text:
Glossary of climbing terms

Glossary of climbing terms relates to rock climbing (including aid climbing, lead climbing, bouldering, and competition climbing), mountaineering, and to ice climbing.

The terms used can vary between different English-speaking countries; many of the phrases described here are particular to the United States and the United Kingdom.

A
A-grade: The technical difficulty system for (both for "original" and an adapted version for "new wave"), which goes: A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and up to A6 (for "new wave"). See.

Abalakov thread: Abalakov thread.jpg

A type of used in especially in winter and in.

ABD: A term used to describe a or a such as a Petzl GriGri that immediately locks if the rope travels through it quickly in a specific direction. See.

abseiling: A technique by which a climber descends via a that is firmly attached to a fixed point, which is also known as an "abseil station". See ' and '.

abseil rack: See.

add-on: An indoor climbing game where climbers take turns creating a route, adding two moves at a time.

accessory cord: See.

active protection: Type of that dynamically changes to absorb the shape and strength of a fall; active protection is the opposite of. See s and s.

adze: Historischer Eispickel mit GFK-Stiel.jpg with ]] A thin blade mounted perpendicular to the handle on an ; is used for chopping footholds.

aid climbing: Type of rock climbing where artificial devices are used to make upward progress (and not just for ); opposite of. See.

aider: See.

alpine climbing: A form of that includes, and.

Alpine-grade: Part of the system for the technical difficulty of alpine climbing routes, which goes: F ("facile/easy"), PD ("peu difficile/little difficult"), AD ("assez difficile/fairly hard"), D ("difficile/difficult"), TD ("très difficile/very hard"), and ED ("extrêmement difficile/extremely difficult"); ED then goes ED1, ED2, ED3, .. etc.

alpine knee: An awkward climbing technique where the knee is placed on the hold rather than the foot.

alpine start: Starting a climb very early in the morning, generally before 5:00  a.m. (and even much earlier); common to  to avoid afternoon rockfalls and melting snow on the route, or to get firmer ice on the glacier travel to and from the route.

alpine style: Carrying all your own gear (even for multi-day climbs); also called "light-weight" climbing; opposite of.

American death triangle: Death triangle.png A dangerous that is created by connecting a closed loop of webbing between two points of protection.

anchor: An arrangement of one or more pieces of fixed set up to support the weight of a, a, or an. See also.

ape index: A measure of the ratio of a climber's arm span relative to their height.

arête: 1. A small ridge-like feature or a sharp outward-facing corner on a steep rock face. A narrow ridge of rock formed by glacial erosion. A method of in which one is able to use such a corner as a hold. See also.

arm bar: A climbing technique where the climber jams their arm into a crack and locks it into place, to aid their ascent.

armchair landing: Deep Water Solo Spot, Algarve Portugal .png A technique in for entering shallower water where the climber needs to avoid deeper hazards in the water; executed properly a 30 ft fall can be absorbed in just 5 ft of water.

ascender: Petzl Ascenders (On Rope).jpg A mechanical device used for ascending a, very common in and. See.

aspect: The geographical direction which a particular slope or rock wall faces, e.g. "north aspect".

ATC: A from Black Diamond (the "Air Traffic Controller") that became a generic term for any belay device.

Australian rappel: Australian Rappel.jpg A type of technique performed face first; used for military purposes.

auto belay: A mechanical on indoor s, which hangs from the top of routes that solo climbers clip into.

B
B-grade: A for invented by John Gill, now superseded by the.

Bachar ladder: Bachar ladder.jpg A piece of training equipment used to improve and core body and arm strength; invented by John Bachar.

back-clipping: A hazardous mistake whereby the rope is clipped into a such that the leader's end runs underneath the quickdraw as opposed to over the top of it. If the leader falls, the rope may fold directly over the gate, causing it to open and release the rope from the.

back-step: Rock Climbing - 25285498093.jpg Stepping on a hold where the outside edge — little toe side — of the shoe touches the rock.

bail: To retreat from a climb.

ball nut: A type of device consisting of a nut and a movable ball used for very small thin cracks.

barn-door: Joshua Tree - Illusion Dweller 1.jpg When all four points of contact are on a straight axis, the body can swing uncontrollably on this axis. See.

bashie: See.

bat hang: Iker en Margalef.jpg Where a gains a brief upside-down rest by hanging from their wedged feet. See ' and '.

belay: To a roped from falling by controlling the rope; usually involves a.

belayer: The person the, also known as a.

belay device: A mechanical device used by to increase braking force when belaying; can be passive like a or, or a more active  like the Petzl GriGri.

belay glasses: Glasses that are worn by the to help them avoid having to look upward, which can cause neck strain.

belay gloves: Belayglove.saa.jpeg Gloves that are worn by the to protect their skin in the event of sudden rope movement and to aid grip.

belay loop: The strongest point on a climbing, and the loop to which a is physically attached.

belay off: A from a to confirm that the friction of  has been removed from a climbing rope. It is a standard response to a climber's "" request.

belay on: A from a to confirm that the friction of  has been (re)applied to a climbing rope. It is a standard response to a climber's "" request.

belay station: Red Rocks - Steve on The Nightcrawler - 1.jpg The place from which a is belaying, sometimes anchored to the ground, or directly to the rock (particularly in a on  routes), or other objects.

bergschrund: A that forms on the upper portion of a glacier where the moving section pulls away from the.

beta: Information on how to complete (or protect) a particular climbing route. See ' and '.

beta break: In, a move on a climbing route other than the move originally intended by the route setter. In bouldering, a move other than the move usually used on the boulder.

beta flash: See.

bicycle: A rock-climbing technique for where the feet "pinch-hold" a foothold by one foot pushing down on it while the other foot pulls up on it (i.e. like the pedals on a bicycle).

Big Bro: A hollow telescopic tubular device manufactured by Trango for use as in.

big wall climbing: Craig DeMartino on Zodiac on El Capitan.jpg A long sustained sheer exposed rock climb with at least 6–10 es (over 300–500 metres), that typically takes over a day (if not many days), and requires the hauling of food, water, sleeping bags, and the use of s.

bivouac: A crude overnight camp or shelter on a climbing route; on a sheer vertical wall, a can be used.

bivy-bag: A lightweight garment or sack offering full-body protection from wind and rain, which is used in a.

body belay: Where the uses their body, and not a mechanical, to increase braking force when belaying; usually involves wrapping the rope around their waist or hip.

boinking: A technique to get back onto the wall after falling by pulling on the rope to un-weight it, allowing the belayer to the  quickly; avoids the fallen climber having to return to the ground.

bollard: A Snow Bollard on Meall Odhar - geograph.org.uk - 774915.jpg A large block of rock or ice that is used as an to construct a.

bolt: A point of permanently installed in a hole drilled into the rock, to which a metal is attached, with a hole to attach a  or a ; used in  and in.

bolt chopping: The deliberate removal of from a climb; happens on routes (e.g. the Indian Face); also featured in the "bolt wars" of the 1980s and 1990s in the US.

bolt ladder: Sequence of that are so close together, they can be used by as a ladder.

bolt hanger: A piece of metal that is pre-attached to a (i.e. before the bolt is screwed in) into which s can be clipped.

bolt runner: A term to describe a that has no ; will require a to be used by a climber.

bomb-proof: A highly secure, or a particularly solid handhold or foothold.

bosun's chair: A type of larger harness to give a climber relief from bearing a constant load via their.

bouldering: A type of climbing on large boulders less than 20 ft high with only and for protection.

bouldering mat: Crash pad.jpg A thick foam pad used for protection when ; also called a crash pad.

bounce test: A technique in where a new placement is tested by using the 's bodyweight.

bowline on a bight: A knot that makes a pair of fixed-size loops in the middle of a rope.

bridging: See.

bucket: A large handhold that is very easy to use.

buildering: The practice of climbing on buildings, which is often illegal.

buttress: Big Buttress, East Face, Sarclet - geograph.org.uk - 911727.jpg A prominent rock feature that juts out from the rock face or from the mountain.

C
C-grade: The technical difficulty system for that is "clean" (i.e. no  s or s), which goes: C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, and C5; also has an  equivalent of the "original" aid grades for "new wave".

cam: A (SLCD), also known as "friends", used as in.

camalot: A brand of (SLCD), manufactured by Black Diamond Equipment.

campusing: Bouldering at Lizard's Mouth in santa barbara, ca.jpg Ascending a route without using the feet; is done on overhanging routes or on a. See.

campus board: A piece of training equipment used to build finger strength and strong arm lock-offs.

carabiner: An aluminum loop with a spring-loaded gate used to attach various load-bearing climbing devices together.

carrot bolt: Climbing carrot bolt.jpg An Australian term for a metal hex-headed machine bolt that functions like a but with no fixed ; climbers attach to the carrot bolt by using a version of a or by attaching a removable bolt hanger plate.

chalk: Gymnastic magnesium carbonate chalk that is used to reduce moisture, improve friction, and mark holds.

chalk bag: Klimmen pofzak.jpg A hand-sized holder for climbing that is carried on a chalk belt or clipped to a.

chest harness: Type of that also covers the upper body to help prevent a rotation in any fall; particularly used when the climber is carrying a heavy pack, or is climbing in an area with crevasses.

chest jam: Jamming the torso into a wide crack, especially to allow the climber to rest.

chicken bolt: Term in and to refer to a  placed to reduce the risk of a difficult section.

chicken head: Reed's Creek - Tied off Chicken Head.JPG Knob or horn of rock narrowed at the base.

chicken wing: A climbing technique where a hand is placed on one side of the crack and the shoulder on the other.

chimneying: Agamemnon (20600608644).jpg Rock-climbing technique for climbing a rock cleft with mostly parallel vertical sides, large enough to fit the climber's body. See.

chipping: Improving a climbing hold by chipping the rock — is considered unethical and poor practice in climbing.

chock: A stone wedged in a crack that can be threaded to create a point of in.

chop route: British term for a route with very poor where any fall could be fatal. See.

choss: Loose or "rotten" rock that makes for unpleasant, difficult, or dangerous climbing; useful for.

classification: See.

clean: To remove (or strip) equipment from a climbing route. A route that is free of loose vegetation and rocks; vigorous cleaning can be To complete a climb without falling or resting on the rope. See.

clean aid climbing: A type of where only removable  is allowed, and no  s or s. See.

clean climbing: A broad movement that extended from the earlier movement, which advocated minimizing any form of climbing that permanently impacted the natural rock surface, such as the use of s or s in.

cleaning tool: Climbing.nuttool.JPG

A device for removing jammed protection equipment, especially, from a.

climbing area: A region with numerous s. See

climbing command: A short phrase used for communication and instructions between a and a. See.

climbing gym: A specialized center; usually just called a "climbing centre" in the UK.

climbing peak: From german (Klettergipfel) a formation that can only be ascended by climbing.

climbing rope: General term for the wide range of specialized ropes that are used in all forms of climbing.

climbing route: A path by which a climber reaches the top of a mountain, a rock face or obstacle, or an ice-covered face or obstacle.

climbing shoe: Five Ten Anasazi Verde.jpg Footwear designed specifically for rock climbing that fits tightly and with sticky rubber soles for grip.

climbing wall: Artificial rock face that is typically housed indoors; is also used for.

clip in: The process of attaching the rope to (usually via a ), to devices, or to other. See.

clipstick: See.

competition climbing: A type of climbing held on s for mostly professional or Olympic climbers, split into the disciplines of (on a bolted route),  and. A fourth discipline of "combined" add the three together. See.

competition ice climbing: A type of ice climbing held on s for mostly professional ice climbers, split into the disciplines of ice (on a bolted dry-wall route), and ice  on an iced route. See also.

copperhead: Copperheads.jpg A small nut on a loop of wire with a head made of metal (often copper), soft enough to deform during placement, which is often with a ; commonly used in as a point of placement, remaining fixed in-situ after placement.

cord: A short piece of thin climbing rope used for various purposes in climbing, including for creating. See.

cord lock: A lock or toggle used to fasten cords with gloved hands. Used on most mountaineering gear.

cordelette: Cordelette at belay anchor.jpg A loop of narrow (e.g. 5-7 millimetre) accessory perlon cord that is used to tie into multiple points.

corner: An inside corner of rock, the opposite of an (UK). See.

cornice: An overhanging edge of snow on a ridge.

crack climbing: To ascend by wedging body parts into natural cracks in the rock. See ', ', and.

crag: An expanse of continuous rock that contains a number of rock s (e.g. Clogwyn Du'r Arddu).

crampons: Mointain Boot with Crampons.jpg A pair of metal frames with spikes that can be attached to boots to increase grip on snow and ice. See.

cranking: To pull on a climbing hold as hard as possible.

crash pad: See.

crater: See.

crimp: BW 2012-08-26 Anna Stoehr AUS 0601.JPG

A hold which is only just big enough to be grasped with the tips of the fingers.

crux: The most difficult portion of a climb; often the grade is defined by the difficulty of the crux.

cut-loose: When a climber's feet swing away from the rock on overhanging terrain and they hang by their hands.

D
D-grade: Where routes are completed in fully dry conditions (i.e. no ice or snow), the "M" suffix of the is swapped for a "D".

dab: A term in for touching the ground,, spotter, or hold from other.

daisy chain: Daisychainclimbing.JPG A special-purpose type of with multiple sewn or tied loops, used in and.

dead hang: Climbing World Championships 2018 Lead Final Garnbret 03.jpg When a climber hangs limp, such that their weight is held by arm ligament tension rather than by muscles.

deadman anchor: An object which lies horizontally, buried in the snow, serving as an for an attached.

deadpoint: A controlled in which the hold is grabbed with one hand at the apex of upward motion of the body, while one or both feet and the other hand maintain contact with the rock. See.

deck: The ground below a climbing route (i.e they fell to the ground and "hit the deck"). See.

deep-water soloing: Natalija Gros in Kamenjak, Croatia, 2009 photo Jure Breceljnik.jpg on an overhanging route over a body of water to absorb any fall.

descender: A mechanical device that enables a controlled descent on a ; can be descenders.

dexamethasone: A drug to treat high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE).

dialled: To have a complete understanding of a particular climbing move or sequence of moves on a route.

Diamox: A drug used to inhibit the onset of altitude sickness; otherwise known as acetazolamide.

dihedral: Red Rocks - Climbing the Fox - 1.jpg An open book-shaped formed at the intersection of two flat rock faces; the opposite of an.

direttissima: Italian for "shortest link", is the most direct route to the summit of a mountain up the fall line (e.g. the Brandler-Hasse Direttissima on the Cima Grande, Dolomites); origin of the term is often attributed to Emilio Comici who said: "I wish some day to make a route, and from the summit let fall a drop of water, and this is where my route will have gone".

direct start: A new variation of an existing rock climbing route that avoids detours taken before the main line is reached due to their greater difficulty (e.g. Suprême Jumbo Love as a direct start to Jumbo Love).

dirtbag: A climber who lives modestly and often itinerantly, to maximize the amount of time climbing. Practitioners included Jan and Herb Conn and Fred Beckey (from the film: Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey).

double ropes: Hebrides climbing - The Raven.jpg In where two thinner ropes are used instead of a single rope to manage. Compare.

downclimb: To descend by climbing downward (rather than by or ), after completing a climb, or ing.

drag: Friction from the rope running over the rock and through the lower. See ' and '.

drilled baby angle: Red Rocks - Piton at Great Red Book Rock.jpg

A type of used in soft rock instead of that uses a "baby angle"   into a drilled hole, which some think is better in soft rock than bolts that can crack the rock.

drive-by: A where one arm crosses over the other to reach a hold that is above and to the side.

drop knee: An advanced rock-climbing technique where the knee is dropped downwards to twist the hips—and the centre of gravity—closer to the rock face, thus increasing the amount of upward reach and torque available to the climber; the unique stresses on the knee can lead to serious injuries.

dry-tooling: Ice climbing Ecrins 2014 2.jpg Using tools such as and, on bare rock. See.

Dry Tooling Style: Type of with additional restrictions and particularly a prohibition on moves.

Dülfersitz: A classical non-mechanical technique where the is wrapped around the body.

dynamic rope: An elastic that softens falls to some extent and absorbs the energy of heavy loads. Compare.

dyno: In rock climbing, a dynamic jump or leap to grab an out-of-reach hold; failure to grab the hold will usually result in a. See also ' and '.

E
E-grade: Part of the British adjectival grading system that is used to rank the level of risk (a separate grade is given for technical difficulty) of routes, and which goes E1, E2, E3, ... to E11 (an additional metric is used for technical difficulty).

edging: Using the edge of a on a narrow foothold; in the absence of footholds, is used.

Egyptian: Janja Garnbret, World Championships, 17 09 2016 Paris.jpg See.

Egyptian bridging: The same position as or, but with one leg in front and one behind the body.

eight-thousander: A mountain whose elevation exceeds 8,000 meters (26,247 ft) a.s.l, of which there are only 14 in the world.

eliminate: A move, or series of moves, where certain holds are placed "off bounds". A British climbing term for a route that does not take the most obvious or direct line, and instead 'eliminates' the use of other features to create its line (e.g. not allowing the climber to use a nearby crack in making their ascent).

Elvis legs: See.

enchainment: A mountaineering term to describe linking-up several individual climbs to create a larger undertaking.

energy absorber: PetzlScorpioShockAbsorber.jpg A piece of equipment used in climbing to absorb the energy of the arrest of any fall. See.

epic: An otherwise ordinary climb that turned into a major struggle.

ERNEST: An acronym for Equalised, Redundant, No Extension, Strong, and Timely, in building. See.

etrier: Tatryhakowka.jpg A short ladder made of that is used for.

European death knot: A flat overhand used to join a pair of ropes for retrievable ; considered dubious in America.

expedition style:

Using teams of support people (e.g. support climbers, sherpas, and/or equipment porters, etc.), and equipment (e.g., base camps, etc.) in helping the lead climbers reach the eventual summit; opposite of.

exposure: The level of empty space below or around a climber who is not in a secure position.

F
face climbing: Any climbing on vertical rock using finger holds,, and, as opposed to.

fall factor: Ratio of the height (h) a climber falls to the rope length (l) available to absorb the energy of a fall.

false peak: A peak that appears to be the pinnacle of the mountain but upon reaching, it turns out the summit is higher (and further ahead).

figure-four: 2016 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour Cheongsong - 59.jpg

An advanced climbing technique in which the climber hooks a leg over the opposite arm (which needs to be in a good handhold), and then pushes down with this leg to achieve a greater vertical reach; more common in.

figure-nine: A variation of the move where the "same-side" leg is used instead of the "opposite" leg.

figure eight: Abseilachter mit Seil.JPG A or that is shaped like the number eight.

figure-eight knot: Achterknoten2.JPG

A knot commonly used to a climber's to the climbing rope.

finger jam: A type of using the fingers in a crack.

finger board: Training equipment used to build finger strength. See also.

first ascent: The first successful ascent of a new by any means, including (i.e. not via ).

first free ascent: The of a new without, following the  criteria of a.

first female free ascent: The first female to complete a free ascent of a route that has already had an FFA.

fist jam: A type of using the hand.

fixed rope: Žumarování.JPG A rope that hangs from a fixed attachment point; commonly used for (going down) or for (going up).

flagging: A rock-climbing technique where a leg is held in a position to maintain balance, rather than to support weight, often to prevent a. There are three types of flagging:
 * normal flag : Flagging foot stays on the same side (e.g. flagging right foot to the right side of the body).
 * reverse inside-flag : Flagging foot is crossed in front of the foot that is on a foothold.
 * reverse outside-flag : Flagging foot is crossed behind the foot that is on a foothold.

flake: A thin slab of rock detached from the main face offering a hold, although it may become detached.

flash: To ascend a route on the first attempt, but having obtained ; with no beta, it is an.

font: The French system for, which goes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6A, 6B, 6C, 7A, 7B, 7C, ...., to 9A; with the American system, is the most common worldwide boulder-grading system. Font grades are often confused with s.

foot jam: A technique of the foot into a large crack by twisting so that the heel and toes touch the sides.

flapper: The tearing of skin and flesh due to friction with sharp or rough surfaces.

fourteener: A mountain summit that exceeds 14000 ft, particularly one in the contiguous United States.

freeBASE: but with a BASE jumping parachute as a backup in the event of a fall.

free climbing: Climbing without artificial other than for ; can be done as or.

free solo climbing: Michael Reardon - free soloing in Joshua Tree.jpg Climbing without any type of or any form of climbing.

French free climbing: The use of very basic techniques (i.e. aid techniques such as pulling on climbing protection) to bypass a short section that is not easily climbable, particularly used in.

French grade: The French system for, which goes: 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7b, 7c, ...., to 9c; with the American system, is the most common sport climbing grading system. French grades are often confused with grades.

French start: Moving off for the second hold without being established on the start holds, thus using the floor as a foothold. In most, including events, starting a climb in this manner invalidates the attempt.

frenchies: An exercise used to develop lock-off strength consisting of pull-ups that stop with the elbows locked at angles between 20 and 160 degrees.

friable: Delicate and easily broken rock, or ice, often dangerously so.

friction climbing: A rock-climbing technique relying solely on the friction between the sloped rock and the sole of the.

Friend: Climbing gear - Wild Country Friends - 06.jpg The name of Wild Country's (SLCD), and a generic name for SLCDs.

front pointing: An technique that uses the frontmost-spikes of the to ascend iced routes.

fruit boot: Ice Climbing Fruit Boots.jpg Type of lightweight shoe used in and that have in-built.

G
gaiters: Mountaineering clothing equipment that is worn over the boots and lower leg to give added protection and waterproofing.

Gaston: A climbing grip using one hand with the thumb down and elbow out, like a reverse. The grip maintains friction against a hold by pressing outward toward the elbow. Named for Gaston Rébuffat.

gate flutter: The unwelcome action of the gate on a opening during a fall.

gendarme: A rock-pinnacle or isolated rock-tower encountered along a ridge; often at the intersection of ridges.

Geneva rappel: A modified using the hip and downhill arm for friction — less complex, but less friction and control.

GiGi: A for belaying a second from above that has auto-blocking; made by Kong. See also.

glissade: Glissading 0125 (3938801127).jpg A voluntary act of sliding down a steep slope of snow using an for control.

grade: {{defn|Classifications intended as an objective measure of the technical difficulty of a climbing route (including rock, ice, bouldering, mixed, and aid). The most widely used {{gli|lead climbing}}} grading systems are the, and the American ; for , it is the grade and the  systems. }}

grade milestone: The (FFA) by a of a new  that sets a new grade level (e.g. the first-ever  grade milestone was Chris Sharma's FFA of Jumbo Love in 2008).

greenpoint: Ascending a route but only using protection (e.g. Principle Hope). See.

Grigri: Belaying grigri.jpg A invented and manufactured by Petzl; also used in rope solo climbing.

gronked: Accidentally going off-route into a harder route; from the notorious climb Gronk in Avon Gorge.

ground fall: Where a falls and hits the ground, either because their failed (e.g. ), the  was too great, or the  failed to arrest or hold the rope.

H
half ropes: See.

hand jam: A type of using the hand in a crack.

hand traverse: without any definitive footholds, i.e. no, or.

hangboard: Concet Climbing Solution Hangboard .jpg

A training device to increase the climber's arm and finger strength. See.

hangdog: To hang on the rope, or a piece of, after falling, and then start reclimbing without returning to the ground.

hanging belay: Pou Anaiak el niño 8b - panoramio.jpg Where the of the is suspended from the ground and tied to the wall via a fixed  point; used in  and.

heel spurs: Type of attachment to the back of the heel used in to perform a.

high-altitude cerebral edema: A severe and often fatal form of altitude sickness caused by physical exertion without sufficient oxygen.

high-altitude pulmonary edema: A severe form of altitude sickness caused by physical exertion without sufficient oxygen.

harness: A sewn nylon webbing load-bearing device that is worn around the climber's waist and thighs, and to which the climbing rope, and other load-bearing climbing devices, can be attached.

haul bag: Haul bag.jpg A large hard-wearing bag for supplies and equipment that can be dragged up multi-pitch or routes.

headpoint: a route before it to practice the moves. See.

headwall: A region at the top of a cliff or rock face that steepens dramatically.

heel hook: Emily Harrington sends Golden Gate (5.13 VI) in El Capitan - 04.jpg Using the back of the heel to apply pressure on a for balance or for leverage.

heel-toe: A combination of a and to hold the body onto the climbing route.

hero loop: A short made of 5- to 8-mm tied in to a loop. Commonly used for self-belay during, escaping a, and in rescue.

hexcentric: Climbing gear - Black Diamond Hexes - 08.jpg

A consisting of an eccentric hexagonal attached to a wire loop.

highball:

Hampi bouldering - 08.jpg A over circa 5-10 m high, where falling is dangerous.

hip belay: A method of, whereby the rope friction is increased by passing the rope around the hip of the belayer.

hold: A place to temporarily cling, grip, jam, press, or stand in the process of climbing a route. See.

HMS carabiner: A round-ended for use with a (from German for the hitch; Halbmastwurfsicherung).

hook: A mechanical piece of climbing equipment used in. See also.

hueco: A round hold consisting of a pocket in the rock with a positive lip, varying in size from a single finger (a "mono") to body-sized. The term comes from Hueco Tanks that is notable for huecos, the Spanish term for a "hole".

hueco scale: See.

I
ice axe: Matériel d'escalade - studio WMCH - pioche Petzel.jpg A multi-purpose tool used in that is a combination of an ice pick,, and pointed stick.

ice climbing: Ascending iced routes (e.g. waterfalls, and couloirs), with specialized equipment. See.

ice hammer: Ice Hammer K7NS1013.jpg A lightweight with a hammer and pick head on a short handle, and no spike. See also.

ice piton: EishakenSchrauben.JPG A long, wide, serrated that can be used for weak on ice.

ice screw: Modern device in, with the tubular ice screw as the strongest.

ice tool:

A specialized elaboration of the modern that is used in modern advanced.

IFSC: Acronym for the international body that organises and regulates. See.

indoor climbing: Rock climbing that takes place on artificial s that are set up inside buildings.

in-situ: Denotes that is installed on the route (e.g. "there is a and  "in-situ" at the ").

isolation zone: In, an area where competitiors are kept to prevent them getting on the upcoming routes.

J
jamming: Coyne Crack 5.11+ - Supercrack Buttress - Indian Creek.jpg Wedging a body part into a crack, including,, , and.

jib: A very small foothold, large enough for the big toe, relying heavily on friction to support the weight.

jug: See.

jumar:

A type of mechanical, and the generic term for ascending a using a mechanical ascender.

K
karabiner: See.

Klemheist knot: An alternative to the, useful when the climber is short of cord but has plenty of webbing.

knee bar: Hueco Tanks - Schwerer Gustav - V11.webm Wedging a knee against a hold in such a way as to allow the other limbs to be released and rested.

knee drop: See.

knee pad: An artificial pad that is worn on the lower thigh to protect a climber when performing a ; initially controversial as they raised technical standards, but came to be accepted like climbing shoes.

L
ladder: Negotiating crevasse.JPG

Lightweight rigid aluminum ladders are used in mountaineering to cross crevasses or on difficult sections as a form of support (this can also be done with flexible s). See also.

lanyard: ViaFerrataLanyardPetzlScorpio.jpg A Y-shaped piece of equipment used in climbing that attaches the  to the fixed steel cables. Lanyards often attach to s given the higher of via ferrata climbing.

laybacking: Clifton, Tasmania - Matchless - 1.jpg

Climbing an edge by with both hands and using opposing friction for the feet.

lead climbing: A form of climbing in which a clips their rope into  equipment as they ascend.

lead climber: The individual ascending the route in ; the other person is the.

leader fall: A fall while ; will be at least twice the distance to the last piece of.

Leavittation: A technique used to climb cracks pioneered in the late 1970s by Randy Leavitt and Tony Yaniro that uses alternating hand-fist stacks and leg-calf locks; helpful for resting, and when placing.

liquid chalk: A liquid form of but with a longer hold time.

live rope: In, the segment of the rope between the and the.

lock-off: Climbing World Championships 2018 Lead Semi Klingler (BT0A1022).jpg A climber holding a fixed position with one bent arm, usually while clipping or reaching for another hold with their other arm, or resting. Contrast with.

lolotte: See.

lower-off: When a is lowered down the route by the holding their weight on the.

low zone: In competition bouldering, a marked hold somewhere between the start and zone. It is either worth some number of points (less than the zone) or used as a tiebreaker.

M
M-grade: Part of the system for the technical difficulty of mixed climbing routes, which goes: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, and up to M14. See also.

mantel move: Rat rock 2 020.jpg Moving onto a shelf of rock by pressing down on it with the palms until the climber can stand on the "mantel" (i.e. the same action as leaving from the side of a pool).

mixed climbing: A type of climbing that involves using tools on iced-up or snow-covered rock surfaces; mixed climbing techniques are used in ' and in '.

mono: A climbing hold, typically a or a, which only has enough room for one finger.

moving together: See.

multi-pitch climbing: A climb that has more than one ; a route involves so many pitches, it takes over a day.

Munter hitch: A simple hitch used for without a mechanical.

N
National Climbing Classification System: A North American grading system used mainly in and ; goes from I, II, III ... to VII.

névé: Permanent granular ice formed by repeated freeze-thaw cycles.

new wave: See.

no-hand rest: No hands rest.jpg An entirely leg-supported resting position during climbing that does not require hands on the rock.

normal route: The easiest and most frequently used route for ascending and descending a climb.

nunatak: A mountain or rock formation that protrudes through an ice field.

nut: Climbing gear - Assorted nuts - 10.jpg A metal wedge attached to a wire loop that is inserted into cracks for. See.

nut key: See.

O
off belay: American when requesting that the remove  equipment from the climbing rope (e.g. when cleaning top  from a lead route). Replied to with "".

off-width: Creeks Giving - Climbing in Indian Creek, Utah - 23.jpg A crack that is too wide for effective hand or foot but is not as large as a. See.

on belay: American when they are ready to be. Replied to with "".

on-sight: To ascend a route on the first attempt, with no prior ; with beta, it is a.

open book: An inside angle in the rock. See also.

open project: A route that was ed by someone (e.g. they bought and installed the bolts) but who was unsuccessful in ing it, and it is now considered to be "open" to any climber to try; sometimes the original bolter will leave colored tape on the first bolt(s) to note the route is "not open".

overhang: A section of rock or ice that is angled beyond the vertical. See.

P
paddling: A multi-move where the climber must move quickly through a sequence of intermediate hand holds (neither of which can hold the climber for any period), with their arms mimicking a paddling action and their feet usually in mid-air, before getting to a secure position. See also.

passive protection: Type of that remains static during a fall; opposite of. See s and s.

peak-bagging: To systematically attain every peak of a designated class of summits (e.g. eight-thousanders), sometimes under prescribed conditions (e.g. in winter), and/or in a prescribed climbing style (e.g. no supplementary oxygen.)

peg: A.

pendulum: Swinging on a taut anchored rope to reach the next hold in a. A swing experienced during a fall caused by the last piece of being far to one side.

permadraw: A but made from a steel cable with steel s that is permanently fixed to the ; longer wearing than aluminum quickdraws, and climbers do not need to retrieve them after a climb.

personal anchor system: An adjustable attachment point from a climber to a fixed, give them flexibility to perform other tasks.

picket: Firnanker.JPG A long, tubular rod driven into the snow to provide a makeshift.

pinch hold:

A hold, which must be "pinched" between the fingers to use it.

pinkpoint: where the (e.g. s) are pre-installed. See also ' and '.

pitch: The climbing route between two points with a "full pitch" being the length of the rope, circa 50 m.

piton: Profilhaken.jpg A flat or angled metal blade of steel for that incorporates a clipping hole for a or a ring in its body that is  into cracks; comes in a wide range of designs and types for different crack types and widths; common in,, and. See also.

piton catcher: A clip-on string fastened to a when inserting or removing, so as to avoid loss.

plunge step: An aggressive step pattern for descending on hard or steep-angle snow.

poop tube: Poop Tube Waste System.webp A PVC tube-shaped container for carrying out human feces during multi-day or climbs.

portaledge: Lying on the portaledge.jpg A lightweight foldaway tent platform used in to create a rest point on a sheer rock face.

positive: A or part of a hold with a surface facing upwards, or away from the direction it is pulled, facilitating use. A positive hold is the opposite of a.

pressure breathing: Forcefully exhaling to facilitate O2/CO2 exchange at altitude.

problem: Used in to describe the sequence of moves to be overcome.

progress capture device: Petzl Micro Traxion Self-Locking.jpg A mechanical climbing device that allows the rope to move through it in only one direction, examples being the Petzl Micro Traxion or the Camp Lift; PCDs are used in many climbing tasks including gear hauling, belaying, top rope solo climbing and in simul-climbing. See also.

project: An attempt over time to climb a new (worldwide or personal) or boulder as a "project".

protection: Climber with equipment.jpg Equipment for arresting falls, or to create for s or s. Examples are  (s,  s, s, s, s, s, and s), and  (s, s, s).

Prusik: A knot used for ascending a, named after Austrian Karl Prusik, who developed this knot in 1931.

pulley: 20030830중앙119구조단 산악계곡구조 훈련23.jpg The lightweight mechanical pully that has wide application in climbing including big wall climbing (especially gear hauling) and crevasse rescue and in tyrolean traverseing.

pump: The accumulation of metabolic waste products in the forearm(s) so that holding a basic grip becomes impossible.

Q
quickdraw: A piece of climbing that is used to attach a running rope to an or a. See.

quicklink: A screw-type oval-shaped stainless steel which is smaller than the normal carabiner.

R
rack: Trad rack.jpg Braking bar.jpg Name given to the collective set of equipment carried by a up a climb. A type of heavy-duty "all-weather" known as an "abseil rack" or a "rappel rack", consisting of metal bars on a U-shaped chassis, which is frequently used in caving. An alternative heavier device is a "whaletail" (also "whale tail") which is a machined block often used by rescuers.

rappel: See.

rating: See.

re-belay: Secondary or intermediate fixed along the length of a (i.e. in addition to the main  at the top of the fixed rope) that is used to avoid edges that could increase rope wear.

rebolting: The replacement of older on an existing bolted route.

redpoint: a route by it after having failed it or practiced it beforehand (e.g. by, ing, or ). A route climbed on the first-ever attempt (and no practice), it is an or a. See.

removable bolt: A removable, similar in concept to a sliding, but shaped to fit into a drilled hole; popular in.

rest step: An energy-saving mountaineering technique where the unweighted (uphill) leg is rested between each forward step, by "locking" the knee of the rear leg.

retro-bolting: The addition of to a route that has already been ascended using. The technique is controversial, with ethical debate on the issues of improving climber safety versus protecting the integrity of the original traditional climbing challenge.

rigging plate: Mountain climbing equipment in Mirabad - Nishapur 01.JPG A light metal plate with several holes that can be used as a multi-anchor device that several items can be attached to at a, notable versions include the Petzl PAW.

ripped: Term to denote when a piece of failed and "ripped-out" of the rock. See.

rivet hanger: Aid Climbing Rivet Hanger.jpg A piece of equipment used by the to attach to  rivets in the rock. See also.

rock hammer: A lightweight hammer with a short handle used for inserting s, s, and s in and. See also.

rockover move: A rock-climbing technique where the body weight is transferred (or "rocked-over") to the raised up-hill leg to reach a higher hold.

rodeo clipping: To clip into the first piece of from the ground by swinging a loop of rope so that it is caught by a pre-placed.

roof: Elizabeth Furnace - Furnass 12a - 8.jpg An that is so steep, it becomes horizontal.

rope bag: Specialist lightweight but hardwearing bag for carrying a.

rope drag: See.

rope jumping: Jumping a full rope-length from the top of a rock face with the rope attached to a fixed like a bungee cord.

rope team: See.

rose move: A move in which the crossing arm goes behind the other arm and is so far extended that the body is forced to twist until it ends up facing away from the rock. It was introduced by Antoine Le Menestrel to climb a route in Buoux called La rose et le vampire in 1985.

route: See.

RP: A small on a wire for tiny cracks with marginal holding power; named after Roland Pauligk.

runner: In the US, a is made from nylon-blend materials, used by climbers for a multitude of purposes. In the UK, any item of placed by the to reduce the length of a fall.

runout: Fotothek df ps 0002300 Sport ^ Klettersport.jpg In a term in for the distance between points of good ; in the grading of climbs, routes with long runouts have higher adjectival "" grade (British system), or an or even suffix. See.

RURP: RURP by Tom Frost.jpg A miniature, postage stamp-sized chrome-moly square, tied to a wire or rope and into cracks; created by Yvon Chouinard in 1960 for extreme routes in Yosemite; acronym for realized ultimate reality piton.

R/X: A suffix used in the for routes that have poor possibilities for  where any fall could be serious (e.g. Master's Edge). See.

S
S-grade: Part of the system for the objective danger difficulty of DWS climbing routes, which goes: S0, S1, S2, and S3. See also.

saddle: A high pass between two peaks, larger than a.

sandbag: A rock climb with a much lower official climbing than probably deserved; sometimes due to a "trick-move" at the that once learned, does make the route easier; or due to overly conservative grading.

scrambling: A type of climbing somewhere between hiking and graded rock climbing; involves climbing the easiest.

screamer: A nylon structure consisting of one large loop sewn in multiple places to make a shorter length. A British term for a large fall.

scree: Small, loose rocks, at the base of a cliff or slope; distinguished from.

screw on: A small climbing screwed onto the wall on a.

second: Creeks Giving - Climbing in Indian Creek, Utah - 3.jpg A climber who follows the ; often acts as the.

self-arrest: Using the pick of an to arrest a fall, or to control a.

self-belay: The act of using a mechanical device for in. See.

self-locking device: Wren Industries Silent Partner.jpg A device used in, and particularly rope solo climbing, to automatically arrest falls. Examples include Wren's Silent Partner. See also '. Compare '.

self rescue: Actions taken by a climber(s) to execute their own rescue or recovery from a difficult or dangerous situation.

send: To a, via an, , or.

serac: A large tower of ice on the surface of a glacier; falling seracs are a serious hazard to mountaineers.

SERENE: Acronym for building ; stands for Strong, Equalised, Redundant, Efficient, No Extension. See also.

sewing-machine leg: The involuntary vibration of the leg due to fatigue and/or panic and stress.

shadow match: A rock climbing move to quickly switch hands on a that can only fit one hand at a time.

sharp end: The end of the rope that is attached to the, to denote the more serious activity they are undertaking compared to the.

short fixing: An advanced climbing technique where the fixes the rope at an anchor to allow the  to ascend using s, while the leader climber then continues to ascend in a rope solo climbing fashion; unlike, neither is ing the other.

side pull: Bouldering in Coopers Rock - 02.jpg A vertical that needs to be gripped with a sideways pull towards the body.

simul climbing: An advanced technique in which two climbers move simultaneously upward, with the placing that the  removes as they advance. A may also be used.

single-rope technique: The use of a single rope where one or both ends of the rope are attached to fixed points. See.

sit start: Bouldering at Tom Riach - 06.jpg term for a route that must be started from a seated position on the ground with hands and feet on prescribed holds; acronyms are SS (sit-start), SDS (sit-down-start), or assis (french); concept invented by John Yablonski.

skyhook: Skyhook.jpg A metal inserted on a horizontal for  in, or in.

slab: A low-angle — significantly less than vertical — rock face that requires techniques.

slab climbing: A type of climbing on s that usually emphasizes balance, footwork, and.

slack: In and in, it is the amount of additional rope that the has allowed; slack increases the distance of any fall before the  begins to hold the rope, but is needed to reduce  or.

sling: A closed loop of.

sloper: BW 2012-08-26 Rustam Gelmanov RUS 0749.JPG A where the surface slopes down toward the ground, with very little surface or lip.

smearing: To make use of friction on the sole of the in the absence of good footholds.

snarg: A type of tubular that is inserted by hammering with an.

snow cave: A temporary shelter constructed by digging out snow to form a cave.

snow fluke: SnowFlukeA.JPG An angled aluminum plate attached to a cable or rope that is buried into the snow to create a.

solo climbing: When the climber is alone (with no ); if also without is. See rope solo climbing.

speed climbing: A discipline where competitors race in pairs up a standardized.

spinner: In, a that is not secure and spins in place when weight is applied.

splitter: Crack climbing in Indian Creek, Utah.jpg A crack with perfectly parallel sides, often in an otherwise blank face.

sport climbing: A style of where the is via pre-placed fixed s; opposite of. Confusingly, (which includes bolted lead climbing, but also free solo bouldering and top-roped speed climbing) is sometimes called "sport climbing".

spotting: People standing beneath a or climber ready to absorb the energy of a.

sprag: A type of hand position where the fingers and thumb are opposed in a tiny crack.

spring-loaded camming device: A type of active device used in. See.

static rope: A non-elastic used for or  (as a ), but not. Compare.

stein pull: A technique in and where the ice axe is inverted and the blade wedged into a crack above the climber's head, who then pulls down on the handle of the axe to gain upward momentum. See also.

stemming: Red River Gorge - Long Wall - Rock Wars 1a.jpg Technique for climbing opposing corners by pushing in opposite directions with the feet and hands. See.

step cutting: Scooping steps out of snow or ice with the adze of an.

step kicking: Scooping and stamping steps out of soft snow with the feet.

Sticht plate: A consisting of a flat plate with a pair of slots, named after the inventor Fritz Sticht. See also.

stick clip: Use of stick clip.jpg A long pole with a that can be clipped into the first of a route from the ground.

stopper: A wedge-shaped made by Black Diamond. A knot used to prevent the end of a rope from running through — and detaching from — a piece of.

sure-footedness: Sure-footedness is the ability when hiking or mountain climbing, to negotiate difficult or rough terrain safely.

T
tat: Term to describe pieces of or left on a climb (e.g. "I found some old tat") often as part of an irretrievable  point that was part of an.

take: The act of taking the out of a rope; also a by a  to the.

talus: Brenay.jpg An area of large rock fragments on a mountainside where the rocks are stable and not loose like.talon hook:A type of three-pronged climbing hook used for securing the climber to a horizontal edge in the rock face. Each prong contains a curved hook of differing widths for securing onto respective edge sizes when aid climbing.

tape: USMC-110201-M-4150N-256.jpg

Adhesive tape that is wrapped around the fingers and hands to protect the skin; particularly useful in.

technical grade: See.

testpiece: A route that is representative of the hardest climbs in an area at a particular (e.g. Action Directe for 9a).

tie in: To physically attach the to the climbing rope, usually via a. See.

thread: A created by "threading" a around a jammed block or through a hole in the rock.

toe hook: 015 zehnte stadtmeisterschaft im Klettern in Munich.JPG Act of pressing the upper side of the toes under a to pull the climber inwards; used on s.

topo: The graphical representation – drawing or photograph – of a climbing route, with the main obstacles marked.

top rope climbing: Starr 071222-0266 Salsola tragus.jpg To from a fixed point above the climb; if the climber falls, they just hang. See ging.

top-out: To complete a by ascending over the top of the climb to safety.

torque pull: A technique in and where the ice axe is wedged into a crack and twisted to generate torque to aid upward momentum. See also ' and '.

tracking: See.

traditional climbing: Climbing in Yosemite Valley - 01.jpg A style of where is placed as the  ascends; opposite of.

trail rope: A technique where the carries an additional static rope (in addition to their dynamic climbing rope) that hangs (or "trails") behind them as they ascend; the trail rope enables the belayer to pass equipment to the leader during the ascent, and for the leader to haul up equipment as the belayer ascends.

traverse: Peter Stocker in Yosemite.jpg 1. A section of a that requires progress in a horizontal direction. A Tyrolean traverse is crossing a chasm using a anchored at both ends. A pendulum traverse is swinging across a wall suspended from a rope anchored above the climber. A tension traverse is a static version of a pendulum traverse where rope tension is used to control movement.

tricam: Tricam 7 placed.jpg A simple device that has no moving parts (e.g. it is ).

tuber: Tuber mix.jpg A type of.

tufa: Climbing at Kalymnos Island - 23.jpg 1. A limestone rib formation that protrudes from the wall which climbers can pinch-grip. A plastic bolted-on hold to replicate such a formation on an.

twin ropes: In, using two ropes that are even thinner than, both of which need to be at each point of ; sometimes used in long routes with major  descents.

twist lock: A climbing move where the hips "twist" perpendicular to the wall, the inside arm is "locked" on an upper hold, the outside arm holds the body against the wall, and the feet press down to propel the body higher.

U
UIAA: Acronym for the international governance body for mountaineering and other types of climbing; UIAA also regulates. See also.

UIAA grade: The grade system for rock climbing, which goes: ... VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, ...., to XII; is less common than the system or the American  system, but still used in Germany and parts of Eastern Europe.

UIAA Scale of Overall Difficulty: See.

undercling: A downward which is gripped with the palm of the hand facing upwards.

undercling pull: After a is completed, the undercling pull is a technique for continuing to use the hold to gain upward momentum by using the hold to pull into the rock; requires a lot more energy than a stein pull.

undercut: See.

V
V-grade: A for  invented by John Sherman, which goes: V0, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, ..., to V17. The V-scale and the French scale are the most common boulder grading systems in use worldwide.

V-thread: A type of point used especially in winter and in.

verglas: A thin coating of ice that forms over rocks when rainfall or melting snow freezes, which is hard to climb on as there is insufficient depth for to have penetration. See also ' and '.

via ferrata: Climber on fixed rope route Piz Mitgel 2.jpg An alpine where is from permanent steel  or chains, with progression aided by artificial steel steps or ladders; commonly found in the Dolomites. See also ' and '.

volume hold: Mascarenas megan 1854.JPG A large, hollow, bolted-on, for indoor s; it may itself contain individual holds

W
WI-grade: Part of the system for the technical difficulty of ice climbing routes, which goes: WI1, WI2, WI3, WI4, WI5, WI6, and up to WI13. See also.

webbing: Schlauchband.JPG A hollow and flat nylon strip mainly used to make.

webolette: A piece of with eyes sewn into the ends which can be used in place of a.

weighting: Any time a rope sustains the weight of the climber, e.g. "weighting the rope". This can happen during a minor fall, a (long fall), or simply by resting while hanging on the rope. See also.

whipper: Rock Climbing in Iran.jpg A large fall by a as they were well beyond the last piece of. See.

wire brushing: a rock climbing route with a wire brush before an attempt; has ethical issues due to rock damage and possible.

wired: See.

wires: See.

X
X: A suffix used in the for highlighting routes that have poor or even no possibilities for, where any fall could be fatal (e.g. Indian Face and Gaia). See ' and '.

Y
yaniro: French term for a move which came from American climber Tony Yaniro's use of it on Chouca.

yo-yo: A term pre-ing, where a falling returns to the ground to restart, but leaves their rope clipped into the  — in redpointing, the rope is pulled free from all protection before re-starting the climb.

Yosemite Decimal System: American system for walks, hikes, and climbs; the rock climbing (5.x) goes: 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.10d, 5.11a, ...., 5.14a, 5.14b, 5.14c, 5.14d, 5.15a, etc., and with the  system, is the most widely used grading system worldwide for.

Z
z-clipping: While, with a segment of rope from beneath the previous piece of protection, resulting in.

z-pulley: Z-pulley.jpg A system of rope, anchors, and s; is typically used to extricate a climber after falling into a.

zawn: Zawn at Trwynbychan - geograph.org.uk - 4181311.jpg In Britain, a deep, narrow inlet in a sea cliff that is filled by the sea at high tide.

zipper fall: A where all the  gear fails in sequence (i.e. opens like a "zip").

zone hold: In competition bouldering, a hold roughly halfway up that counts towards scoring; formerly (up to 2017) "bonus hold".

title: Glossary of climbing terms


text:
Diana Rowden

Diana Hope Rowden (31 January 1915 – 6 July 1944) served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. Rowden was a member of SOE's Acrobat circuit in occupied France where she operated as a courier until she was arrested by the Gestapo. She was subsequently executed at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.

Early life
Born in England, Rowden was the daughter of Major Aldred Clement Rowden (British Army) and his wife, Muriel Christian Maitland-Makgill-Crichton, whom he married on 16 July 1913 at St Mark's, North Audley Street in London's fashionable Mayfair district. The marriage was not successful and her parents separated when she was still a young child, whereupon she moved with her mother and two younger brothers, Maurice Edward Alfred and Cecil William Aldred, to southern France as a small income went farther there than in England. She and her brothers spent much of their time there on the beach, fishing and boating, swimming and gliding.

Rowden's cousin, Mark Chetwynd-Stapylton, remembers playing games of hide and seek with the Rowden children when they came to visit and bicycle rides on Berkhamsted Common. Sixty years later he was left with a faint impression of Rowden as "a bit of a tomboy", reddish-haired, freckled, with slightly protruding teeth.

Her mother was apparently an eccentric who was remembered by her nephew (Mark) as "amusing even if possessing a somewhat caustic – and biting – wit and not much worried about what she said and to whom". When living in France Mrs Rowden was known to locals, according to her sister, as "the mad Englishwoman".

Rowden attended schools in Sanremo and Cannes on the French Riviera, but her family soon returned to England, settling at Hadlow Down, near Mayfield, East Sussex, where she continued her education at Manor House school in Limpsfield, Surrey, as Mrs Rowden was, according to her nephew, mindful enough of her parental responsibilities to finish off the haphazard schooling Rowden had in France with a proper English education.

The Manor House was set beneath a low line of hills. A girl who shared a room with Rowden (Elizabeth Nicholas), remembered the place later in terms of "the smell of ink and chalk dust, the lazy drones of bees around the flower beds, goal posts pointing bleak and white towards a winter sky." Elizabeth, who would later write a book about Rowden (Death Be Not Proud), remembered how bitterly Rowden resented the restrictions of life at school. "She was of it, but never part of it. She was", she thought later, "too mature for us. We were still schoolgirls in grubby white blouses concerned with games and feuds and ha-ha jokes. She was already adult, and withdrawn from our diversions; none of us, I think, ever knew her."

Elizabeth was amazed to learn years later from Mrs Rowden about Diana's early years "as a sea urchin", napping on the deck of the Sans Peur with a line tied around her big toe to wake her if a fish bit, gutting her catch "with a cheerful confidence, marketing, carousing, sailing a small boat with reckless skill. "It seemed to Elizabeth that the change in Rowden's personality from spontaneity to reserve was explained by the change of scene to a manor in Surrey where she longed for the life she had led in France, "for the yacht and the sea and the warm sun of the Mediterranean and her raffish, careless, unpredictable companions."

In 1933, when Rowden was considered sufficiently educated, if not entirely finished, she returned to France with her mother (leaving the two boys at school in England) and enrolled at the Sorbonne, and tried her hand at freelance journalism.

Red Cross to WAAF (1940-43)
When Germany invaded France in 1940 she volunteered to serve with the French Red Cross, being assigned to the Anglo-American Ambulance Unit. The Allied collapse in May 1940 prevented her evacuation from France and she remained there until the summer of 1941 when she escaped to England via Spain and Portugal.

In September 1941, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), working at the Department of the Chief of Air Staff as Assistant Section Officer for Intelligence duties, before being posted in July 1942 to Moreton-in-Marsh, where she was promoted to Section Officer.

During a brief hospitalisation in the West Country to recuperate from a minor operation, Rowden met a convalescing pilot (Squadron Leader William Simpson) who had been working for the French Section of SOE. She first came to the attention of the Special Operations Executive when Harry Sporborg, a senior SOE staff member, saw her file and requested that she be appointed his secretary, but she had already joined the WAAF and began military training. Simpson worked part-time for SOE and with whom she discussed her desire to return to France and take part in resistance work and caused him to tell some of his colleagues in Baker St (SOE occupied much of the western side of Baker Street, hence the nickname "the Baker Street Irregulars").

Special Operations Executive (1943-44)
In early March 1943, she received an invitation to a preliminary interview with an officer of SOE F Section, during which the interviewer was favourably impressed. It was duly noted that she was "very anxious to return to France and work against the Germans", and after she had been seen by other members of F Section staff, it was decided that she would be given the chance she had been looking for. She was officially posted to Air Intelligence 10, actually seconded to SOE, on 18 March 1943, and immediately sent off to training.

Her training report described her as "not very agile", but with "plenty of courage", and "physically quite fit". One of her best subjects was fieldcraft, in which she "did some excellent stalks". She was "a very good shot, not at all gun-shy. Grenade throwing, very good". Her instructor found her "very conscientious" and "a pleasant student to instruct". Her commandant's report described her as a "strange mixture. Very intelligent in many ways but very slow in learning any new subject". She had trouble with technical details and her signalling was described as a grief to herself and others, not worth while persevering with as it only discourages her. She hates being beaten by any subject, so must have got through a lot of hate down here." He concluded, "I think she has enjoyed the course and could be useful."

On 9 June 1943, Rowden received orders for her first mission, and a week later, on the night of 16/17 June, she stepped out of a Lysander on a moonlit meadow in the Loire Valley a few miles north-east of Angers. Within minutes two other agents, Cecily Lefort and Noor Inayat Khan, had landed. The three women, who had been sent to operate as couriers for the organizers of various circuits (also known as networks) in different parts of France, were met by a reception committee organized by F Sections' air movements officer, Henri Déricourt, and quickly spirited to their destinations. Rowden was bound to the area of the Jura Mountains south-east of Dijon and just west of the Swiss border to work for the organizer of the Acrobat circuit, led by John Renshaw Starr. Her papers were in her cover name of Juliette Thérèse Rondeau. Her name in the field among fellow agents was Paulette while her code name in messages to London was Chaplain. She lived in a small room at the back of the Hôtel du Commerce with access to a roof if she had to leave in a hurry without being seen.

Her primary was acting as a courier delivering messages to other agents and members of the underground, and she would travel constantly, mostly by bicycle over the neighbouring roads bordering the Pines, but would also deliver instructions to agents as far afield as Marseille, Lyon, Besançon, Montbéliard, and even Paris, and bring their messages back to the W/T operator (John Young) for transmission. Young was a Scotsman who spoke poor French, so Rowden's duties included escorting him around so he would not have to speak French. On one of her trips to Marseille the German police boarded the train and began inspect papers, so she locked herself in the W/C until they had passed through her car. Rowden got to know the local maquis who described her as without fear – sans peur.

She went out at night to meet local members of the resistance in the moonlit fields, setting flares and shining flashlights to guide in the planes with parachute drops of arms, ammunition and explosives. Some of these explosives were used to sabotage the Peugeot factory at Sochaux, near the town of Montbéliard, which had been turning out tank turrets for the Wehrmacht and engine parts for the Luftwaffe. A raid by Allied bombers had failed to damage the factory and caused hundreds of civilian deaths in the town, so Harry Rée (an SOE agent known as César) approached the local director of the factory (a Peugeot family member) and convinced him to facilitate sabotage at the factory as the alternative was another bombing raid that could cause many more deaths.

Barely a month after her arrival, Starr was arrested, betrayed by a double agent who had infiltrated the circuit, so Young and Rowden were on the run. Rowden briefly sheltered in a little bistro and shop at Epy. After three weeks at Epy she joined Young in what would be their last hideout thanks to the help of the Janier-Dubry family, which consisted of an elderly widow and her son and daughter-in-law of the family name, and her two daughters and their husbands, the Juifs and the Paulis. Together they owned a local sawmill outside Clairvaux-les-Lacs, a village about 15 kilometres from the town of Lons-le-Saunier. In August Rowden and Young were established in the house of the Juifs.

Since her description had likely been distributed, Rowden dyed her hair and changed the way she wore it, got rid of the clothes she had been wearing and borrowed some others. She also dropped the codename Paulette and assumed the name Marcelle. She helped around the house while the Juif children loved her as she joined in their games and went tobogganing with them down the log slide outside the house, and to Madame Juif she seemed as tough as a man and as tireless as a child.

Feldgendarmerie raid
In November, Young received a message that a new agent named Benoit would arrive. Benoit arrived at a nearby house and identified himself, after which M. Janier-Dubry drove him to Lons-le-Saunier to retrieve a suitcase and were accompanied by Rowden. In Lons they met Henri Clerk a résistant from St Amour, and had a drink with him at the Café Strasbourg, one of the circuit's mail drops. They returned around six that evening and were chatting with Madame Juif, who was cooking dinner, when the door burst open and the room was filled with Feldgendarmerie, the German military police, armed with machine guns.

Rowden, Young and Benoit were handcuffed and taken to Lons, though the false Benoit as he later came to be known returned with some of the Germans and confronted the family at gunpoint and demanded that they hand over the wireless set and crystals, at one point firing into the walls as the Germans searched the home but found nothing. The wireless set had been hidden by Young and later taken away by a local résistant, while Madame Juif had taken a radio crystal from Young's raincoat hanging behind the door and slipped it under the mattress of the baby's crib when no-one was looking. Benoit and the Germans left after looting the home of valuables and took Madame Pauly with them, who returned after the war after having been imprisoned in Ravensbrück.

When the war ended the Janier-Dubry family expected to see Rowden again or at least to write, but they never heard from her again. Rowden liked to say that after the war she would return in her uniform and in a big American car and, instead of the laborious climb to the château on foot, they would shoot up the hill like a rocket.

From Lons, Rowden had been taken to Paris the next day and remained at Gestapo headquarters in the Avenue Foch for two weeks and, on 5 December 1943, was placed in a cell in the women's division of Fresnes Prison, the grey fortress-like penitentiary a few miles south of Paris.

Moved to Germany
On 13 May 1944, Rowden, together with three other captured female SOE agents, Andrée Borrel, Vera Leigh and Sonia Olschanezky, were moved from Fresnes to the Avenue Foch along with four other women whose names were Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment, Eliane Plewman and Odette Sansom, all of whom were F Section agents. Later that day they were taken to the railway station, and each handcuffed to a guard upon alighting the train. Sansom, in an interview after the war, said:

"We were starting on this journey together in fear, but all of us hoping for something above all that we would remain together. We had all had a taste already of what things could be like, none of us did expect for anything very much, we all knew that they could put us to death. I was the only one officially condemned to death. The others were not. But there is always a fugitive ray of hope that some miracle will take place."

When the women arrived in Germany, they were put into separate cells in the prison in Karlsruhe (Justizvollzugsanstalt Karlsruhe) – Sansom with a woman who had been in prison for three years because her own daughter (a member of the Hitlerjugend) had denounced her for listening to the BBC, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The agents were treated no differently from other prisoners – markedly better than those in concentration camps – and were given manual work to do, peeling potatoes, sewing, etc., which helped pass the time. Occasionally, through the high bars, they could hear Allied bombers headed for targets within Germany, so on the whole things looked good for them even if there was the possibility of dying in an air raid. The war was unmistakably coming closer to an end and they could reasonably expect to be liberated by the Allies before too long.

Execution at Natzweiler-Struthof
Some time between five and six in the morning on 6 July 1944, not quite two months after their arrival in Karlsruhe, Borrel, Leigh, Olschanezky and Rowden were taken to the reception room, given their personal possessions, and handed over to two Gestapo men who then escorted them 100 kilometres south-west by closed truck to the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France, where they arrived around three-thirty in the afternoon. The women's arrival was apparently unexpected as was the order by one of the women's escorts that the four women were to be executed immediately.

As women were a rarity in the camp their presence immediately attracted attention from both German guards and prisoners. The four women were led through the center of the camp down to the cellblock at the bottom of the camp by SS men and held there until later that night. "One could see from their appearance that they hadn't come from a camp," said a French prisoner. "They seemed young, they were fairly well groomed, their clothes were not rubbish, their hair was brushed, and each had a case in their (sic) hand."

The four women were initially together but later put into individual cells. Through the windows, which faced those of the infirmary, they managed to communicate with several prisoners, including a Belgian prisoner, Dr Georges Boogaerts, who passed one of the women (whom he later identified as Borrel from a photograph) cigarettes through the window. Borrel threw him a little tobacco pouch containing some money.

Albert Guérisse, a Belgian army physician who had headed the Pat O'Leary escape line in Marseille, recognized Borrel as one of his former helpers. He exchanged a few words with another of the women, who said she was English (Leigh or Rowden) before she disappeared into the cellblock building. At the post-war trial of the men charged with the execution of the four women, Guérisse stated that he was in the infirmary and had seen the women, one by one, being escorted by SS guards from the cellblock (Zellenbau) to the crematorium a few yards away. He told the court: "I saw the four women going to the crematorium, one after the other. One went, and two or three minutes later another went."

Inside the building housing the crematorium, each woman in turn was told to undress for a medical check and a doctor gave her an injection for what he told one of them was a vaccination against typhus, but was in fact a 10 cc dose of phenol which the doctor believed was lethal. When the woman became unconscious after the injection, she was inserted into the crematorium oven. Guérrise said, "The next morning the German prisoner in charge of the crematorium explained to me that each time the door of the oven was opened, the flames came out of the chimney and that meant a body had been put in the oven. I saw the flames four times." The door was locked from the outside during the executions, but it was possible to see the corridor from a small window above the door, so the prisoner in the highest bunk was able to keep up a running commentary on what he saw.

The prisoner Guérisse referred to was Franz Berg, who assisted in the crematorium and had stoked the fire that night before being sent back to the room he shared with two other prisoners before the executions. Berg said:

"We heard low voices in the next room and then the noise of a body being dragged along the floor, and he whispered to me that he could see people dragging something along the floor which was below his angle of vision through the fanlight.

At the same time that this body was being brought past we heard the noise of heavy breathing and low groaning combined.

…and again we heard the same noises and regular groans as the [next two] insensible women were dragged away.

The fourth, however, resisted in the corridor. I heard her say 'Pourquoi?' and I heard a voice as I recognized as the doctor who was in civilian clothes say 'Pour typhus'. We then heard the noise of a struggle and the muffled cries of the woman. I assumed that someone held a hand over her mouth. I heard the woman being dragged away too. She was groaning louder than the others.

From the noise of the crematorium oven doors which I heard, I can state definitely that in each case the groaning women were placed immediately in the crematorium oven.

When [the officials] had gone, we went to the crematorium oven, opened the door and saw that there were four blackened bodies within. Next morning in the course of my duties I had to clear the ashes out of the crematorium oven. I found a pink woman's stocking garter on the floor near the oven."

More than one witness talked of a struggle when the fourth woman was shoved into the furnace. According to a Polish prisoner named Walter Schultz, the SS medical orderly (Emil Brüttel) told him the following: "When the last woman was halfway in the oven (she had been put in feet first), she had come to her senses and struggled. As there were sufficient men there, they were able to push her into the oven, but not before she had resisted and scratched [Peter] Straub's face." The next day Schultz noticed that the face of the camp executioner (Straub) had been severely scratched.

The camp doctor (Werner Rohde) was executed after the war. Franz Berg was sentenced to five years in prison and Straub to 13 but both received the death penalty in another trial for a different crime and were hanged on the same day as Rohde. The camp commandant (Fritz Hartjenstein) received a life sentence; he was later sentenced to death in France and died awaiting execution.

Awards and honours
Posthumously, Rowden was appointed a MBE (later withdrawn due to the policy on posthumous awards of this order) and Mentioned in Despatches by the British government, and awarded the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 by the French government.

Her name is registered with the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle, at the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, England, on the FANY memorial at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, London, on the "Roll of Honour" on the Valençay SOE Memorial in the town of Valençay, in the Indre département of France, and on the "Roll of Honour" in Limpsfield, Surrey. She is also commemorated on the Tempsford Memorial in the village of Tempsford in the county of Bedfordshire in the East of England and on the town war memorial in Moreton-in-Marsh. A later memorial, the SOE Agents Memorial in Lambeth Palace Road (Westminster, London), is dedicated to all SOE agents.

The concentration camp where she died is now a French government historical site: a plaque to Rowden and the three women who died with her is part of the Deportation Memorial on the site. In 1985, SOE agent and painter Brian Stonehouse, who saw Rowden and the other female SOE agents at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp just before their deaths, painted a watercolour of the four women which now hangs in the Special Forces Club in London.

Related cultural works

 * Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
 * Movie based on the book by R.J. Minney about Violette Szabo, starring Paul Scofield and Virginia McKenna.

 * Churchill's Spy School (2010)
 * Documentary about the SOE "finishing school" on the Beaulieu estate in Hampshire.

 * Les Femmes de l'Ombre (aka Female Agents) (2008)
 * French film about five SOE female agents and their contribution towards the D-Day invasions.

 * Nancy Wake Codename: The White Mouse (1987)
 * Docudrama about Nancy Wake's work for SOE, partly narrated by Wake (Wake was disappointed that the film was changed from an 8-hour resistance story to a 4-hour love story).

 * Now It Can Be Told (aka School for Danger) (1946)
 * Filming began in 1944 and starred real-life SOE agents Captain Harry Rée and Jacqueline Nearne codenamed "Felix" and "Cat", respectively. The film tells the story of the training of agents for SOE and their operations in France. The training sequences were filmed using the SOE equipment at the training schools at Traigh and Garramor (South Morar) and at Ringway.

 * Odette (1950)
 * Movie based on the book by Jerrard Tickell about Odette Sansom, starring Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard. The film includes an interview with Maurice Buckmaster, head of SOE's F-Section.

 * Robert and the Shadows (2004)
 * French documentary on France Télévisions. Did General De Gaulle tell the whole truth about the French resistance? This is the purpose of this documentary. Jean Marie Barrere, the French director, uses the story of his own grandfather (Robert) to tell the French what SOE did at that time. Robert was a French teacher based in the southwest of France, who worked with SOE agent George Reginald Starr (codenamed "Hilaire", in charge of the "Wheelwright" circuit).

 * Wish Me Luck (1987)
 * Television series that was broadcast between 1987 and 1990 featuring the exploits of the women and, less frequently, the men of SOE, which was renamed the "Outfit".

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Diana Rowden


text:
Moncalieri

Moncalieri (Moncalé ) is a comune (municipality) of 56,134 inhabitants (31 January 2022) about 8 km directly south of downtown Turin (to whose Metropolitan City it belongs), in Piedmont, Italy. It is the most populous suburb of Turin and it is notable for its castle, built in the 12th century and enlarged in the 15th century, which later became the favorite residence of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and of his daughter Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy. It is part of the World Heritage Site Residences of the Royal House of Savoy.

History
Moncalieri was founded in 1228 by some inhabitants of Testona (now a frazione of the comune of Moncalieri) as a refuge from the assaults from Chieri. The easy access to the Po River and the bridge (a Templar possession for a long time) that it commanded granted a certain flourishing to the city, which became a free comune and housed a number of monastic institutions.

In the 17th century it was acquired by the House of Savoy, whose members often lived in their castle here during the summer. During the unification of Italy it was the site of the famous Proclamation of Moncalieri. Having maintained its tradition as a summer resort, today Moncalieri is also home to many high technology companies.

Main sights

The castle is one of the Savoy Residences listed as a World Heritage Site. It hosts since 1919 a prestigious carabinieri school.

Close to the castle, the descending square of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II was in the past the major centre for the Moncalieri activities. Its cobbled pavement was built back in 1825, and a sculpture-fountain of Neptune (Il Saturnio) can be found in the top part of it. For aesthetic as well as practical reasons, the Neptune fountain was several times moved back and forth. A small passage connects this square to the prestigious Real Collegio Carlo Alberto, school aimed for aristocratic descendants. Nowadays, the Collegio Carlo Alberto is managed by a joint initiative of the Compagnia di San Paolo and the University of Turin; their mission is to foster research and teaching in law, economics, finance and political science.

The Gothic church of Santa Maria della Scala houses the remains of the local patron. Other churches of interest are the later San Francesco, Sant'Egidio and the Chiesa del Gesù.

Culture
Moncalieri is devoted to Beato Bernardo: around the day dedicated to him (July 12), a historical reconstruction of his arrival in Moncalieri from Baden-Baden in 1458 is held.

Libraries and Research Centers
 * Biblioteca Europea di Cultura "Victor Del Litto"
 * C.I.R.V.I. (Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerche sul Viaggio in Italia)

Notable people

 * Pietro Canonica (1869 – 1959), sculptor and senator for life
 * Luca Frigo (born 1993), ice hockey player
 * Gabriele Ponte (born 1982), DJ and producer

Twin towns – Sister cities
Moncalieri is twinned with:

 * 🇩🇪 Baden-Baden, Germany
 * Argyroupoli, Greece

title: Moncalieri