Rodeo clipping, sending, and pumping out

There is a lot of climbing lingo that I have been throwing around lately, so I will give an attempt to clarify it all.

Climbing: the act of scaling something (including on-campus churches)

Climbing shoes: Elf shoes that have magic rubber to let you stick to the wall. They are two sizes smaller than your feet and make you climb better because all you want to do is get down so that you can take them off.

Bouldering: the act of climbing something pretty short without ropes

Problem: many meanings, but the only one you want to hear when climbing is a bouldering problem as in a route up a boulder

Chalk: The amazing stuff that keeps your hands from getting greasy – blow it off your fingertips in the middle of a climb to feel extra badass.

Belay: If you don’t know that this is the person who makes sure that you don’t hit the ground when rope climbing, please go to a climbing class.

Sport: the act of climbing something that already has bolts and anchors – you clip quickdraws into the bolt then the rope

Quickdraw: a piece of webbing with two carabiners

Crag: a cliff wall with many routes – usually has an entertaining name

Flake: not a climbing partner who bailed, but setting up the rope in a way so that it doesn’t tangle

Lead: to put the draws in as you go = scary!

5.8: a warm-up difficulty rating – goes up to 5.15, which is nuts.

Project: a route or bouldering problem that you are working on

PUMP: the feeling of lactic acid solidifying in your forearms – yummy!

Take: to have your belayer bring in the slack and hold you so that you can rest, scream, cry a little, and give your belayer a wedgie.

To derp: what it sounds like – the guttural version of I just made a fool of myself on a climb

Stickclip: to put the first quickdraw in with a stick – entertainment at its finest

Rodeo clip: what Andrew is demonstrating below on his project. He is swinging the rope so that it will force the beaner to open and he will have protection of the first four moves.

Send: He goes on, not only to casually rodeo clip the bolt, which is mostly impossible, but to send the problem, meaning that he doesn’t take at all and works through the pump.