Climbing.
Knowledge · orientation

Terms and how they fit together

Not one family tree — four questions about the same outing. Redpoint is a tick, not a hold.

In short

  • Sport climbing, redpoint and multi-pitch are not rungs on one ladder. They answer different questions about the same outing.
  • Redpoint is not a movement technique — it is an ascent style: no falls, free, on lead, in one go. Practice beforehand is allowed.
  • A family tree only works for “what are you doing in the mountains?”. Rope, length and tick sit beside it — otherwise alpine climbing gets mixed up with redpoint, or via ferrata with free climbing.
The model

Four independent questions

An outing is a product, not a branch. You cross the answers — so the same multi-pitch can be sport or alpine, and redpoint only when lead and free climbing meet.

1

What are you doing in the mountains?

The activity.

  • Hiking
  • Via ferrata
  • Mountaineering
  • Climbing

2

What moves you up?

How you progress.

  • Free climbing — hands and feet
  • Aid — on the gear
  • Via ferrata — on iron and cable

3

How are you protected?

Rope and role — independent of the tick.

  • Top rope · lead · second
  • Rope solo · free solo · DWS
  • Bouldering: pad and spotter

4

How does the ascent count?

Ascent style — free climbing only.

  • Onsight · flash · redpoint
  • Not a send: falls, hanging, top rope
  • Multi-pitch: lead every pitch
Family tree — only here

What are you doing in the mountains?

This is the only real tree: sibling activities. Hiking does not become climbing, a via ferrata does not become sport.

  • Out in the mountainsSiblings — not a progression
    • Hiking — Path, trail, off-trail — no technical progress on rock
    • Via ferrata — Cable, ladders, rungs. You move on installations — not free climbing, not a redpoint
    • Mountaineering — Summit and terrain: walking, rock, snow, often mixed. The rope is there if needed, not as sport kit
      • Glacier / high mountain — Glaciated high mountains: crevasses, ice faces, firn — a discipline of its own
    • Climbing — Moving on hands and feet on rock, ice or an indoor wall
      • Bouldering — Jump-off height, no rope — pad and spotter
      • Roped climbing — From here the other axes kick in: progression, protection, length, rope role, tick
Roped climbing

Three branches side by side

Under “climbing”, sport, trad and multi-pitch do not nest. They cross.

What moves you up?

Free and aid cannot occupy the same move. Via ferrata does not sit here — it is its own activity.

  • Free climbingBody and rock only. Rope and gear may protect, not hold bodyweight. Not the same as free solo
  • Aid climbingProgress on gear: pulling bolts, aiders, skyhooks. A0 is already “french free” — a short pull on a bolt

What protects you? (discipline)

This is the sport / trad / alpine question. It says nothing about whether you redpoint, or whether the route is one pitch or twelve.

  • Sport climbingBolts, close spacing, athletic focus. Gym or crag. Often a single pitch — not required
    • Gym / competition — Lead, boulder, speed — IFSC. A venue, not an ascent style
    • Plaisir / alpine sport — Well-bolted multi-pitch in the mountains. Alpine logistics, sport protection
  • Trad / cleanPlace and remove mobile gear. Can be a single pitch or an alpine wall
  • Alpine climbingMountains: long faces, mixed protection, weather, route-finding. The summit often matters more than the grade
  • Ice and mixedIce tools and crampons. Mixed: rock in between, often dry-tooling on rock

How long?

Length is not a child of sport or alpine. There are sport multi-pitches and alpine single pitches.

  • Single pitchOne pitch, lower-off, often back to the ground
  • Multi-pitchStances, rope commands, rappel or walk-off. Sport (plaisir) or alpine/trad
  • Big wallA very long wall, often days, portaledge. Can go free; historically often aid
Rope & role

How are you protected?

This is the top-rope / lead / solo axis — independent of whether the route is sport or trad.

  • How are you protected?
    • Top rope — Rope from above through the lower-off. Short fall. Does not count as a redpoint
    • Lead — Rope runs down. You clip protection. Required for redpoint, flash, onsight
    • Seconding — The leader belays from the stance. You clean. Normal in a team — it does not count as your redpoint of the route
    • Rope solo — Alone, but with a rope: top-rope solo or lead solo
    • Free solo — Free climbing with no rope. An extreme form — not “sport climbing, a bit freer”
    • Deep-water solo / psicobloc — No rope, over deep water

Alone with a rope — setup and risks: Solo climbing →

Ascent style

How does the ascent count?

Free climbing only. No lead, no redpoint. No clean go through the pitch, no tick — working it first is the path there, not the tick itself.

Full value — the send

  1. Onsight

    Highest tick

    Unknown route, first try, no falls on lead. No beta: do not watch, do not get called, read it from the ground. The competition default.

  2. Flash

    First try, with beta

    Like a redpoint, but first try — you have not climbed it, beta is allowed: watching, calls, video.

  3. Redpoint

    The usual “I sent it” tick

    No falls, free, on lead, in one go — the belay chain takes no weight (no hanging, no pulling bolts). Practice, falling and top-roping beforehand are allowed. Coined by Kurt Albert (Frankenjura, 1970s): a red dot at the base when an old aid route went free. Multi-pitch: you lead every pitch, or it is not your redpoint of the route.

  4. Pinkpoint

    Often lumped with redpoint today

    Like redpoint, but the draws are already hung. In sport climbing rarely split; in trad/clean, placing the gear still counts.

Below — not a full send

  1. Yo-yo

    Not a full send

    Lead, but after a fall you lower to the ground or the last no-hands rest — rope stays in the last piece, then again from the bottom.

  2. a.f. — all free

    Elbsandstein rule

    Resting on protection is allowed; you continue from the last climbing stance. Not a redpoint.

  3. Hangdog / working

    Practice, not a tick

    After a fall or a hang you continue from there. How you work a route — until a redpoint go sticks.

Often mixed up

Not the same

Free climbingFree solo

Free means you do not pull on gear. The rope may (and should) protect. Unroped solo is a different axis.

Redpointa climbing technique

Redpoint does not say how you move — only under which rules the ascent counts. Lead, one go, chain unweighted.

Multi-pitchAlpine climbing

Plaisir routes are multi-pitch and sport. A short alpine crack can be trad and a single pitch.

Via ferrataSport climbing

On a via ferrata you move on iron. Sport climbing is free climbing on bolts. Different game, different kit (via-ferrata set ≠ draws).

Putting it together

What people say — and what they mean

  • “6a+ at the crag, redpoint”

    Sport climbing × free climbing × single pitch × lead × redpoint.

  • “Plaisir route, I seconded”

    Alpine sport × free climbing × multi-pitch × seconding — not your personal redpoint of the whole route.

  • “North face, one A0 bit”

    Alpine climbing × multi-pitch × usually lead — but not free throughout, so not a redpoint of the wall.

  • “Free solo”

    Free climbing × no rope. The tick is often redpoint logic (known, one go) — the protection axis is empty.

  • “Via ferrata C”

    Its own activity. Not sport climbing, not a redpoint, not pitches in the climbing sense.

A few more words

Glossary at the edge

Tick

Beta

Information about the route: holds, rests, clip stances. With beta, a possible onsight becomes a flash.

Tick + trad

Headpoint

Inspect on top rope or abseil, then lead — common on poorly protected trad. Ethically close to redpoint, mentally different.

Protection

Greenpoint

Climb a bolted route on mobile gear only, bolts unused. Rare, voluntarily harder.

Multi-pitch

Team free

The team leads every pitch free — but not each person every pitch. A shared free ascent, not everyone’s redpoint.

Tick

First ascent / FFA

First free ascent: who first redpoints the route. The grade refers to this style.

Length

Pitch

The stretch from stance to stance — limited by rope length, terrain and anchors, not by grade alone.

Competition

Speed

A standardised gym route against the clock. Its own Olympic discipline — not an outdoor tick.

Grades and seriousness: Grading systems → · mobile protection: Trad →

Terms are convention, not a standard. Locally (Elbsandstein, UK trad, a sport crag) extra rules apply — ask on site.