Climbing rope in the context of "Belaying"

Lead climbing (or leading) is a technique in rock climbing where two climbers work together to ascend a climbing route. The 'lead climber' — who is doing the climbing — clips the rope to pieces of protection as they ascend. The 'second' (or 'belayer') stands at the base of the route controlling the other end of the rope, which is called belaying (e.g. if the 'lead climber' falls, the 'second' locks the rope). The term distinguishes between the two roles and the greater effort and increased risk of the role of the 'lead climber'.

Leading a route is in contrast with the alternative climbing technique of top roping, where even though there is still a 'second' belaying the rope, the 'lead climber' faces no risk in the event of a fall and does not need to clip into any protection as the rope is already anchored to the top of the route (e.g. if they fall they will just hang from the static rope). Leading a climbing route is a core activity in rock climbing, and first ascents (FA) and first free ascents (FFA) of new routes must be done via lead climbing.

Sport climbing (or bolted climbing) is a type of free climbing in the sport of rock climbing where the lead climber clips their rope—via a quickdraw—into pre-drilled in-situ bolts on the rockface for their protection as they ascend the route. Sport climbing differs from the riskier and more demanding format of traditional climbing where the lead climber—as they ascend the route—must also find places into which temporary and removable protection equipment (e.g. spring-loaded camming devices) can be inserted for their safety.

Sport climbing dates from the early 1980s when leading French rock climbers wanted to climb blanker face climbing routes that offered none of the cracks or fissures into which temporary protection equipment could be safely inserted. While bolting natural rock faces was controversial—and remains a focus of debate in climbing ethics—the safer format of sport climbing grew rapidly in popularity both for novice and advanced climbers. All subsequent technical grade milestones in rock climbing would come from sport climbing.

Free solo climbing (or free soloing) is a form of rock climbing where the climber (or free soloist) climbs on technical terrain without ropes or any form of protective equipment — they are allowed to use climbing shoes and climbing chalk (or ice tools and crampons if ice climbing). Free soloing is the most dangerous form of climbing, and, unlike bouldering, free soloists climb at heights where any fall can be fatal. Though many climbers have free soloed routes with technical grades that they are very comfortable on, only a tiny group free solo regularly, and at technical grades closer to the limit of their abilities.

The international profiles of some climbers have been significantly increased by their free soloing activities, such as Alex Honnold, Alex Huber, Alain Robert and John Bachar, but others question the ethics of this, and whether the risks that they are undertaking should be encouraged and commercially rewarded. While "free solo" was originally a term in climbing slang, after the popularity of the 2018 Oscar-winning film Free Solo, Merriam-Webster added the word to their English dictionary in September 2019.

Top rope climbing (or top roping) is a form of rock climbing where the climber is securely attached to a climbing rope that runs through a fixed anchor at the top of the route, and back down to the belayer (or "second") at the base of the climb. A climber who falls will be held by the rope at the point of the fall, and can then either resume their climb or have the belayer lower them down in a controlled manner to the base of the climb. Climbers on indoor climbing walls can use mechanical auto belay devices to top rope alone.

By definition, top roping can only be done on routes that are less than half the length of a typical climbing rope, which means single-pitch routes that are below 25–30 metres (82–98 ft) in height. Top roping is also used in ice climbing, and the related sports of mixed climbing and dry-tooling, and it is used in combination with auto belay devices in both competition speed climbing and competition ice climbing.

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).

In climbing, a pitch is a section of a climbing route between two belay points (or belay stations), and is most commonly related to the task of lead climbing (going up), but is also related to abseiling (going down). Climbing on routes that require only one pitch is known as single-pitch climbing, and climbing on routes with more than one pitch is known as multi-pitch climbing (where the number is large, it can be big wall or alpine climbing).

Modern climbing ropes are typically 60–70 metres (200–230 ft) in length, which sets the theoretical maximum length of a 'pitch', however, other factors mean that the average pitch on a multi-pitch route is circa 30–40 metres (98–131 ft) in length. Advanced climbing techniques such as simul climbing can materially reduce—and even completely remove—the need for 'pitches' on a multi-pitch climbing route. The term is also used in caving.