Climbing in the context of "Upper limb"

A mountain hut is a building located at high elevation, in mountainous terrain, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an alpine club or some organization dedicated to hiking or mountain recreation. They are known by many names, including alpine hut, mountain shelter, mountain refuge, mountain lodge, and mountain hostel. It may also be called a refuge hut, although these occur in lowland areas (e.g. lowland forests) too.

Mountain huts can provide a range of services, starting with shelter and simple sleeping berths. Some, particularly in remote areas, are not staffed, but others have staff which prepare meals and drinks and can provide other services, including providing lectures and selling clothing and small items. Permanent staffing is not possible above the highest permanent human settlements, which are 5500m at the latitude of Everest (27°59′, similar to Corpus Christi, Texas) but lower than 3500m at the latitude of Mont Blanc (45°50', similar to Montreal, Quebec). Permanent staffing has been tried long ago e.g. at Vallot Hut (4362 m, .58 atm) in 1890-91 but had to stop after heart or lung problems apparently due to altitude and cold combined. Mountain huts usually allow anybody to access their facilities, although some require reservations.

A limb (from Old English lim, meaning "body part") is a jointed, muscled appendage of a tetrapod vertebrate animal used for weight-bearing, terrestrial locomotion and physical interaction with other objects. The distalmost portion of a limb is known as its extremity. The limbs' bony endoskeleton, known as the appendicular skeleton, is homologous among all tetrapods, who use their limbs for walking, running and jumping, swimming, climbing, grasping, touching and striking.

All tetrapods have four limbs that are organized into two bilaterally symmetrical pairs, with one pair at each end of the torso, which phylogenetically correspond to the four paired fins (pectoral and pelvic fins) of their fish (sarcopterygian) ancestors. The cranial pair (i.e. closer to the head) of limbs are known as the forelimbs or front legs, and the caudal pair (i.e. closer to the tail or coccyx) are the hindlimbs or back legs. In animals with a more erect bipedal posture (mainly hominid primates, particularly humans), the forelimbs and hindlimbs are often called upper and lower limbs, respectively. The fore-/upper limbs are connected to the thoracic cage via the pectoral/shoulder girdles, and the hind-/lower limbs are connected to the pelvis via the hip joints. Many animals, especially the arboreal species, have prehensile forelimbs adapted for grasping and climbing, while some (mostly primates) can also use hindlimbs for grasping. Some animals (birds and bats) have expanded forelimbs (and sometimes hindlimbs as well) with specialized feathers or membranes to achieve lift and fly. Aquatic and semiaquatic tetrapods usually have limb features (such as webbings) adapted to better provide propulsion in water, while marine mammals and sea turtles have convergently evolved flattened, paddle-like limbs known as flippers.

Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.

Unlike most sports, mountaineering lacks widely applied formal rules, regulations, and governance; mountaineers adhere to a large variety of techniques and philosophies (including grading and guidebooks) when climbing mountains. Numerous local alpine clubs support mountaineers by hosting resources and social activities. A federation of alpine clubs, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), is the International Olympic Committee-recognized world organization for mountaineering and climbing. The consequences of mountaineering on the natural environment can be seen in terms of individual components of the environment (land relief, soil, vegetation, fauna, and landscape) and the location/zone of mountaineering activity (hiking, trekking, or climbing zone). Mountaineering impacts communities on economic, political, social, and cultural levels, often leading to changes in people's worldviews influenced by globalization, specifically foreign cultures and lifestyles.

Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, services for outdoorsmen, and de facto regulation of local mountaineering resources and behavior of mountaineers. Most clubs organize social events, schedule outings, and stage climbing competitions, operate alpine huts and paths, and are active in protecting the alpine environment.

The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as:

Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers.

Competition speed climbing, which takes place on an artificial and standardized climbing wall, is the main form of speed climbing. However, there are types of speed climbing that take place outdoors, such as climbing famous big wall climbing routes in the shortest times, notable examples being on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain peak or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers were mainly focused on reaching the tops of notable mountain peaks (e.g. the eight-thousanders such as Mount Everest) and the tops of iconic climbing routes (e.g. the great north faces of the Alps such as the Eiger) by whatever means possible, and often using considerable amounts of aid climbing and/or with large expedition style support teams allowing them to "lay siege" to the climb.

As all the key tops were summited, the manner or "style" in which each top was reached became important to climbers, and particularly the ability to complete the ascent without the use of any artificial aids, which is called free climbing. In free-climbing, the term first free ascent (abbreviated FFA) denotes where a mountain or climbing route is ascended without any artificial aid — note that equipment for protection in the event of a fall can be used as long as they did not aid in the climber's upward progression. Completing the FFA of a climbing route is often called freeing (or more latterly sending) a route, and is highly coveted.