by Red Szell
Drop knee – see Egyptian.
Dyno – short for dynamic move; one that requires a jump to reach the next hold.
Edge – a small, horizontal hold or thin ledge.
Egyptian – a technique for extend your reach sideways, achieved by turning your body side-on to the wall, rotating one knee inwards and dropping it as low as you can while bracing your other leg on a good foothold in front of you, thus enabling your outside arm to reach further away from you. From the ground the climber looks like the flying Egyptians in ancient hieroglyphs.
Elevator door – a technique for climbing cracks in which, with thumbs pointing down you pull on either side of the crack as if trying to force a pair of lift doors apart.
Epic – an ordinary climb gone dangerously wrong either through bad weather, injury and/or poor planning.
Exposure – the bowel-loosening sense of it being a very long way down if you fall.
Figure 8 knot – the most common way of tying the rope to the climber’s harness.
Finger jam – often painful and bloody way of obtaining purchase in cracks too narrow to fit your hand into.
Fist jam – wedging your fist into a crack to obtain purchase.
Fixed protection – gear that is left on the wall for future use (eg: bolts).
Flagging – method of extending your arm reach on one side by sticking your leg out on the opposite side to act as a counterbalance; helps prevent barn-dooring.
Flake – a rock formation where a thin slab of rock stands proud from the wall enabling you to slide your fingers or a sling behind it.
Free climbing – climbing without relying on artificial aids or fixed protection to support your weight. The rope and any protection you place is there only to catch you should you fall.
Free soloing – to free climb with neither rope nor protection – risky!
Frenchies – pull-up exercise designed to develop lock-off strength, that involve holding your bodyweight on arms bent variously at 45, 90 or 130 degrees.
Friend – a popular brand of SLCD.
Gaston – a hand grip in which the thumb points down and the elbow faces outwards enabling you to press sideways against a hold for support.
Grade – the approximate measure of technical difficulty of a climb or route.
Hand jam – using your hand to gain purchase in a crack by twisting, bunching or spreading it across the width, often employing the oppositional force of the thumb. If the rock is jagged, the hand often emerges looking like it has been smeared with jam.
Hanging belay – a belay stance where there is no ledge to stand on, leaving the belayer is suspended in mid-air from the anchor on the rock face.
Harness – a thick nylon webbing belt with thigh loops and a system of buckles to secure it tight to the wearer. Both climber and belayer tie the rope to an attachment point at the front of their harness that is designed to withstand the impact of and keep them upright in the event of a fall. The harness is also fitted with several belt loops from which to hang gear during a climb.
Heel hook – a high leg technique in which you use your heel to pull down on a hold like a third arm.
Hex/Hexcentric – a hexagonal metal protection device, cast in various sizes, attached to a Karabiner by a wire cable. Inserted into the top of a fluted crack or behind a flake it forms a wedge.
Hold – any feature that affords the climber some purchase for hands or feet.
Incut – an indent big enough to be used as a hold.
Jamming – wedging all or part of your body into a crack.
Jug – i) noun: a nice, big handhold. A jug ladder is a route with a preponderance of such features; – ii) verb: (slang) to Jumar.
Jumar – a type of mechanical rope ascender consisting of a handle and a one-way ratchet that allows the device to be slid up the rope but clamps it as soon as downward pressure is applied.
Karabiner/Carabiner – oblong metal snap-ring with a spring-loaded gate that is used to attach everything to anything in climbing.
Knee bar – wedging your lower leg across a crack to hold you in place, often to give your arms a rest.
Laybacking – technique used in climbing vertical (or steeply sloping) cracks, flakes and outside corners. Gripping the edge of the feature with both hands and leaning back away from it on straight arms you press your feet into the wall beneath your arms and use the pressure created to walk hands and feet upwards.
Lead – to be the first in a party to climb a route, placing and / or clipping into protection as you take the rope up with you.
Lock-off – a one-arm power grip with the elbow closed, that pulls you close into the wall, freeing your other hand to search for holds, place protection or clip in.
Mantle – to push down on a hold or ledge with one or both palms and gain height.
Match – to place both hands, both feet, or one of each, on the same hold at the same time.
Nubbin – a tiny protrusion that may be used as a tenuous hand or foothold.
Nut – a flared metal wedge connected by a wire cable to a karabiner and inserted into a crack as protection. Originally nuts and bolts purloined from the automotive, rail and mining industries, today’s custom-made nuts and hexes likewise come in a variety of shapes and sizes for use in different situations.
Off-width – a crack that is neither wide enough to fit the whole body into (a chimney) nor narrow enough to fist jam.
Overhang – a feature that juts out from the wall at an angle significantly beyond vertical.
Pendulum – to swing in a downwards arc at the end of a rope, either because of a fall when the protection above is far to one side of the climber, or deliberately to gain a feature to which no traverse is possible.
Peg – see piton.
Pinch – a narrow hold that can only be gripped by making a pinch with thumb and fingers.
Pitch – a section of a longer climb, generally measured as a rope-length (30m – 50m) or the distance between two convenient belay stances.
Piton – a flat or angled metal blade with a clipping hole for a karabiner, hammered into cracks for protection or aid.
Pocket – a small indented feature, good for a couple of fingers or the tip of your shoe.
Problem – a bouldering route.
Protection – gear placed on a climb through which the live rope is run to prevent the climber from falling too far. Unlike active protection (cams), passive protection (hexes, nuts, pitons) has no moving parts; both types are designed to be removed from a route, unlike fixed protection (bolts).
Prusik knot – a friction knot tied with a sturdy nylon cord that is wrapped round a rope and, like a Jumar, can be slid up the rope as a climbing aid but will lock in place when downward pressure is exerted. Also used as a back-up safety device on an abseil.
Pumped – the swollen, achy feeling you get in your forearms when they are so full of lactic acid that you are unable to grip hold of anything.
Quickdraw – two karabiners connected by a nylon sling, used to link an item of protection to the live rope.
Rack – the set of protection used for a climb, clipped to loops on the lead climber’s harness.
Rockover – a complex but hugely satisfying technique especially useful for climbing slabs with few and tiny holds. Involves transferring your weight over one raised knee (often flagging the opposite leg) then rising up to standing to reach a previously out-of-range handhold.
Roof – a horizontal overhang.
Runout – the length of rope trailed by the lead climber before he’s clipped into the next piece of protection. Double it to work out how far he’ll fall!
Screamer – a long and vocal fall.
Second – climber responsible for belaying the lead, the second then cleans the route of gear as he follows on.
Sidepull – a hold that works best when you pull sideways towards it.
Slab – any rock face or wall on the relaxed side of vertical.
Sling – a loop of nylon we
bbing, sold in various lengths.
Sloper – a downward sloping hold, often difficult to get purchase on.
Smearing – using friction alone to move your feet up the wall.
Sport climbing – places more of an emphasis on technical ability and strength than trad climbing, usually on shorter routes with fixed protection. As well as bolted crags it encompasses indoor walls and is well suited to competitions.
Stopper knot – tied around the rope above the main (usually figure 8) knot to secure and tidy the loose end.
Tat – old gear, such as slings, karabiners, pitons and rope, left behind from previous climbs. Always advisable to test these vigorously before relying on them.
Thrutching – to wriggle and lever oneself up by any means possible.
Top roping – climbing using a rope that runs through a fixed anchor point at the summit of a route.
Trad(itional) climbing – has an emphasis on longer routes, placing and removing your own protection and the thrill of self-reliance. Also known as adventure climbing.
Traverse – i) to move sideways along a route; ii) section of a climb that can only be tackled by a horizontal course.
Undercling/Undercut – a hold that can only be grasped from underneath, requiring a palm-up grip rather than the more usual palm-down.
Wall – any rock face or climbing wall.
Wire – slang for nut.
Zipper – a sub-optimal fall in which poorly placed protection is ripped out sequentially; often associated with a screamer.
Appendix B
Rockfax Climbing Grade Table
1. Red at Swiss Cottage climbing wall (photo: Matthew Wootliff)
[List of Illustrations]
2. A guiding hand from Matthew (photo: Andres Cervantes)
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3. Martin leading off Cioch Nose, note the climbing shoes and the rocky ground! (photo: Alex Moran)
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4. Route Three, Diabaig (photo: Martin Moran)
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5. Crack climbing using the elevator door technique at Latheronwheel (photo: Nick Carter)
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6. Red, Keith, Andres & Martin on the ferry to Stromness (photo: Matthew Wootliff)
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7. Hoy’s dramatic coastline bathed in perfect evening light, from the ferry (photo: Keith Partridge)
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8. The long walk-in, the Old Man in the distance (photo: Nick Carter)
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9. Having got him kitted out for the climb, Red’s entourage tries to convince him that the Old Man doesn’t look so big . . . from the promontory (photo: Keith Partridge)
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10. The long and precipitous descent down the cliff (photo: Matthew Wootliff)
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11. The route (photo: Mike Lee, art: Jim Buchanan)
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12. Nick jumaring just above Red (photo: Martin Moran)
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13. The Crux Pitch (photo: Keith Partridge)
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14. Nick jumaring just above Red at The Coffin (photo: Martin Moran)
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15. Red exiting The Coffin (photo: Keith Partridge)
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16. Keith and Andres filming the climb (photo: Matthew Wootliff)
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17. It’s a long way down and a long way up and it’s steep rock all the way (photo: Keith Partridge)
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18. Approaching the sanctuary of the second belay stance (photo: Keith Partridge)
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19. A quick rest before the final pitch (photo: Nick Carter)
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20. Near the summit there’s a cleft through the rock as if some giant had taken an axe to the summit (photo: Keith Partridge)
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21. Rock Gods: Nick, Martin & Red at the summit (photo: Keith Partridge)
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22. Signing the log book at the summit (photo: Nick Carter)
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23. Abseiling off – Red and Martin (photo: Keith Partridge)
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24. Nick abseiling in midair (photo: Keith Partridge)
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25. Friends reunited (photo: Nick Carter)
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26. Red during cliff-top interview with Keith (photo: Keith Partridge)
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