UKC

Some obscure treats in this list - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_climbing_terms

Any glaring omissions?

My top 3:

Gronked: "Accidentally going off-route while leading and becoming lost on a rock face in an area much more difficult than the climb being attempted. The word arises from the climb "Gronk" in Avon Gorge which is notorious for this."

Merkle: "To retrieve another climbers gear because he or she is unable to or because it would be more convenient."

Übergrippen: "The intense feeling of relief when finding a jug or good handhold after a difficult Crux."
(known to me as a 'Thank F***' hold)

In reply to Bob Peters:

Déjà vu: To redpoint a route that you previously did so long ago that you can't remember the beta

In reply to Bob Peters:

How did they miss "Udge" : an uncomfortable shuffling motion (often of the whole body) used to make gradual upward progress, typically in a squeeze chimney.

In reply to Pedro50:


Also known as a "Greypoint" another evocative term missing from the linked list.

In reply to Bob Peters:

To "conquer" a mountain.

Sometimes used by the press. I've never heard it used by a climber.

In reply to Trangia:



Only after the final "assault" Ugh

In reply to Bob Peters:

Definitely storing übergrippen away ready for deployment.

Also sounds like it would be a good way to describe that sort of next-level, transcendental fear that is sometimes encountered...

In reply to Bob Peters:

Glacis.

In reply to Bob Peters:

Manky.

IIRC used to describe disappointing weather.

In reply to The Ivanator:


They do at least have its stablemate 'Thrutch'

In reply to Rog Wilko:


What does this mean? I've only found it in an SMC guidebook and despite climbing several climbs which referenced them couldn't work out what the feature was supposed to be...

In reply to bigbobbyking:

I presume it comes from the term given to the sloping apron of rock or concrete around the base of a fixed gun emplacement. Napoleonic forts had them and they were known as glacis. Their function was to cause an incoming cannon ball to ricochet harmlessly over the gun or fort.

I am trying to picture such a feature on a rock climb.....

In reply to Bob Peters:

They define punter as "An over-ambitious and under-prepared climber"

Whereas I'm an under ambitious and over prepared climber; I shall have to change my UKC profile

In reply to Trangia:


Underneath - particularly on limestone. I seem to remember a glacis of sorts underneath Honeymoon Blues, down which Andy Parkin and I tumbled together with the 20 foot of rope between us suddenly redundant.

Is there another one underneath Revelations, which happily remained untested by Antonine le Menestrel? Not been there for ages; memory getting blurry.

Mick

In reply to Bob Peters:


Well they've got campus board but not bumbly. Where's their sense of priorities? Thankfully my forthcoming article (on the latter, not the former) will put the world to rights.

Mick

In reply to Trangia:
The Quartz ledge on this was described as a Glacis in the old guides.

Pinnacle Wall (S 4a)

In reply to bigbobbyking:
A glacis is the third item in this sequence: Wall, slab, glacis.
I've seen it defined as having an angle of less than 30 deg to the horizontal.
jim jones's example is a good one, but probably an extreme one, as, IIRC, it's about 50 metres long!

In reply to Bob Peters:

Glissade - the definition in the Wiki list isn't as good as the famous one by somebody well-known that I've forgotten. It goes as follows:
There are three types of glissade, standing, sitting and involuntary. They usual occur in this order.

In reply to Fredt:



Or disappointing anything.

For instance I recall in the seventies mates and I would send postcards to those left at work with a list of the routes we'd done, on a trip to say Cornwall or The Lakes, in doggerel form. A form of crowing over the less fortunate necessary before we had forums and facebook to do it with. One verse, describing a day at Deer Bield Crag (in those days still intact), went:

We pushed the grade beyond Hard VS
With Dolphin's gem "Deer Bield Buttress"
But, dirty shitty loose and MANKY,
Did we like "Dunmail Cracks" - No thank 'ee.

From which you can see why none of us pursued a literary career!

In reply to Trangia:


I'd say the sloping ledge on "The Arete" at Sennen qualifies

The Arête (VS 4b)

In reply to Bob Peters:

They don't have "Smeggy". They must be American, or puritanical, or both.

In reply to Bob Peters:

To "grovel": To arrive on one's knees at a ledge.

To "grimp": To progress via a series of increasingly desperate and unlikely moves. ie "Just grimp up that chimney son.."

To "crater": An obvious one...

In reply to Bob Peters:

Lob - to 'take a lob' - to fall.

Fester - to spend the day in the café or pub or Joe Brown's.

Chossy - crappy, dirty or Lliewedd.

Sewing Machine Leg - for ones foot to involuntary vibrate and shake up and down on a foothold, sometimes accompanied by rapid bowel movement.

Bottle It - to back off a route. Usually preceded by 'sewing machine leg' and followed by extraction of urine from friends.

Barracking - light hearted yet deliberate 'banter' designed to put someone off. An integral part of bouldering when it was a light hearted end of day social gathering, as opposed to an evangelical calling.

Gripped - Getting anxious/scared on a route. Often incorporates 'Sewing Machine Leg', 'Bootle It' and 'Lob'.

In reply to Rog Wilko:



Actually four - the fourth one being "terminal"

JW

In reply to broken spectre:


aka "A double Monica"

In reply to Bob Peters:

Heckle - friendly banter offered up by the belayer when their regular partner is struggling on a particular section.

In reply to Bob Peters:
My current favourite is 'beta gimp'; to manouvre or persuade your mate to go first on a boulder problem so that you can suss out holds and moves for your go.
Nb: some people are better beta gimps the others

In reply to Goucho:

A few of those actually make the list (Lob, Sewing Machine leg to name two). The one I was sure wouldn't be but is is Desmond.

In reply to Bob Peters:

I think I read it in a very very old book but I know of a wonderful expression "paternoster holds" as in

"the slab was so smooth that he was on the edge of panic by the time his hand was gripping a paternoster hold"

The idea is that this is a hold that tells you you're going to make it when you have been in extremis and your only hope prior to the hold appearing was to start saying the Lords Prayer to yourself.

In reply to Bob Peters:

No reference to a 'flick' otherwise known as a 'Dutch kick', in a bid to generate momentum the climber uses their leg to kick out to initiate a dead point or dyno.

Can be seen in the first ascent of AirStar in Rocklands

In reply to john arran:


I remember Fliss saying Body Machine was "a bit smeggy today" I'm convinced to this day that she had no idea of the origin of the term and I wasn't about to enlighten her.

In reply to Bob Peters:

Faff is an obvious one they've missed

I never really understood sentry box in a route description context

A Spanish route description I had said there was a canalón (literally translates as gutter) which I never really understood, we didn't end up doing the route so I never found out

In reply to The Ivanator:


I'm definitely using that, especially for routes you think you have just onsighted until you find you already have it ticked in your guidebook.

In reply to Pedro50:


Really... how could one have possibly enlightened her? You have my sympathy...

Mick

In reply to sheelba:


Stand at the bottom of Wall of Horrors. Look slightly rightwards. All will become clear.

Mick

In reply to sheelba:

Think of a box with a sentry outside Buckingham palace. Then that's the feature you're looking for. There one on a Cornish severe I seconded in my early days but can't remember it's name.

In reply to sheelba:

Think of a box with a sentry outside Buckingham palace. Then that's the feature you're looking for. There is one on a Cornish severe I seconded in my early days but can't remember it's name.

In reply to GrahamD:

Direct synonym of Sewing Machine Leg is Elvis Leg, which has more pizzazz imo.

In reply to Bob Peters:
Desmond.

In reply to Bob Peters:

Underused climbing terms:

"I'm sorry I don't have an opinion on that, it's outside my realm of experience"

In reply to Bob Peters:
Scrittly: covered in a horrid layer of special gritty lichen. This describes clearly the state of the highly popular hogs back. Another of your dad's well travelled first ascents on the moor. Actually if clean it would be pretty good. Don't tell the old git that though. It's hard enough squeezing him through doorways anyway!

James

In reply to webbo:


is on the list !

In reply to ShortLock:


the synonym in the link is "disco leg" which works as well

In reply to Pedro50:

'Déjà vu: To redpoint a route that you previously did so long ago that you can't remember the beta'

Also known as Alzheimer's flash.

In reply to Bob Peters:

Grass root climbing. When you're desperate for holds and tufts of grass no matter a breaking strain of 50 grams are seen as your saviour.

In reply to Bob Peters:

Belay Dating- The art form that is looking for a suitable climbing partner.

Hero Pose- The pose one uses on a particular impressive looking or photogenic move on a climb. Often in a very steep or exposed position the hero pose is designed to both make the climbing look incredibly difficult and hide the two massive jugs that the poser is holding.

I may have made these up but it is my hope that they will pass into common usage.

In reply to John2:

'Déjà vu'

I'm sure I've seen a post about that before, but can't entirely recall

In reply to Bob Peters:

How about pokey, a term descriptive of the sort of climbing that is deceptively hard or awkward, having, apparently, plenty of holds which all turn out to be disappointing in some way - slopers, facing the wrong way, things like that, so you can't stand anywhere comfortably and every move feels like one you could just fall off in a very embarrassing fashion. The type example is the first 25 feet of Thomas (S 4a).

In reply to GrahamD:

Yep - I was going to type Desmond as a cert but on checking the list...

In reply to GrahamD:

IIRC this was trembling was once referred to as an "Eckenstein" after Oscar of that name

In reply to wercat:

Didn't he get blackballed by the Alpine club for said Elvis, sorry Eckenstein? The charge was presumably LMF (lack of moral fibre). But wasn't he on the equivalent of an E9 when the guys who blackballed him were a bunch of bumblies?

Mick

In reply to Bob Peters:

Trundling isn't on the list, possibly not so much in favour these days !

In reply to GrahamD:

T'is if you do new routes on Portland. Oh that golden moment as perched blocks totter... then the faintest nudge of the crowbar... followed by joy beyond compare as aforesaid blocks (and God knows what else) collapse into the sea.

Mick

P.S. Always best to remove limbs from the firing line. Sometimes this has been done suddenly!

In reply to Mick Ward:

Bold and necky.

In reply to Asher Collins:


I only ever grab massive jugs at home (milk for my bowl of 6 Weetabix)

In reply to Bob Peters:

Scrittle and crozzly need to be used more often and not just by rock climbers.

In reply to Bob Peters:

'Piano playing' was one I remember being used quite a lot to describe someone groping for finger holds.

In reply to nufkin:


Then there was the very similar 'Graunch' and 'graunchy'. Thrutch tended to suggest something rather enclosed (e.g. a narrow chimney) whereas graunchy was a more general term for strenuosity combined with awkwardness.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

There's also 'peddle'. Sometimes happens winter climbing with poor technique or when crampons are blunt.

In reply to Michael Gordon:
Shouldn't that be pedal?

In reply to Bob Peters:

"Faffing" - aka, among my partners, as "climbing"; as in, "we spent 7 hrs faffing up Bowfell Buttress".

"Pottering" - getting to a crag, being intimidated by the climbs and the louring weather, and "bouldering" along the base of the crag instead, or heading up a Diff. As in, "Oh yes, we were at Shepherd's at the weekend!" "Oh really, what did you do?" "Well, we just pottered, mostly."

"Characterful" - i.e. bloody awkward or stupefyingly scary. "I've heard that bit where you have to downclimb rightward is a bit hairy?" "Oh, it's certainly characterful!"

"Scottish" - made for more manly men than yourself. Classically, "It's a Scottish VS."

"After faffing for a while, we decided it was probably a Scottish VDiff; certainly the start seemed a bit too characterful for us that day, given the threat of a light drizzle later in the day; so we just pottered for a while before heading to the pub."

In reply to Mick Ward:

I seem to remember reading that. He seems to have been a pretty impressive and determined character. He's been credited with redesigning crampons as well.

In reply to Bob Peters:

broddler! (I've never written it so may have the spelling wrong)

In reply to hazeysunshine:

You've got to have a broddling stick (also known as a furtling stick).

Though I've always thought the phrase 'over-graded hold-fest' should appear more than it seems to; I can never find it in guidebooks.

T.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I stand corrected!

In reply to Michael Gordon:

Well, you know, if you're building a dictionary spelling mistakes are a bit of a no-no. ;oD

In reply to Bob Peters:

'Esoteric'. Where would we be without that as a descriptor......

In reply to Bob Peters:

And 'fankle' as in, 'I asked you to coil the rope and now its all bloody fankled!'

In reply to Andy Say:

A hop and a skip on from 'interesting'.

Mick

In reply to Bob Peters:

Screak: the sound of picks/crampons on rock

To bin it: to fall off in a spectacularly incompetent/injurious manner

In reply to Bob Peters:

I like the term 'unlikely' , used to describe a mean-looking pitch or part of...

In reply to Bob Peters:

What about 'frigging'? Has to be one of the most widely used techniques not in the book.

In reply to Tricadam:


Scrawk is the other sound they make - particularly pronounced when pedalling (see above.)

In reply to Greenbanks:

That is a guidebook term, a slightly different topic. Along with the likes of climb the wall 'with interest'...

In reply to Michael Gordon:


Oh - ok. Maybe, "That's your lead then..."!!

In reply to The Ivanator:

Had that very experience today at Aire Point

In reply to Bob Peters:

I always liked 'Hail Mary placement' A piece of gear that probably wont do anything for you if you fall on it but still convinces you to press on.

And a more local one 'A Gobnait' (pronounced gub-nut), a hold on an indoor bouldering problem that doesn't serve any purpose and is best off ignored for your own sanity

In reply to Bob Peters:



Dinnerplating
Stance
Safe