Rock Climbing Terms

If you don't know the difference between protection and a Pruisk, this is the place to start learning climbing's lingo. Our glossary will guide you through climbing terminology, from the basic to the obscure.

  • Climbing Dictionary

    Presenting the 50 most important (and common) climbing terms, the words you need to know in order to speak the language at the cliffs. All have been excerpted in part or in total from the Climbing Dictionary by Matt Samet, published in 2011 by The Mountaineers Books and with illustrations by Mike Tea. Check out the book, an illustrated and historical reference to more than 650 climbing terms, for the world’s most “mega” climbing slanguage.

  • Cheater's Banquet

    Cheater’s Banquet

    Climbing holds in gyms have become more innovative, complex, and skin-friendly, with volumes, outsized holds, and macro features introducing a rock-like chaos. Gyms also feature a few semi-constants: movement is point-to-point, and the climbing surface is much more monolithic than your average rock route.