This page is intended to help people understand what the hard core climbers are talking about when their conversations become thick with climbing jargon. Fortunately for me, someone else has already done a great deal of work in compiling definitions for these terms, so for short answer definitions consult The Climbing Dictionary. There is some local variation in usage from place to place, so the definitions given might not be what some would expect, but this is by far the most comprehensive listing of climbing terms I have found.

I am also trying to provide more comprehensive explanations for types of climbing and other complicated terms:

Aid Climbing

Aid is pulling on anything that isn't a natural rock feature. Its graded in difficulty from A0 to A5. If you are leading a long free route and you find a move too hard so pull on a piece to get past the crux then that is A0 (or French free). Harder aid requires webbing ladders (aiders) to stand or sit in. Imagine a blank vertical wall split by a perfect 1 inch crack with bomber cam and nut placements. That would be A1 and maybe also could be free climbed.

Easier aid routes can be done 'clean' i.e. without a hammer. You place nuts/wires/cams/hooks in features and haul up on them causing absolutely no damage to the rock. Obviously they are removed by the second and reused.

Harder aid climbs require the use of pins (pitons) These are made from hard steel in a variety of shapes, usually with an eye to clip a biner in. Pins are usually placed with a hammer. You select an appropriate size for the crack, partially insert it by hand then tap it in. A perfect placement will give a clear ringing sound. The second removes pins also by knocking them back and forth until they come loose. Some blind cracks will only accept a few millimeters of steel, so the pins have to be 'tied off' with a small length of webbing to reduce the leverage.

Aid climbing is rather out of fashion these days but is still used widely on big wall routes that otherwise could not be free climbed. Besides pins there are other specialist items for aid climbing eg. skyhooks for small edges, copperheads for blind corner placements or shallow holes. Hard aid climbing, above A3, is very scary and may consist of many placements in a row that will only just hold body weight. If a piece pops you risk ripping everything and taking a long zipper, possibly to a bad landing.

Placing pins will cause damage especially to soft rock eg the sandstone walls in Zion. Careful placement of pins in a hard rock such as granite will cause almost no visible damage. Bad 'pin scars' are usually caused by a scared leader overdriving the pins which then take a lot of hammering to remove. In the general evolution of climbs, very many ascents of aid pitches using the same placements enlarge the cracks. These enlarged cracks then will accept nuts, cams or fingers enabling the route eventually to be climbed 'clean aid' or free e.g. Salathe Wall, the Nose. So the damage tends to be self limiting.

The crags around Halifax are not that suitable for aiding, as there are not many faces that are totally unclimbable free, yet have features that will accept aid gear e.g. hairline cracks. Also the crags are short, so bad groundfall potential is a problem with hard aid. Aiding can be fun in the winter months as it can be done when the rock is wet and cold. The main rule is to NEVER hammer pins into a free climb. This is viewed as vandalism in most climbing areas. However there is nothing to stop a person clean aiding a free climb for fun if they wish. More really good info and reading can be found on the Yosemite rock page

Written by Steve (last name unknown) in a post (Nov 29, 2001) to the Climb Nova Scotia Bulletin Board.

Mixed Ice Climbing & Dry Tooling

The feeling of ascending multiple mediums like ice, rock, dead trees, and moss is unique. The feeling that I got from rock increased in enjoyment when I ice climbed. Well that then exponentiated when I climbed both. To me it is almost an immortal feeling when you look at the multiple mediums before you, and you then moove up over them. Not to mention it suits my physical body type. I like rock, but I have a life long love affair with water in its different forms. My father jokes of the Irish myth that we are seal people.

The ice season is 2-4 months here. Each year I just hit my stride and it is over. Last year I started to train in the fall and this year I am training year round. The dry tooling is what bouldering is to rock climbing. While bouldering is a seperate entity, it is great specific technique training and it makes you strong. Dry tooling prepairs me for winter mixed climbes, and obviously improves my skills and strength.

The experience of making dry tool placements, solving the next solution, then getting out to thin ice, balancing on frozen moss, up to thick ice and finishing the route on a overhanging dead log in total exhaustion is beyond words. You just looked at natures ever changinging mixture of rock ice and plant, and you climbed it. Ice is the only thing in nature that you can destroy and you have not done any damage, and it tirelessly reforms as if to say this experience is trancendant.

Written by Sean Drohan in a post (May 29, 2002) to the Climb Nova Scotia Bulletin Board.

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Last updated: May 29, 2002