Rock Climbing Terms

Some Rock Climbing Terms You Should Know

Specialized areas of interest, such as rock climbing, always have their own glossary of terms, lingo or manner of speaking. This may be due to specialized form of equipment: golf has tees that aren’t found on other sports, basketball has hoops and rugby football has yardage. In rock climbing also exist several rock climbing terms.

Here is some list of the most common rock climbing terms you’ll definitely encounter.

Belay, Belayer, Belaying, Belay Gloves

Traditional rock climbing basically consists of two climbers, one acting as the lead climber and the other as the belayer. The belayer is the rear climber that wholly in charge of securing the lead climber in event of a fall. With a belay device, the belayer arrests the fall of the lead climber. And this practice is called belaying.

The belayer has the option to use belay gloves; glove designed to eliminate the burning friction when trying to arrest a fall by holding onto the rope.

Etriers

In the traditional style of rock climbing, protective and climbing aids are used to help the ascent. Etriers are the rock climbing terms of those aids used for rock climbing. These include cams, nuts and pitons.

Bouldering, Bouldering Mat

The basic premise of rock climbing is climbing a rock with the intention of reaching the top. While it’s usually a generalized assumption that these rocks should be several hundreds of feet in height, rock climbing also exist in variety with rocks just around 10 feet in height. This practice is called Bouldering in rock climbing terms. Since it is quite only a short fall, ropes are scrapped in favor of just a bouldering mat. This portable mat helps break a potentially nasty fall by acting as a cushion.

Free Rock Climbing, Solo Rock Climbing, Deep Water Solo Rock Climbing

Traditional rock climbing uses artificial aids for the climb. When one forgoes the use of such aids, opting to climb with only hands and feet is called either the free rock climbing or the solo rock climbing. In free rock climbing, protective devices are used. Ropes, nuts and cams are used but only as protective devices in case of a fall. In solo rock climbing neither aids nor protection are used, therefore solo rock climbing is extremely dangerous. That’s why another safer variant exist, the deep water rock climbing. In case the climber falls down, the deep water breaks his fall, thus avoiding a deadly accident.