard climbs. Only a rope, harness and a few quickdraws are needed. Many traditionalists feel that sport climbing is a somewhat lower form of climbing, as it permanently scars the rock, and removes much the mental game from climbing.

Lead Climbing
Climbing where the first climber takes the rope up with him and clips the rope into protection (bolts, nuts or cams in cracks, slings around trees etc.) as he ascends.

Top Roping
Climbing where the rope runs through an anchor at the top of the climb, and then down to the climber. The climber does not have to worry about placing protection, or taking big falls.

Bouldering
Un-roped climbing low enough to the ground that a fall is not too serious (usually a few metres or less). Bouldering allows a climber to work on very difficult sequences without worrying about gear and equipment.

Equipment
Climbing equipment has evolved steadily over the past 50 years. Originally, pitons were pounded into cracks with hammers to provide protection. Today, most climbers use aluminum nuts and spring loaded camming devices instead. Ropes, carabiners, harnesses, shoes and everything else have been constantly refined and improved. Almost all climbing equipment is designed to withstand far greater forces then are ever created in all but the most extreme climbing situations. For gear to fail when used properly is very rare. The following is a brief explanation of basic modern climbing equipment:

Rope
One of the most important pieces of equipment a climber uses. Climbing ropes are dynamic (stretchy) so they absorb some of the impact in a fall. Climbing ropes are extremely strong and durable.

Harness
A nylon harness (usually just a waist harness) which both the climber and belayer (person who feeds rope out to the climber and catches falls) wear, and which the rope is tied into.

Shoes
Traditionally, climbers wore stiff soled boots to climb rock, but over the years climbing shoes have evolved to today’s tight fitting shoes with soft, high friction rubber soles. These shoes have been one of the factors in the dramatic increase in the technical difficulty of climbs now considered possible.

Carabiners
Often just called biners. These are the more or less oval metal links climbers use to attach ropes and other gear.

Quickdraws
The sport climbers gear of choice. Two biners attached by a short nylon sling. These are used by a lead climber to attach the rope to a piece of protection or to a bolt.

Belay Devices
Any one of a number of devices which allow the belayer to stop a climbers fall by putting a great deal of friction on the rope. Before belay devices were common, climbers used to use friction of the rope on their body to stop a fall (waist belay, hip belay etc). Needless to say, modern belay devices are far less painful.

Nuts (chocks, stoppers)
Small metal (usually aluminum) wedges which are fit into cracks to hold a fall. Most nuts have a wire loop which is used to clip a carabiner into.

Spring loaded camming devices
Often called cams or Friends. These are complicated devices with three or four roughly semicircular lobes which may retracted, and then automatically expand to fit into a crack. These devices make protection much simpler in large cracks.

Helmet
While helmets are rarely found today at sport crags, a helmet is still very important on a big wall where the danger of falling rocks and dropped gear is much greater and the consequences of an injury much more serious. Climbing helmets are similar to industrial hard-hats - they are designed to withstand impact from above (i.e. - falling rock) more than side impacts.