Climbing harness in the context of "Ice climbing"

Bouldering, less commonly spelled bowldering, is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help secure footholds, chalk to keep their hands dry and to provide a firmer grip, and bouldering mats to prevent injuries from falls. Unlike free solo climbing, which is also performed without ropes, bouldering problems (the sequence of moves that a climber performs to complete the climb) are usually less than six metres (20 ft) tall. Traverses, which are a form of boulder problem, require the climber to climb horizontally from one end to another. Artificial climbing walls allow boulderers to climb indoors in areas without natural boulders. Bouldering competitions take place in both indoor and outdoor settings.

The sport was originally a method of training for roped climbs and mountaineering, so climbers could practice specific moves at a safe distance from the ground. Additionally, the sport served to build stamina and increase finger strength. During the 20th century, bouldering evolved into a separate discipline. Individual problems are assigned ratings based on difficulty. Although there have been various rating systems used throughout the history of bouldering, modern problems usually use either the V-scale or the Fontainebleau scale.

A safety harness is a form of protective equipment designed to safeguard the user from injury or death from falling. The core item of a fall arrest system, the harness is usually fabricated from rope, braided wire cable, or synthetic webbing. It is attached securely to a stationary object directly by a locking device or indirectly via a rope, cable, or webbing and one or more locking devices. Some safety harnesses are used in combination with a shock-absorbing lanyard, which is used to regulate deceleration and thereby prevent a serious G-force injury when the end of the rope is reached.

An unrelated use with a materially different arresting mechanism is bungee jumping. Though they share certain similar attributes, a safety harness is not to be confused with a climbing harness used for mountaineering, rock climbing, and climbing gyms. Specialized harnesses for animal rescue or transfer, as from a dock to a vessel, are also made.

Rock-climbing equipment varies with the specific type of climbing that is being undertaken by the climber(s). Bouldering needs the least equipment: climbing shoes, climbing chalk and optional crash pads. Sport climbing adds ropes, harnesses, belay devices, and quickdraws which clip into pre-drilled permanently-fixed bolts on the rock face. Traditional climbing adds the need to carry a "rack" of temporary and removable passive and active protection devices. Multi-pitch climbing, and the related big wall climbing, adds devices to assist in ascending and descending static fixed ropes. Finally, aid climbing uses unique equipment to give mechanical assistance to the climber in their upward movement (e.g. aiders).

Advances in rock-climbing equipment design and manufacture are a key part of the rock climbing history, starting with the climbing rope. Modern rock-climbing devices enable climbers to perform tasks that were previously done manually, but with greater control – in all conditions – and with less effort. Examples of such replacements include the harness (replaced tying the rope around the waist), the carabiner (replaced many knots), the descender/abseil device (replaced the dülfersitz), the ascender (replaced the prusik knot), the belay device (replaced the body belay), and nuts/hexes (replaced chockstones).

A climbing rope is a rope that is used in climbing. It is a critical part of an extensive chain of protective equipment (which also includes climbing harnesses, anchors, belay devices, and carabiners) used by climbers to help prevent potentially fatal fall-related accidents.

Climbing ropes must meet very strict requirements so that they do not break in the event of an accidental fall. However, they also need to be light, flexible for knotting, and resistant to chafing over sharp and rough rocks; all that in all possible weather conditions. Although ropes made of natural fibres such as hemp and flax were used in the early days of alpinism, modern climbing uses kernmantle ropes made of a core of nylon or other synthetic material and intertwined in a special way, surrounded by a separate sheath woven over it. The main strength of the rope is in the core, and the sheath of the rope represents only a small fraction of the overall strength of the rope.