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Aid Climbing: Aid climbing is generally only used today on big wall routes that cannot be free-climbed. In aid climbing, the leader uses equipment to aid in the ascent, such as the rope, pitons and mechanical "jugs" that slide along the rope and can be pulled on to move upward.

Belay: The system used to protect a climber in the case of a fall, by using a rope and a friction device. The climber's partner, the "belayer," has the climber "on belay" when the rope is securely tied to their harness and then passed through a friction device attached to the belayer's harness.

In lead climbing, the belayer remains stationary and feeds the rope through the friction (belay) device as the climber ascends, never allowing the brake hand to leave the rope. If the climber falls, the belayer locks off the rope with the brake hand, stopping the fall once all slack has been taken up. With top rope climbing, the belayer stays on the ground, but as the climber gains height, the slack in the rope is pulled in through the belay device, so that if the climber falls, there is no descent.

Beta: Beta is the information on how a route should be climbed, what holds to look out for, what body position works best, etc. In climbing competitions, the competitors are not allowed to watch any climbers on the route before they have attempted to climb it themselves. Spectators are warned not to shout "beta" to the competitors.

Bomber: Any hold that is extremely solid and easy to use. Short for "bombproof." Protection can also be "bomber."

Bouldering: Like free soloing, bouldering requires only shoes and a chalk bag. Unlike free soloing, bouldering is done much closer to the ground. Bouldering often consists of a series of extremely difficult and complicated moves that require repeated attempts to complete in one continuous effort. Since bouldering is done in relative close proximity to the ground, the individual moves are often more difficult than those encountered on roped climbs.

Brain Bucket: A helmet. Not all that much good in a fall (it's rare to fall head first), but very useful to stop falling rocks and other plummeting objects from cracking your melon.

Clip: When climbers pull the rope up and snap it into the carabiner, they've "made the clip." Competitors must "make all the clips" on a given route -- they're not allowed to skip no matter how strong they feel.

Competition Climbing: generally staged on man-made walls with small bolt holes in them, so that the holds can be attached in any order. With a blank wall and some good imagination, the route setter can create a climb of almost any degree of difficulty.

Crux: The hardest part of a climb. The spot on the wall where the climber might expect to be spit off.

Deck: Can be either a noun or a verb. Noun: the ground. Verb: hitting the ground.

Dirt Me: Lower me.

Flash: Leading a climb and finishing in one push, without ever falling or hanging on the rope, while having crucial information on how to do crux moves.

Free Climbing: Free climbing is the contemporary style of rock climbing whereby the climber on lead uses nothing to aid in the ascent, e.g. the rope, pitons, etc. In free climbing, the rope acts only as a safety net. Often confused with free soloing.

Free Soloing: Rock climbing without a rope or any kind of backup protection. A climber free soloing has only shoes and a chalk bag. A mistake in free soloing will lead to serious injury or death.

Grease: Slipping off a hold, usually referred to falling off a slopping hold.

Gripped: Paralyzed with fear.

Lead: When leading, the climber trails a rope that has been tied to his or her harness and clips it into protection points (in the case of competitive climbing, pre-placed quickdraws) as they climb. If the last piece of protection is below the lead climber and the climber falls, the climber will fall past the protection until the rope comes tight. Lead climbing is the style used for the difficulty event.

Manky: The opposite of bomber. A manky hold does not feel solid and is very difficult to use. Inadequate. Protection can also be "manky."

Onsight: Getting to the top of a route on the very first attempt without falling and having no prior information on the moves of the route. All competition, since it's the first time a climber has been on the route, if they finish it then they've "Onsighted" the route.

Overhang: A wall, or portion of wall, that is more than vertical.

Pro: Short for protection.

Pumped: When a climber's arms are pumped full of lactic acid, leading ultimately to an inability to hold on. A really steep, exhausting climb is "pumpy."

Roof: A seriously overhanging bit of wall, more or less horizontal to the ground.

Send: Finish a route.

Sewing machine legs: When standing on a small hold, or in an awkward position for too long makes a climber's leg(s) shake uncontrollably. Sometimes called "Elvis Syndrome."

Slab: A wall with minimal features that is less than vertical.

Short roping: Where a belayer doesn't give a leader enough rope to make a clip and the leader has to struggle to pull up more rope. Can pull a leader off the wall.

Sport Climbing: A style of free climbing where the climber's protection is pre-placed on the route, usually in the form of permanent bolts left in the rock with a metal hanger to attach the "quickdraw," a piece of nylon webbing with a carabiner at each end.

In sport climbing competitions, the quickdraws are left on the route, so the climber only has to attach the rope and keep climbing.

This type of climbing is a lot safer that traditional climbing. The climber doesn't have to stop and place the protection, and so his or her energy is used to do the physically harder moves. This is the reason that the hardest routes are sport routes.

Take: Said by the leader when they want the belayer to "take" their weight on the rope. i.e. Take up slack; i.e. I'm letting go, or coming off. Rarely heard by competition climbers.

Top rope: A "top rope" is when the rope is always above the climber. This is the method that is used in the speed climbing competition. With a top rope, the climber does not fall very far, as the rope is always above them.

Trad Climbing: Short for "traditional." A style of free climbing whereby the lead climber places the "protection" into the rock, using removable devices that are "cleaned" by the second climber who follows the leader up. These devices are attached by carabiners to the rope so that if the climber falls, and the protection is placed well, it will hold the fall. If it is not placed well, it can pull out.

Whipper: A long fall.

Holds

Holds come in plenty of different shapes and sizes and get names according to the way the climber has to use them or their appearance. The holds themselves are made of resin and are textured to be similar to the feel of real rock. When the climbers are describing a route and the holds on it, the names of each hold are spoken with various tones in their voice, a "Big Jug" will sound like a feeling of relief, but a "Tiny Crimper" will sound like pain.

Bucket / Jug: A big hold, or one that is in-cut, that you can really get your hand into or around.

Crimper: A crimper is a small hold, just big enough for the fingertips, that you have to crimp your fingers to hold on to. A climb with lots of crimpers is "crimpy."

Edge: A bigger version of a crimper and more positive to use.

Ring / Thread: A hold that looks like a suitcase handle and the climbers hand or fingers can wrap around the hold entirely.

Pocket: A one-, two- or three-finger pocket is a hold with a depression that you can only get that many fingers into. As the climber has to isolate some fingers, they are quite strenuous.

Pinch: A hold that you squeeze with your fingers on one side and your thumb on the other.

Sloper: Any hold that slopes downward so that the climber's fingers can't wrap around. The climber's body position below the hold, how rigid they can keep their body and the friction between their hand and the hold are all very important. They are very hard to rest on.

Sidepull: A hold that's turned so it can only be used from the side. This kind of hold requires the climber to have their feet off to the side so their legs are pushing, while their arms are pulling.

Tufa: A baguette looking hold, where the climber will have to pinch with one or two of their hands.

Undercling: A hold that's held from the bottom, pulling upward. Again, opposition with the legs are very important, to get maximum use out of this type of hold.

Moves

Many "moves" or positions that climbers use to get from hold to hold have names:

Backstep: Using the outside edge of the foot (at your little toe) as opposed to the front or inside of the foot.

Barndoor: The result of a climber getting out of balance, causing the body to swing out away from the wall like a barn door opening.

Body Tension: This is a key ingredient when climbing on steep walls and roofs. The best climbers will always be able to keep their torso and legs under a constant amount of tension, but still be able to breath evenly and stay relaxed at the same time. It keeps the body in a controlled position while the climber is moving from one hold to another, and so, the climber can make full use of the opposing forces of their feet pushing onto the holds and their arms pulling on the holds.

Campus: Where a climber uses just the arms to move from hold to hold, letting the legs hang free. Comes from "Campus Board," a wooden training device with small ledges that are used to train finger strength and dynos.

Crank: Powerfully pulling through a hold.

Deadpoint: A dynamic move where a climber lunges for a hold and hits it just at the point where they are no longer moving up or down. For example, lunging for a faraway pocket, where the fingers need to sink directly in. In other words, there's no chance of controlling the hold if the climber overshoots (can't grab it on the way back down), or undershoots.

Drop Knee: A very important technique for a competition climber. It can turn a bad foothold into a great way to keep the body close to the wall. By putting a foot on a high foothold and twisting the leg on it until the knee is pointing downwards, it gets more weight onto the feet and as the hips turn into the wall the climber gets more reach.

Dyno: A lunge for a faraway hold. Different to a deadpoint as the feet can easily fly off. The opposite of a controlled, "static" move. Sometimes also called a lunge.

Flag: Where a leg is held out to one side or draped beneath the climber for balance, but the foot is not on a hold.

Figure Four: A great way to either get extra height and reach or a good rest position on steep terrain. The climber hangs from one arm and wraps their opposite leg over that arm at the same time. Made famous by Francois Legrand as a real crowd pleasing move!

Gaston: Imagine trying to open closed elevator doors with both hands that are pulling in opposite directions. That's the movement, but in climbing it's usually with one hand and the strength comes from the shoulder.

Heel hook: Putting the heel on a hold to pull inwards or upwards. This can help to take weight off the climbers arms so they can "shake out" an arm.

High step: When a climber's foot is nearly as high as their hands, or sometimes as high or higher.

Lie/Lay back: Using a side pull by opposing the force of the hands and feet; i.e. the hands are pulling one way and the feet are pushing the other.

Mantle: Where a climber starts below a holdpulls above a hold, or over a lip, then pushes down on what he/she is holding onto. An extremely committing move since it's very difficult to reverse.

Match: Using one hold for both hands. You can also "match feet."

Shake out: Vital for sport climbing is finding a place on a route where the climber can take an arm off, chalk up and shake some blood back into and shake some lactic acid out of their arm.

Smear: Using the sole of the shoe to generate friction where there is otherwise no hold.

Stem: When the feet are very wide apart, sometimes into a "splits" position.

Toe Hook: Important on steep terrain. By hooking the top of their foot behind a hold they can stop their body from flying off the wall.

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