As with any community, climbers have developed their own special language with words only other climbers would recognise. When you first start the sport you might be confused with all the new words getting thrown about. I’ve created this climbing glossary of terms to help you understand climbing jargon. That way, next time you’re at the climbing wall, you’ll know what people are talking about.

I’ve separated the glossary into different types of climbing jargon, to make it easier to find the words relevant for you. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should cover the most common words and phrases you’d hear at the climbing wall.

Types of Climbing Holds

• Chips – 9 times out of 10, these are designed for your feet rather than your hands. Chips are tiny holds, often only a few millimetres in width and depth, and they really force you to think about your balance.
• Crimps – These are holds where you can only get your fingertips in, rather than your whole hand. They’re small in width, and rely on finger strength.
• Dual-tex – Short for dual-texture, these things were designed by the devil himself. The ‘good’ side has a grippy surface that’s a glorified sloper at best. And the other ‘no-tex’ side? Nothing. Just a smooth surface where you’ll fall straight off unless you get the exact right angle with the exact right pressure.
• Jugs – Beloved by climbers everywhere, jugs are the most beautiful kind of hold you can imagine. You can get your whole hand in and they’ll provide you with as much support as you need. Jugs are the real MVP!
• Pockets – These are holds when you can only get a finger or in the gap. They’ll have a little circle in the middle of the hold and you weren’t really be able to get any grip elsewhere on it.
• Pinch – The grip on this one comes from pinching your thumb and fingers together into the hold. Depending on the texture and size of the hold, these can range from being easy to incredibly difficult.
• Slopers – Ugh, as a short girlie with disproportionately small hands, slopers are the bane of my existence. These are rounded holds that rely on friction to get your balance. You’ll want to make sure you have plenty of chalk.
• Undercling – Essentially an upside down jug, underclings involve you having to pull upwards. They rely on creating tension through your body.

Climbing Techniques

There are multiple techniques in climbing, far more than I could cover here, but I’ve listed some of the most common ones that you’re likely to hear other climbers talking about.

• Drop knee – This one does what it says on the tin. You twist your knee so that it’s pointing downwards towards the ground. When used correctly it will give you a lot of extra balance.
• Dynos – These are dynamic moves that involve a jump of some sort. You’ll use momentum to propel yourself, upwards or across the wall, jumping from one hold to another.
• Flagging – This is where you put one foot out to help you gain balance. You press against the wall itself rather than a hold. It helps you change your centre of mass to get better balance on the wall.
• Heel hook – This involves pressing your heel down into a hold to get stability. You hold yourself in place with the back of the heel of your foot.
• Mantle – Of all the techniques mentioned in this list, the mantle is the one that requires the most strength. You push downwards on a hold with your arms to lift up your entire body weight. This is especially difficult for climbers, as we’ll naturally develop pulling strength, but pushing strength is harder to come by.
• Smearing – This is where you need to get purchase with your foot but there’s not a hold available. Instead, you press your foot into the wall itself and push off of that, using friction to keep your grip.
• Toe hook – The opposite of a heel hook. Essentially a similar move except you hook the front or back of your toes into the hold rather than the back of your heel. This isn’t the same as just standing on a hold.

Types of Climbing Wall

The climbing style required can vary massively depending on the type of climbing wall. Some types of wall rely on strength, others on balance, others on technique, etc etc. Different kinds of walls will require a different approach, so it’s good to know the types that are out there.

• Arret – This refers to the edge of a wall, where two walls meet and diverge away from you. It means the edge of the wall can essentially be used as a massive flat hold. It’s good for pulling on with your hands, as well as doing things like heel hooks with your feet.
• Dihedral – This is the section where two walls meet, and come towards you. This is actually my favourite kind of wall as I love pushing between the two to gain extra grip.
• Overhang – This refers to a portion of climbing wall where the wall juts out towards you. Gravity is actively working against you.
• Slab – This is where the wall leans away from you. Most climbers have a love or hate relationship with slab. You’ll usually not be indifferent. Slab climbing relies heavily on technique, and you’ll need to get good at holding your balance. Personally, I love it, as gravity is working on my side for once.
• Traverse – Technically it’s not a type of wall, but it is a type of setting, so I’m including it. This is where instead of going up, you go sideways, and you send by touching the sidemost hold from where you started.
• Vert – Short for ‘vertical’, vert is essentially just a normal wall. It goes straight up without leaning towards you or away from you. You’ll find all sorts of climbs on vert, and it allows the holds and moves themselves to shine.

Miscellaneous Climbing Terms

• Autos – Short for auto-belays. Auto-belays are machines that allow you to climb with a harness without needing a belayer. If you fall while climbing with an auto-belay, it will gradually lower you down at a consistent pace.
• Beta – This is the set of moves that you use to complete a climb. Essentially, if you see climbing routes as a puzzle, the beta is the way you choose to solve it.
• Comp – Short for ‘competition’, comp-style climbs are distinguishable from regular climbs. They often involve larger or fancier holds or more unique moves. They’re designed for use in competitions and don’t have official grades.
• Flash – This means that you’ve successfully completed the climb on your first attempt.
• Free soloing – This is a kind of climbing for people who have a death wish. No, seriously, they do tall, outdoor climbs without a harness. It’s a deadly form of the sport, but also an exhilarating one. The most famous free soloist is Alex Honnold.
• Project – A project (noun) is the climb that you’re working on. It’s one that you can’t complete straight away and that will take several attempts. It can also be used as a verb to mean that you’re working on climbing something.
• Sandbag – This is when a gym/ an individual gives a climb a low-grade when it should be higher. It refers to climbs that are more difficult than they’re presented as.
• Send – This is just a fancy way of saying ‘complete’. To send a climb just means you’ve successfully finished the climb.
• V Grades – This is the grading system that’s most commonly used in bouldering. The higher the number, the more difficult the climb. The jumps between grades get progressively harder, and you’re unlikely to find climbs higher than V8 to 10 in a climbing gym.

Conclusion

I hope this climbing glossary of terms has helped you understand some of the climbing jargon you might hear around the wall. It can feel a little bit confusing when you first start out, but you’ll soon start using all those phrases like a pro. As I mentioned at the start, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and so I’m sure you’ll pick up on words that aren’t included here. But hey, that just means there’s more for you to learn, and learning is exciting!

What’s your favourite climbing-related word? Let me know down in the comments! Also, please follow our Instagram to keep up to date with my latest hobby adventures, including climbing!