Mono / Monodoigt - n. French for "one finger" pocket, a pocket in which only one finger can fit.
Move - n. Refers to the motion between holds. ie; "That's a tough move from the gaston to that sloper."
Multi Pitch Climb - n. A climb with more than one pitch, or ropelength.
Natural Protection - n. Gear that is placed in cracks or pockets which can be removed with no harm to the rock. ie: cams, nuts, hexes.
Nubbin - n. A very tiny protrusion that may be used as a sketchy foot or hand hold.
Nuts - n. a flared piece of metal placed into a bottle neck constriction as a means of protection.
Nylon - n. Material used to make slings, aiders and daisychains. Many climbers are shifting over to Dyneema or Spectra however.
Off Belay - n. Common climbing call from a climber to a belayer letting them know they are safe and no longer require belaying.
Offwidth - n/vb a crack that is neither wide enough to fit the whole body (chimney size) nor narrow enough to hand jam. Notorious for the necessity of awkward technique to climb.
Onsight - n/vb. a clean ascent with no falls, first try, with no prior knowledge of the route.
Open Book - n. An inside corner on a right angle. The rock flares out from a central corner looking like an open book.
Open hand - n.vb. a technique that requires a maximum amount of skin contact from the hand. Often used on slopers. (antonym: crimper)
Outdoor Climbing - n. Climbing on real rock, ice or snow. Often a foreign concept to gym rats.
Passive - adj. Passive protection has no special action like a cam, it is merely wedged into a crack and functions only one way.
Pendulum - v. To swing in an arc on the end of a rope to gain access to an anchor or rock feature to one side of your current position. Also a dangerous situation that may occur during a fall, if the top piece of protections is off to one side.
Peg - n. See piton.
Pin - n. See piton.
Pin scar - n. The remaining damage to a crack after a piton (or pin) has been removed. I don't like that climb; all its holds are pin scars.
Pinch - n. Any hold that must be pinched.
Pinkpoint - n.vb. A clean (no-falls) ascent of a route on lead with gear pre-placed. The climber need only clip the rope into the preplaced protection while climbing. Note: This term has disappeared from sport climbing terminology with all clean leads called redpoints.
Pitch - n. Generally a ropelength between belay stations on a multi-pitch climb.
Piton - n. a long-nosed, spike shaped, piece of metal driven into cracks for protection or aid.
Plastic - n. common name for the material of which artificial holds are made.
Pocket - n. an indented climbing feature that requires insertion of appendages to use.
Pop - adj. What happens to protection when it comes out of its placement. 2.(v.) to make a small throw to the next hold. ie: Pop for the jug.
Portaledge - n. A portable and colapsable ledge used for sleeping on a big wall or multi-pitch climb requiring more than one day to complete.
Pro - n. short for protection.
Protection - n. Gear placed on a climb to protect the climber in the event of a fall. ie: nuts, pitons, cams, bolts, quickdraws.
Protection Point - n. The last place on a climb where the leader placed and clipped their rope into a piece of protection.
Prusik Knot - n. A friction knot that when loaded, will lock on a rope. It is used when climbing a rope, backing up a rappel or locking off the belay system.
Psychological protection - n. A very poorly placed peice of protection that will never hold a fall but makes the climber feel better about having gear beneath them.
Pulley System - n. Where the rope runs through a series of pulley's and carabiners to gain a mechanical advantage when pulling the rope.
Pumped - adj. tired. referring to the state of forearms in a desperate state, swollen and unresponsive.
Quick Link - n. An oval shaped, metal ring with a screw gate requiring a wrench to fasten. These are often used to secure quickdraws to bolt hangers on indoor walls or as bail biners when a climber needs to decend from a route which is too difficult.
Quickdraw - n. two caribiners connected by a webbing or rope. used to link elements of protection.
Rappel - n/vb the act of self belaying down the length of a rope to descend.
Redpoint - n/vb. a clean ascent with no falls, placing protection while climbing.
Roof - n. a 180 degree overhang.
Runner - n. a sewn or tied loop of webbing or rope used to connect protection elements.
Runout - n/vb/adj. without adequate protection.
Safety rating - Rockclimbing.com uses the following "safety ratings" for routes: G - Well-protected route with low risk as long as climbers follow proper safety precautions; PG13 - Small potential for non-lethal injury; R - Run-out between protection and/or potential injury from falls; X - Little or no protection, dangerous run-outs and potential for serious injury or death from a fall.
Sandbag - n/adj/vb a climb that receives a rating inappropriately low rating for the difficulty.
Screamer - n a very long fall. Also a common name for a device which reduces peak force by controlled tearing of stitching, more specifically the brand name for one of these products by Yates.
Second - vb following the leader on a multi-pitch route, and typically cleaning any protection that was placed on the pitch. 2. (n) a person (one or more) who is seconding a climb.
Send - vb to complete a route successfully.
Self Arrest - vb. the act of stopping oneself with the axe in the case of a fall while on a snow slope.
Sidecling - n. Any hold that requires the climber to pull on it in a sideways manner.
Slab - n any climb that is less than vertical, especially those devoid of features requiring smearing of the feet.
Sling - n/vb a loop of webbing or rope (see runner)
Sloper - n. a downward sloping hold.
Smear - n/vb the act of placing a large surface area of shoe rubber on a hold to create maximum friction.
Solo - n/vb Climbing alone, without a partner. Often used as abbreviation for free solo, which refers to climbing without a partner or protection.
Sport Climbing - n a school of climbing that generally emphasizes shorter routes, physically difficult movement, and bolted protection. This includes gym climbing and competition.
Stacking – n/vb. placing fingers above each other in a crack to lock while crack climbing.
Stem - n/vb movement requiring opposing outward pressure much like a child climbing a door jam.
Top rope - n/vb a climb that has the rope anchors preset at the top of the climb. In general this requires shorter falls than a "lead"
Topo - n a map of routes and their names.
Traditional/ trad / trad climbing - n/adj Climbing that emphasizes longer routes and removable protection.
Tuffa - n. Generally rounded hanging features formed by calcium leaching out of limestone. Basically the climber's version of Stalactites.
Undercling - n/vb a hold that requires fingers to face upward rather than downward.
V ratings - n. an open ended scale used to rate the difficulty of boulder problems. See "ratings" in the beginner section for a conversion chart.
Verglas - n. a thin layer of ice covering rock.
Whipper - n a fall.
Wire - n. Slang for Nut. See Nuts.
Wired - adj. describing a well rehearsed climbing sequence.
X - No entries.
Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) - n. the most common system used to rate difficulty in the U.S. Most technical rock climbing is rated on a scale of 5.0 to 5.14c/d with higher numbers representing harder climbs.
Zipper - vb. to pull out protection sequentially while falling.
