allez: The Top 10 Essential Terms Every Climber Should Know
The Top 10 Essential Terms Every Climber Should Know By Matt Samet Author of the Climbing Dictionary Photo Credit: Chris Weidner In climbing, communication is everything. We need to know, at all times, what our partner is doing, whether she’s on the sharp end, up at an anchor getting ready to lower, or above us on a multi-pitch climb preparing to belay us up. Miscommunication can cause and certainly has caused accidents, including fatal ones, all preventable had there been a clear conversation about ropework and logistics on the ground, or had the climber and belayer been in better communication on the rock, including using concise, agreed-upon commands. The longer I’ve climbed, the more I’ve noticed drift from the tried-and-true...