The different types of climbing
Like any sport, climbing has its own language - sport, trad, free, bouldering, deep water solo - we throw these terms around willy-nilly and for anyone trying to enter our world it can be pretty confusing. This article goes back to basics - what are the different types of climbing and how do they work? Whether you’re trying to decide what you’d like to try, or unsure what all the terms mean, after you’ve read this guide you’ll be a bona fide climbing lingo expert!
To rope or not to rope?
Broadly speaking, you can divide climbing into two types, depending on whether or not you use a rope.
Climbing with ropes opens up more adventurous terrain - you can tackle bigger routes, reach more inaccessible areas, and try harder moves safe in the knowledge that there’s something to stop you hitting the ground.
Climbing without ropes is arguably a purer form - unhindered by a harness laden with gear, you can get straight on the rock with minimum faff and true freedom of movement. Not using a rope does limit the height that you can safely climb however.
Within both roped and non-roped there are a few different types of climbing, which we will look at below:
Roped climbing
Sport climbing
Sport climbing relies upon stainless steel bolts permanently drilled into the rock, which the leader clips into at intervals for safety. Because gear is fixed, it’s safer to push the grade, so sport routes tend to be steeper and more technical.
Trad Climbing
Trad or traditional climbing (known as free climbing in the US) means that nothing is permanently left in the rock. Leaders place their own protection, which is later removed by the following climber, or ‘second’. Using a wide variety of gear, this method is, as the name would imply, a much older tradition than sport, and historically would follow lines of weakness in the rock to reach the top.
Single pitch vs Multi pitch
When you use a rope, you can only climb up to one rope-length at a time. If you have a 30m rope say, and your route is 15m, no problem - you climb it in one go, or in one ‘single pitch’. In sport single pitch, there are anchors at the top and you usually lower down. In trad, the leader builds an anchor, ties in, brings up the second, and you walk off.
However, let’s say you have a 30m rope, and your route is 50m. In order to reach the top, you have to split the climb mid-way, and climb it in more than one pitch - this is a ‘multi pitch’. In sport multi pitch, there will be regular anchors to split the route, whereas in trad, the leader builds them.
Top rope, bottom rope, belaying and lead
Climbing generally works in pairs. One goes first (the leader), either clipping bolts in sport, or placing protection in trad. If you are climbing first, without a rope above you, you are on lead. The second climber is on the ground, keeping a hand on the ropes, ready to hold tight if the leader takes a fall. This is belaying.
Top and bottom roping refers to the position of the belayer. In single pitch trad, the leader sits on the top of the crag to belay up the second: top-roping. However if the rope has been pre-placed to run through an anchor at the top, and the belayer stands on the ground at the bottom, this is bottom-roping.
Non-roped climbing
Bouldering
Bouldering is short, sharp, often quite technical climbing. The problems usually reach a maximum height of around 5m, and protection comes from thick padded boulder mats, and sometimes ‘spotting’ from other climbers to make sure that if you fall, you do so safely. Finishes can be a jump down or a top-out, where you end up on top of the boulder and walk off.
Deep Water Solo and Free Solo
For those with a little less regard for personal safety (!), Deep Water Solo (or DWS) and Free Solo are when climbers choose to tackle established roped lines without protection. DWS affords some safety since the lines are always above water - if you fall you’ll end up in the drink, but hopefully not in the hospital! Free Solo however is a much more serious undertaking, and definitely not something that we recommend. Made famous by Alex Honnold’s ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite, a fall whilst free soloing will most likely result in serious injury or death.
Pete Whitakker free solos Flying Buttress Direct, Stanage Edge
