Glossary of Common Climbing Terms

A

Anchor – A solid attachment point, indoors normally a couple of carabiners at the top of the climb to clip the rope in to before being lowered to the ground.

Arete – An outside corner where two walls meet. Can be pulled against to, instead of using holds for progression.

Auto belay –These are automatic devices that take up the slack as a climber ascends the climbing wall.  When the climber reaches the top of the climb or falls off the wall, the auto belay controls the fall and lets the climber descend to the ground in a controlled manner.

B

Back Clip – When leading a climb indoors or outdoors, when a climber goes to clip the rope to the quickdraw but clips it incorrectly causing the rope to come out of the carabiner towards the wall / rockface rather than towards the climber as it should.

Belay / Belaying – To safeguard the rope as another person climbs.  The person doing this is known as the belayer.

Belay device – A friction device used by the belayer to assist in controlling the rope.

Bell ringing – a technique used with groups to belay each other, using the group to secure the dead rope.

Bottom Roping – The rope is arranged with the belayer at the bottom.  The rope then goes up through the anchor point at the top of the climb and down to the climber standing at the bottom. 

Bouldering – A type of climbing practiced lower to the ground, normally below 4.5m, no ropes, typically using safety matting to offer some protection from falls. 

Bridging –This technique is commonly used when climbing up a corner. The climber pushes against both sides creating a balanced and sometimes restful position

C

Campus Board – A campus board is a training tool designed to assist climbers in training. Climbers climb up a set of wooden rungs, similar to an overhanging ladder, using just their arm strength to achieve this.

Carabiner / Karabiner – a specialised metal loop with a spring loaded gate used to attach parts of the climbing system such as the belay device to the harness or the rope to the anchor point. 

Chalk – Chalk comes in various forms, such as blocks, balls, liquid or loose. Climbers use chalk to dry the sweat from their hands as they climb hard and push themselves, and normally carry chalk in a chalk bag secured around their waist, or use a larger boulder bucket when bouldering. Chalk can be purchased here at reception.

Coffee – freshly ground, or instant – whatever floats your boat to get you climbing harder.

D

Dynamic Rope – A climbing rope with a degree of stretch in it to help absorb the energy of a falling climber. All rated climbing ropes have a degree of stretch, depending upon the way they are manufactured, their thickness, and the age of the rope.

Dyno – A powerful climbing movement normally associated with jumping and moving at speed using your momentum to take you to the end position.

F

Features – In addition to the textured surface and holds attached to the wall, some walls include features such as indentations or protrusions which affect the shape of the wall. Sometimes these are there to mimic the surfaces found on outdoor climbing areas.

Fingerboard – These are training boards specifically designed for climbers to strengthen their fingers. Due to the combinations of holds it is easy to isolate fingers to train different weaknesses.

Finger Tape – Finger tape is used by climbers to provide an extra layer of protection to the skin. Normally done towards the end of a session when the skin on your fingers might be raw, painful and worn down, putting a layer of tape on can help prevent an injury which might take longer to heal. Climbers jamming in cracks also like to tape the whole of their hands in a tape glove to provide protection.

Flag – using one of your limbs – usually your leg outstretched, to provide support to stop your body from rotating. Various methods are available to use, depending on the position of the holds.

Flash – Climbing a route on your first attempt but having some prior information about it to assist you, which could be in the form of listening to advice of someone who has climbed it or watching someone climb it before you.

G

Ground Anchor – An anchor at the base of the wall or cliff that is used to resist an upward direction of pull. Useful if there is a large weight difference between climbing partners.

H

Harness – A sewn nylon device normally worn around the waist and thighs that is designed to allow the user to safely hang in the air.  Full body harnesses are also available, which go around your chest and shoulders too.

Helmet – Some climbers wear a helmet when climbing to offer protection to their head in case of an impact. This is more of a risk when climbing outdoors, but sometimes there can be situations when it is appropriate to wear a helmet indoors, such as when abseiling or learning to take lead climber falls.

Holds – A place to temporarily grip, hang, jam, cling on to or stand to assist in climbing to the top of the route. Indoor climbers try to use one colour hold to get to the top of the route or problem.  Each climb will have a grade for just using those colour holds.

J

Jamming – the technique of sticking various parts of the body inside cracks in the wall. Most commonly fingers, hands and feet jamming can make use of arms, legs or even full body sized cracks to slide inside. Jamming tends to be an acquired taste and takes plenty of skill and practice to perfect, otherwise it just hurts.

L

Layback – Having your arms and feet opposing each other is how a layback works best. With your hands pulling sideways on a hold or arete with long straight arms, get your feet up as high as you can and push against the hold with your feet creating tension which will hold you in position.

Lead Climbing – A form of climbing in which the climber clips the rope in to quickdraws as they climb higher up the wall. 

Low Stretch Rope – These ropes, as the name suggests, have a low level of stretch and so should not be used for climbing.  Normally we use these for abseiling.

M

Mantle – A mantle or mantleshelf is a climbing move done on flat holds where the climber pushes down whilst bringing their feet up.  Think of someone climbing out of the swimming pool.

O

Onsite – First attempt at climbing a route or problem without any practice, or watching anyone else complete it before you.

Overhang – A section of the wall which slopes over 90° beyond vertical. 

P

Pinnacle – The point at the top of the mountain. Also, the best climbing centre in the world.

Pitch – A pitch is a section of climbing between two belays, such as the ground to the top as in single pitch, ground to a ledge, a ledge to a ledge or a ledge to the top which are all parts of a multi pitch climb.

Pizza – Great post-climbing energy source.  Stone baked Pizza comes in various flavours, so surely there will be a combination you enjoy. Normally washed down with an ice cold beverage for maximum enjoyment.

Q

Quickdraw – a combination of 2 carabiners and a sling which allow a rope to connect to an anchor point on the wall.

R

Red Bull – Despite the wings we cannot guarantee that it will reduce gravity and make your climbs feel easier. There is only one way to find out if it does work for you.

Redpoint – After failing to onsite the route, redpointing is leading the route clean on a subsequent attempt.  

Rock Shoes – Climbers wear rock shoes to help when climbing. Rock shoes are designed to be worn as tight as comfortably possible to prevent the foot slipping, and on the sole there is smooth sticky rubber to increase the grip when standing on
small holds. Three types of shoes are available – lace up, Velcro or slipper, depending upon how often you will be taking your shoes on and off and depending on the type of climbing you do, there are options of shoes which are more aggressive and downturned, so that power can be pushed through them on to the holds.

Roof – a severely overhanging section of wall closer to horizontal than vertical. 

S

Speed Climbing – This is a discipline involving climbing a route as fast as is possible and is now an Olympic event. Our 10m wall is set to the IFSC standard and so matches the set up of other speed walls around the world.

Single Rope – A normal type of rope used indoors or outdoors on routes which go straight up. Typically between 9mm-11mm thick. Can be used on its own, unlike ropes which are rated as ½ or twin which require the user to be attached to two ropes.

Slab – A section of the wall which is not quite vertical. This requires more balance and technique to climb.

Sport Climbing – A style of climbing in which the protection points are already in place for the climber to clip their rope in to, allowing them to focus their skills on the technicality of the actual climbing. This covers lead climbing indoors and some routes outdoors, which have bolt protection already in place.

Stairs – An easier but boring way to gain altitude.

T

Tea – a good brew is how most climbers, especially trad climbers warm up. Comes in fortnight strength, builder’s strength or any combination in between.

Therapy Band – When you come to a climbing centre you will often see climbers warming up and cooling down using therapy / resistance bands. These cheap, small, easy to use devices are great for helping climbers improve strength, improve mobility of their joints, increase speed of movement and improve balance and stability. They come in a range of resistance levels to match your ability and requirements.

Top Roping – Belaying from a fixed anchor point above the climb so the climber has a rope above them.  Indoor climbers often refer to bottom roping as top roping –the difference is the location of the belayer. 

Trad Climbing – A style of climbing outdoors that emphasizes the traditional adventure and exploratory nature of climbing. The climber places their own protection in the form of nuts and cams in to cracks and holes in the rock face as they progress upwards.

V

Volume – A large climbing hold used to change the shape of an indoor climbing wall. Alternatively, how loud the music is – good music helps you climb harder.

Z

Z Clip – When a climber pulls rope up from below (normally in a panic) and clips the rope from the quickdraw below, in to the higher quickdraw, creating a z shape with the rope. This creates a high amount of rope drag making upward progress difficult.