of less common climbing terms
Climbing terms needing a precise definition and modern climbing terms or slang. Plus a chapter-by-chapter table of British colloquialisms needing definition for American readers.
abseil, rappel To descend a rope using a friction device.
aid climbing The opposite of free climbing. Using your equipment to assist upward progress and not just for protection.
alpine-style A pure style. To ascend as a contained unit with no fixed rope or camps.
ascender A clamp for ascending a rope.
barring Using your knee or elbow in opposition with your foot or hand to ascend wide fissures.
bashie, copperhead, circlehead Soft metal swages for moulding into incipient cracks to provide support for subtle aid climbing, though rarely strong enough to hold a long fall.
Bird Beak Oddly shaped piton for tapping into the thinnest of rock seams.
capsule ascent A compromise between alpine-style and seiging for big climbs that are too technical and prolonged to be done in one continuous alpine-style push. The party is self-contained using a camp or camps on the wall or face, pushing the route forward without returning to the valley.
crimp A small finger edge on a rock climb. diedre, dihedral A corner feature in a rock wall.
drive in A type of ice piton.
dyno A dynamic move where the whole body parts from the rock to catch a hold.
EBs, PAs The most popular rock-shoe (French) until the early eighties when they were rendered obsolete when stickier rubber was introduced by Spanish manufacturers.
egyptian Turning side on to the rock to get more weight onto your feet.
Friend Camming device. Trade name of the first device of this type which is sometimes used generically for all similar devices.
Gri-Gri Trade name for a belaying device.
ground up, on-sight The finest style of climbing. Ascending a climb with no preinspection and therefore no knowledge of what horrors await you.
hand drilling Placing bolts or rivets by manual means. Ethically more respectable than power-drilling, particularly on big wall routes.
hook, bat hook Device for hanging on tiny edges on the rock’s surface.
Jumar See ascender. In common with the “Friend” a generic term taken from the first device of this type.
jumaring, jugging A bout of climbing a fixed rope using an ascending device such as a Jumar.
nut A general term for any metal wedge (fitted with a wire or rope sling) that is handplaced into a crack or slot to provide protection or aid. Types include: Hexes, wedges, stoppers, curvers, spuds, Moacs, sliders, RPs.
piton, peg, pin Metal spikes of many sizes which are hammered into fissures in the rock. Types include: angles, Lost Arrows, blades, bongs, RURPs, knife blades etc.
portaledge Hanging tent which climbers sleep in on a vertical wall.
power-drilling Placing bolts or rivets using a power drill (either by rap-bolting or during an on-sight climb or by retro-bolting after an aided lead). This is increasingly done by some European and American big wall climbers to leave solid protection to allow pitches (that would otherwise need to be aided or semi-aided) on a big-wall climb to be freed by an athletic follow-up team and thus leave a climb more likely to attract sport climbers. Often controversial, particularly during on-sight big wall climbs.
rap-bolting Placing bolts in the rock using a rope from above.
redpointing Making a climb after rehearsing all the moves on a top rope and pre-placing all the quickdraws.
retro-bolting The adding of bolts to a climb after the first ascent. Considered ethically unacceptable by most climbers.
rivet Small metal pin driven into a shallow drilled hole for artificially climbing blank rock. Quicker and more lightweight than fixing a bolt on an aid climb and, providing it is done sparingly, it is presently thought to be visually and ethically preferable than equipping blank passages with bolt ladders.
sieging Climbing a route from a secure base camp, with repeated ascents and descents (sometimes with intermediate camps) to and from the high point to push the climb forward. Less committing than an alpine-style or even a capsule-style ascent. Climbing terms needing a precise definition and modern climbing terms or slang. Plus a chapter-by-chapter table of British colloquialisms needing definition for American readers.
skyhook Steel hook for hanging on a rock edge. Usually for aid climbing but also used on Wales’s most dangerous free climbs.
slap Dynamic lunge for a hold.
sport climbing Convenient, safe climbing with drilled bolts for protection. A derivation from proper climbing – initially an attempt by normal climbers to push standards but soon evolved into a broader movement to process rock-climbing into a more athletically orientated, sanitised and measurable procedure by removing its main dangers and logistical complexities. Controversial, except on some (not all) extremely overhanging and crackless cliffs that are difficult or impossible to free-climb by other means. In other circumstances it is thought by many to represent a threat to the uncertainty and adventure of the cliffs that lies at the centre of making climbing a uniquely rewarding pastime. Dates from the easy availability of cordless drills which made such climbs feasible to establish. Supported by a growth in guiding, hut wardens, manufacturers, media and educational interest in the commercial exploitation of rock activity. Environmentally destructive.
“bricking it” – scared stiff
“paggered” – beaten up or punched or feeling that way
“spends” – money available for spending
Youth Training Scheme – Government scheme to gainfully occupy the young unemployed
“fifties for the leccy meter” – 50 pence pieces required for a pay-as-you-use electricity meter
“lashed up” – drunk, intoxicated
tannoy – loudspeaker in a factory or other crowded location
Giros – Government cheques issued (on the Giro Bank) to registered unemployed
“skint” – out of money, stony broke
“Gobsmacked” – stunned, surprised or amazed (usually about something nice)
“hacked” – getting there fast
“knackered” (as in a car being knackered, or even a person) – totally used up, tired, utterly spent (derived from Knacker – one who buys and slaughters spent horses)
“get a ton out” – squeezing 100mph out of a car
“ceilidh” – a Scottish dance and drinks party usually with accordion music
“Wendy house” – a play house big enough for children to enter
MEF – Mount Everest Foundation based at the:
RGS – the Royal Geographical Society in London
“barny” – an argument or private row
“gurning” – pulling a face sometimes through a horse bridle (an old Devonian custom)
Wackford Squeers – a route named after the headmaster in Dickens’s “Nicholas Nickleby”
Moac – an early and classic British nut design, a slender four-faceted wedge
“bottling” (abbr. from “bottling-out”) – running out of courage, “bottle” being a cockney term for courage
“hoolie” – a strong wind
Gemini – a make of bivouac tent