Whether Dab, Egyptians, Dülfer or Clip Stick. In today's article you will find the most important terms in climbing and bouldering. Of course, the list is not exhaustive. Additions are welcome, you can enter them in the comment field at the end of the article. For an optimal view of the table you have to hold the smartphone across.
A lexicon for climbing and bouldering
| Concept | synonym | Description |
| slimmed | glassy | Smoother rock surface caused by sweat and mechanical stress, making gripping and kicking more difficult. |
| drain | Lower a roped climber to the ground or to a belay. | |
| rappelling | Abseiling route with solid fixed points on a higher rock face. | |
| descents | The terrain under a boulder. | |
| Descent | The distance from the end of a route back to the starting point. | |
| figure eight knot | Widely used knot for roping up. | |
| ape index | Term for a number that is calculated from arm span and body height. | |
| Egyptian | Dropknee, Lolotte | Term for a specific climbing leg position with a knee turned inwards and downwards, which is visually reminiscent of walking Egyptians in historical paintings. |
| rope up | Creation of a non-positive connection between the climber and the rope. | |
| belay loop | Part of the harness that connects hip and leg loops. Loop to which a rope, a belay device is attached, or a self-belay sling is attached. | |
| compete | The placing and straining of the foot on a kick. | |
| Aper | snow-free (rock and ice walls and glaciers free of snow). | |
| artificiel | French for artificial; Synonymous with technical climbing. | |
| ATC | The brand name of the tubes sold by the manufacturer Black Diamond. | |
| Raised fingers | Full Crimp | Finger position when holding handles with relatively strongly bent fingers and a closed hand position in which the thumb can support the index finger with pressure. This position makes it easier to hold small bars, but puts a lot of strain on the finger joints. |
| trailer | Sloper | Round, sloping handle. |
| Ausbouldern | check-Out | Finding out the movement sequences of a climbing route. |
| compensation anchoring | The connection of two or more fixed points with a sling, on which you then secure yourself and others on the central one. | |
| Ausklettern | Easy climbing at the end of climbing training with the aim of positively influencing recovery. | |
| Base Climb | Short sport climbing route at the beginning of a high rock face. | |
| committing style | The way in which a climbing route is climbed. | |
| Beta | Advance information about a climbing route. | |
| Big Wall | High rock face with many rope lengths, which often takes several days to climb. | |
| Bolt | bolts | English synonym for bolt. |
| Boulder block | Boulder | A few meters high boulder suitable for bouldering. |
| bouldering | Climbing discipline in which a boulder is climbed to jump height without safety devices. | |
| brake hand | The belayer's hand that grasps and manipulates the brake rope. | |
| brake cable | The section of rope that runs from the belay device in the direction of the belayer and where the climber's fall is slowed down. | |
| Camalot | The product name of a special two-axis and widely used clamping device from Black Diamond. | |
| Chalk | Magnesium | Basic magnesium carbonate in powder form to dry hands from hand sweat before and during climbing. |
| Chalkbag | magnesium Beutel | Small sealable carry bag filled with magnesia into which a hand can be inserted for drying. |
| Chip | Hitting or drilling holds on natural rocks. This is an absolute taboo! | |
| Clip stick | Cheater stick | Telescopic device that is used to hang an Exe with a rope attached to a bolt that is higher up and cannot be reached by hand. |
| clipping | Hang the rope in a snap hook. | |
| Crashpad | Portable soft landing mat for bouldering. | |
| Crux | Also a key point, the hardest single point on a climbing route. | |
| Dab | Lightly touching the crash pad or other structure during a bouldering move. | |
| Dead Point | Dynamic gripping at the dead point, in which gravity is not felt for a short moment after a swinging movement. | |
| Deep Water Soloing | Short form DWS, Psicobloc | Free solo climbing over deep water. |
| Direttissima | In as straight line as possible walk on a rock wall. | |
| Double-Dynamo | Double Dyno | Simultaneous, rapid gripping or jumping on a grip with both hands. |
| Drytooling | Climbing with an ice ax and crampons on rock and artificial walls without ice. | |
| Dülfern | Laybacking | Climbing in stepless passages with side holds (often in the form of a tear edge) using counter-pressure technique. |
| Dynamo | Dyno | Climbing technique in which a hold is achieved by jumping off or by quickly grabbing from an unstable body position. |
| Entry | Start of a climbing route. | |
| first ascent | First Ascent (FA) | First ascent of a route or boulder. |
| Exe | Express | Two snap carabiners connected to a sling, used to secure climbing routes. |
| exposed | exposed | Exposure of a route that could result in a large fall height in the event of an unsecured fall. |
| quickdraw | The sling connecting the two snap carabiners of a quickdraw. | |
| Figure of Four | Climbing position in rock climbing in which the climber hangs one leg over one arm to compensate for a missed kick. | |
| fingerboard | Fingerboard, fingerboard | Beam or board made of wood or plastic with different handles for training. |
| fixed point | Reliable attachment point for securing when climbing or mountaineering. | |
| fixed rope | Firmly anchored rope. | |
| Flash | Inspection of a climbing route that is not yet known to the climber, whereby information about the route is known to him (beta) or is called out to him during the climbing. | |
| Fontainebleauskala | Difficulty scale for evaluating bouldering problems, which is abbreviated to Fb for Fontainebleau (example Fb 7b). | |
| Free Solo | Free climbing without rope and without any security. | |
| Free climbing | Climbing only with the help of natural holds and kicks. The rope and hook are for fall protection only. | |
| Friend | Definite and historically first ever cam (producer: Wild Country); After the introduction of similar products from other manufacturers, it was also used as a generic name for clamping devices with a similar functional principle. | |
| Gaston | Term for a side grip that is held with the direction of pull against the body of the climber and from which the body is pushed away from the shoulder upwards or to the side or fixed. | |
| Greenpoint | Greenpoint climbing is a clean ascent (placing mobile backups in the lead) of a route that can also be secured with Bolts. | |
| grigri | Special semi-automatic belay device from the Petzl company. | |
| grounder | Crash on the ground or on a tape. | |
| Semi-automatic belay device | semi-automatic | Generic name for a class of belay devices that block the rope in the device when a fall is pulled, with little or no use of the brakes, provided the device functions and is used correctly. For safety reasons, the braking hand principle must always be observed when belaying and lowering these devices. |
| Munter hitch | HMS | Backup node. |
| half rope | Rope that may only be used in double strands when leading. It is mostly used for multi-pitch climbing. | |
| shimmy | Climbing without feet, only with your hands. | |
| Hanging fingers | Specific grip holding finger position with relatively stretched fingers and an open hand position (cf. also full crimp and crimp). | |
| Haul bag | Material sack that is dragged from stand to stand when inspecting big walls. | |
| heel hook | Using the heel to pull or push for propulsion or to achieve a stable body position. | |
| Henkel | Term for a large, good grip for all fingers. | |
| Highball | High boulder problem with possible dangerous falls. | |
| Hook | (1) Short for toe and heel hooks. (2) Device that is attached to rock structures in technical climbing and serves as a fixed point. | |
| IFSC | International Federation of Sport Climbing, international governing body for competitive climbing. | |
| Jümaren | Technique of ascent on a fixed rope with the help of two ascenders named after the Jümar ascender. | |
| Carbine | carabiner | Hook with spring-loaded snap lock. |
| clamping wedge | wedge | Wedge-shaped metal block that is clamped as a fixed point in cracks. |
| knee Klemmer | The clamping of the lower leg between two contact points on the rock by applying pressure between the foot and the knee or thigh. | |
| rosin | pof | A resin encased in a porous cloth sphere used in sandstone bouldering as a substitute or supplement for magnesia. |
| crusade | Climbing movement in which the reaching hand crosses the perpendicular line of the holding hand. | |
| strip | Crimp | On the one hand, a crimp/bar designates a straight and usually rather small handle shape. On the other hand, crimp is also used to designate the finger position. (semi-raised finger position). |
| Mantle | Support yourself with a handle. Often necessary at the exit of a boulder. | |
| Multi-pitch route | Route with several pitches. | |
| Iceclimbing | Climbing routes with ice and rock passages, usually tackled with ice axes and crampons. | |
| Mobile security | Devices that are used to temporarily set up fixed points, such as e.g. B. Nuts and webbing slings. | |
| sewing machine | Slang term for severe muscle tremors while climbing. | |
| No-Hand-rest | Resting point where hands are not needed to hold the rock structure. | |
| Open door | The technical problem of the climber turning sideways out of the wall (like a door opening). | |
| Offwidth crack | Crack too wide to jam your fist but narrower than a chimney. | |
| onsight | Red point ascent of a climbing route on the first attempt without having received information about movements and holds in the route before or during the ascent. | |
| partner check | Four-eyes principle | The climbing partners mutually check whether all safety measures have been completed correctly. |
| Pink Point | Historical: red point ascent, in which the intermediate safety devices were installed before the ascent. Is no longer distinguished from red dot. | |
| Placement | Suitable place for placing a mobile belay device. | |
| Plaisir climbing | Synonym for enjoyment climbing. | |
| portaledge | Light platform for sleeping on big wall climbs. | |
| Problem | Synonymous with bouldering, a short route that is climbed at jump height without a climbing rope. | |
| Prusik | A terminal node that contracts under load. | |
| Pump | With continuous exertion of the fingers, due to acidification with lactate, hard, thickened and less efficient muscles in the forearm (pumped arms) | |
| points | Colloquially for red point climbing. | |
| Red circle | Free ascent of a route in the lead without resting at the safety points; several attempts, with the last save point reached remaining attached. | |
| Rotpunkt | Inspection of a climbing route in lead climbing without loading the safety chain. | |
| route Read | Mentally playing through the movement sequences of a route before the actual attempt. | |
| resting place | Place in a climbing route where the climber can recover without stressing the belay chain. | |
| runout | Unusually large distance between two intermediate fuses. | |
| hourglass | Hole open on two sides, through which an accessory cord or a sling can be inserted as an intermediate safeguard. | |
| renovate | Replacing and supplementing old belay material in climbing routes with new material. | |
| key length | The heaviest pitch within a multi-pitch route. | |
| Seilschaft | The climbing partners on a rope. | |
| Serac | Glacier break-off zone in steep terrain. | |
| assurance partner | Name for the person who secures a climber. | |
| Sika | Two-component stone adhesive used for fixing loose stones and controversially recreating handles or steps. | |
| sinter | Longer organ-pillared vertical rock structures. | |
| speed ascent | Climbing a climbing route as quickly as possible, usually a multi-pitch route or a big wall. | |
| speed climbing | A form of competition in which two climbers compete against each other on two standardized climbing routes on an artificial climbing wall and climb it as quickly as possible. | |
| Sport climbing | Climbing with sportive objective. | |
| scoff | Safety technique in bouldering. The person standing on the ground ensures a landing on their feet in the event of the climber falling. | |
| fall factor | Number that quantifies the "hardness" of a fall on the rope (height of fall divided by length of rope output = fall factor). | |
| Tape | Adhesive tape to support the ligaments or to protect the skin. | |
| Technical climbing | Form of climbing in which technical aids such as hooks are used not only for securing but also for locomotion (synonyms: artificial climbing, artif climbing). | |
| Toehook | Using the top of the toe under traction for locomotion or to achieve a stable body position. | |
| Top | The official end of a route, usually reached when the detour is attached. | |
| Top rope or red cross | A style of climbing in which the rope runs through the belay, eliminating the need to attach belays while climbing. | |
| Top | Sketch of a climbing route or a climbing garden. | |
| Tradklettern | Inspection style in which all safety points (mobile safety devices) are attached and removed after the inspection. | |
| Traverse | Quergang | Climbing route section or boulder that involves horizontal traversal. |
| diverter | A particularly safe fixed point (often two bolts connected with a chain) at the end of a climbing garden route, over which the climber is lowered again. | |
| undercling | Roughly horizontal grip that can only be held with pull direction up. | |
| Urban Climbing | City Bouldering, Building | Climbing on buildings and other urban structures. |
| intersection | Two rock faces, slabs or blocks of rock that – like an open book – meet at an inner edge. | |
| lead climbing | A style of ascent that requires the rope to be clipped into the belay points while climbing. | |
| water groove | Mostly well gripped vertical erosion phenomenon in limestone. | |
| boarding | The distance from the starting point to the route. |
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Credits: Cover picture, terms Wikipedia
- Pliers or pliers handle
- oldschool or newschool (-climbing)
- adhesive hook
- Overhang, plate, roof
- Volume
- Hole