You’ve probably heard a climber say something like “the pinch wants you to barn-door, so you need to flag” and had no clue what just happened. Every sport has its own slang, and climbing might have more of it than most. Walk into any gym or up to any crag and you’ll hear terms flying around that sound like a whole other language. This glossary of climbers lingo for bouldering and sport climbing breaks down what those terms mean and when to use them, so you can keep up and jump into the conversation.
Below you’ll find climbing terms from A to Z across bouldering, top rope, and sport climbing. Skim it before your next session, or keep it open for the moment someone yells “take!” and you freeze. Want more of the culture side? See what dabbing means and how bouldering and rock climbing compare.
Contents
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How to use this climbers lingo guide for bouldering and sport climbing
The terms below are grouped A to Z and cover bouldering, top rope, and sport climbing. Grades come up a lot, so if the V-numbers throw you, our guide on how climbing routes are graded fills in the blanks. Brand new to it all? Your first time at the bouldering gym covers what to expect.
A
- Anchor: A device or setup that secures a climber to the rock or wall so a fall gets caught.
- Approach: The walk or hike out to your climbing area or route.
- Arete: An outside corner where two faces meet, which you can climb or use as a hold. Think of the outside corner of a brick building.
- Ascender: A mechanical device that grips the rope and helps you move up it with minimal effort.
- ATC: A common, affordable belay device with one or two slots and a loop at the bottom. You push a bight of rope through a slot and clip a carabiner through the rope and loop.
- Auto-lock: A spring-loaded carabiner gate that twists and locks on its own once the gate closes.
B
- Backclip: On lead, clipping the rope into a quickdraw the wrong way, with the belayer’s strand running behind the draw instead of in front. It’s unsafe, so avoid it.
- Backstep: Standing on a hold with the outside edge of your foot while your hips turn away from that foot.
- Backup: Extra protection added to an anchor for more safety.
- Barn Door: When your body swings sideways off the wall like a door on a hinge. You can stop it by flagging, dropping one leg behind the other and pressing that foot into the wall. Swinging out to the right? Flag your left leg behind your right and catch yourself with the left foot.
- Belay: The system and action that holds the rope to catch a climber if they fall. It includes the rope, anchors, belay device, climber, and belayer.
- Belayer: The person managing the rope with a belay device to keep a fall short. They also control the speed when lowering a climber after a route.
- Belay Loop: The sewn loop on the front of your harness where you clip a belay device for belaying or rappelling.
- Belay/Rappel Device: A device the rope runs through, clipped to your harness with a locking carabiner. It adds friction so the belay is easier to manage for everyone.
- Bent-gate Carabiner: A carabiner for the rope end of a quickdraw. The bent gate gives you a bigger opening to clip the rope fast.
- Beta: Tips or info on how to do a move or route. For example, “there’s a foothold out to your left.”
- Bicolor: A rope with a color or pattern change that helps you find the middle fast.
- Bight: A small loop or section of rope.
- Big Wall: A tall, multi-pitch wall that can take several days to climb.
- Bivouac (Bivy): A temporary sleeping setup on the wall during a multi-day climb.
- Bolted Route: A route, usually for sport climbing, with anchors bolted into the wall every few feet.
- Bolts: Metal expansion pieces drilled into the rock or wall for protection. You clip quickdraws to them when sport climbing.
- Bomber or Bomb Proof: A hold or anchor that feels rock solid, like nothing could rip it out.
- Bouldering: Ropeless climbing close to the ground, usually on rock or walls no higher than about 15 feet.
- Brake Hand: The hand that stays on the rope to control a belay or rappel and the speed of the rope.
- Burn: Another attempt on a route, whether or not you make it to the top.
C
- Carabiner: An aluminum loop with a spring-loaded gate used to connect climbing gear. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and show up everywhere, from belaying to clipping ropes to anchors to hanging a chalk bag off your harness.
- Chalk: Magnesium carbonate powder that keeps your hands dry for a better grip. You can buy it loose or in a chalk ball, and in textures from fine to chunky.
- Chalk Bag: A small pouch for loose chalk or a chalk ball, usually worn on your waist with a drawstring.
- Chalk Bucket: A larger pouch or bucket for loose chalk, most common in bouldering.
- Chest Harness: A harness worn with a seat harness for extra support that keeps you upright in a fall.
- Chimney: A wide vertical crack big enough to fit your whole body inside. You climb it with opposing pressure from your hands, feet, and body.
- Climber: Someone who climbs.
- Climbing: Moving up or across rock, ice, or a mix of the two.
- Clove Hitch: A knot used to secure a rope to an anchor, often when setting up a belay.
- Crag: Slang for a climbing area, wall, or mountain.
- Crimper or Crimp: A hold barely big enough for your fingertips.
- Crux: The hardest section or move on a route or problem.
D
- Dihedral: The opposite of an arete, an inside corner where two faces meet like an open book.
- Directional: A piece of protection placed to guide the rope and keep the climber from swinging out on a traverse or overhang.
- Drag: Friction on the rope. The more protection the rope runs through, the more drag you feel.
- Drop Knee: A position where you put your foot on a hold out to the side, twist your hips the other way, and point that knee down.
- Dyno or Dynamic: A move where you jump or leap to catch the next hold.
E
- Edging: Standing on small ledges using the edges of your climbing shoes.
- Equalized: An anchor set so weight spreads evenly across each protection point.
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F
- Face: The front side of a cliff or wall, climbed using holds and edges.
- Figure 8: A knot shaped like an 8 that ties a rope to your harness.
- Fisherman’s Knot: A knot that joins two ends of rope together.
- Fixed Protection: Permanent gear like a nut or bolt used as an anchor.
- Flash: Sending a route or problem on your first try after getting beta, like watching someone else climb it or talking through the moves.
- Follow: To climb second and clean the quickdraws or other protection the leader placed. Most common on multi-pitch climbs.
- Free Climb: Climbing using only your hands and feet, with the rope there only to catch a fall. Don’t confuse it with free soloing.
- Free Solo: Climbing a route with no rope and no belay. It’s extremely dangerous and rare.
G
- Gaston: A move where you pull sideways on a hold while pushing your feet the other way.
- Gate: The spring-loaded opening on a carabiner.
- Girth Hitch: A knot where you loop the rope or sling around an object and back through itself.
- Grigri: An auto-locking belay device from Petzl that helps catch a fall. It costs more than a basic device, but it’s a favorite for its ease of use and safety features.
- Gripped: Frozen up from fear or confusion.
- Gym: An indoor climbing spot with artificial walls for bouldering, top rope, or lead. A great place to work on technique when you can’t get outside.
H
- Hang Dog: Resting your weight on the rope or protection during a lead climb instead of the rock.
- Hanging Belay: Belaying while clipped to an anchor because there’s nowhere to stand, common on multi-pitch and hard climbs.
- Harness: The belts and loops around your waist and legs that tie you into the rope.
- Heel Hook: Hooking your heel on a hold to pull yourself up or stay stable.
- Highball: A boulder problem that’s tall and dangerous.
- Hueco Scale: The bouldering difficulty scale, better known as the V-scale. It runs from V0 upward, with V0 the easiest and the hardest problems currently sitting around V17.
J
- Jug: A big, easy hold you can wrap your whole hand around.
K
- Kilonewton (kN): The unit climbing gear is rated in, based on how much force it can take in a fall.
- Kneebar: Wedging your knee between a hold and the wall for a rest or a lock.
L
- Lead: The first climber up a route, clipping the rope into quickdraws or protection.
- Lead Climbing: Climbing while clipping your rope to protection along the route, belayed from the bottom.
- Leg Loops: The two loops at the bottom of a harness that support your legs and let you sit back in it.
- Lie-back: A move where you pull with straight arms and push with your feet in opposition to move up.
- Lockoff: Bending one arm to hold your body still on a hold so your other hand is free to clip or reach.
- Lower: Slowly bringing a climber back down.
M
- Mantel: Pressing down on a ledge with your hands to bring your feet up onto it, usually when there’s nothing else to grab.
- Mono: A hold just big enough for a single finger.
- Multi-pitch: A climb broken into several pitches that needs more than one rope length and can take days.
- Munter Hitch: A simple, adjustable friction knot tied to a carabiner that lets you belay without a belay device.
O
- On-sight: Climbing a route first try with no prior beta, info, or having watched anyone else.
- On-sight Difficulty: A competition test of how far a climber gets on a route with no prior knowledge or beta.
P
- Passive Protection: Protection with no moving parts, like nuts, chocks, or hexes.
- Permadraw: A permanently fixed quickdraw, common at high-traffic crags.
- Pitch: A section of a climb one rope length long, led by one climber and followed by another.
- Piton: A metal spike hammered into a crack for the rope to clip into. Rare on modern lead climbs.
- Placement: Any crack or pocket where protection fits. It’s also the act of placing that protection.
- Protection or Pro: Gear placed along a route to secure the rope and keep a fall short.
- Pumped: The burning, tired feeling in your forearms from lactic acid during or after a hard climb.
Q
- Quickdraw: Two carabiners joined by a short sling, used to clip the rope to a bolt.
R
- Rack: All the gear you carry and use on a climb.
- Red Point: Sending a route clean, with no resting on the rope or gear, after working it over several tries.
- Redundant: Adding extra anchors for backup and safety.
- Retire: To stop using a piece of gear, usually after heavy use or a fall that makes it unsafe.
- Route: A path up a wall made of moves, holds, and distance.
- Runner: Strong webbing that connects carabiners or rope to protection, like the sling joining the two carabiners on a quickdraw.
- Runout: The distance between a climber’s last clipped quickdraw and the next one. The longer the runout, the longer the potential fall. Mostly a lead-climbing term.
S
- Screwlock: A carabiner gate lock that screws up and down to lock and unlock.
- Second: The second climber on a lead climb, usually the one who cleans the quickdraws and gear on the way up.
- Send: Completing a route.
- Sewing-machine Leg: Also called Elvis leg, when your leg shakes because you’re not weighting your feet enough, usually from fear, fatigue, or nerves.
- Shock Load: A sudden force or weight dropped onto an anchor.
- Sidepull: Pulling sideways on a hold with your hand while pushing with your feet.
- Sloper: A big, rounded hold with no edges or pockets that you grip with your whole open hand. Tough to hang onto.
- Smear: Pressing your foot flat against the wall instead of onto a hold, for balance and to keep moving up.
- Snaplink: Another name for a carabiner, used mostly in the military.
- Speed Climbing: Racing to finish a set route in the fastest time, often head to head, on standard routes in gyms and competitions.
- SRENE (Solid, Redundant, Equalized, No-Extension): The traits of a good, solid anchor.
- Static: A rope with little stretch.
- Stemming or Stem: A chimney move where you push out with opposing pressure from your arms and legs to move up.
- Stick Clip: A pole with the rope and first quickdraw on the end, used to clip the first bolt before you start a lead so a low fall doesn’t hurt you.
- Stopper Knot: A knot tied in the end of the rope so it can’t slip through the belay device and drop the climber.
- Swami: The waist part of a harness. A swami can be custom made on its own, or just webbing tied around your waist to make a harness.
T
- Take: What you shout to your belayer to pull all the slack out of the rope.
- Three-Point Suspension: Moving one limb at a time so three stay on the wall for balance.
- Toe Hook: Hooking your toe under or into a hold for balance and leverage.
- Top Rope: A rope run through an anchor at the top of a climb.
- Top Roping: Climbing with the rope anchored above you, so falls stay short. It’s safer and more controlled than lead, which makes it a great way to learn.
U
- Undercling: A downward-facing hold you grab by pulling up underneath it.
W
- Whipper: A big lead fall that sends you swinging toward or away from the wall.
Z
- Z-Clipping: A lead mistake where you grab rope from below your last quickdraw and clip it, creating a Z of rope.
Did I miss anything?
Climbing has a ton of terms, and which ones you hear depends on who you’re climbing with and what discipline you’re into. Hopefully this glossary helps you learn the lingo and follow along at the crag or gym. Think of a term I missed? Drop it in the comments and I’ll add it.
And once you know the words, the next step is putting them into practice. We send one short climbing drill every week, about 15 minutes each. Level up your climbing with 15 minutes of training. It’s free.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between bouldering and sport climbing?
Bouldering is ropeless climbing close to the ground, usually on rock or walls no higher than about 15 feet. Sport climbing uses a rope that you clip into bolts drilled into the wall as you move up a route, while a partner belays you from the bottom.
What does it mean to “send” a route?
To send is to complete a route or problem. If you send it clean after working it over several tries with no resting on the rope, that’s a red point. Doing it first try with beta is a flash, and first try with no info at all is an on-sight.
What is the V-scale?
The V-scale, also called the Hueco scale, rates how hard a boulder problem is. It runs from V0 upward, with V0 being the easiest and the hardest problems currently sitting around V17.
What does “beta” mean in climbing?
Beta is any tip or information on how to do a move or route, like where a hidden foothold is or how to sequence the crux. You can get it by watching another climber or by talking through the moves before you try them.
What is a whipper?
A whipper is a big fall, most often on lead, that sends you swinging toward or away from the wall. The distance you fall grows with the runout, the gap between your last clipped quickdraw and the next one.
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