In Chamonix, the summer is in full swing and the Climbing World Cup has just bagged itself some new World Champs and left town. Here’s some rock climbing themed vocabulary to put you in the mood for scaling those rocks yourself!!
Many climbing terms that were first coined in the French language are also used transferred into English. You can checkout this link for a full glossary of climbing terms.
Escalade – climbing
Grimpeur – climber
Désescalade – downclimbing
Escalade sportive – sports-climbing
Escalade en libre – free-climbing
Escalade artificielle or “artif” – aid-climbing
Prise de pied – foot hold
Prise de main – hand hold
Faire du bloc – bouldering
un bloc – a boulder
une falaise – a cliff
une cordelette – a cord
une corde – a rope
un mousqueton – a carabiner
un baudrier – a harness
un casque – a helmet
Pof – resin
Sac à pof – chalk bag
Topo – guide book
Chausson d’escalade – climbing shoes
un matelas – a crash pad
Chute de pierres – rockfall
Assureur – belayer
Descendeur – belay device
Point d’ancrage – anchor
Bivouac – bivy
Assurage – belaying
Traversée – traverse (past tense of the verb traverser, meaning to cross)
Exposé – exposed (past tense of the verb exposer, meaning to expose)
Rappel – abseil
Assurer – to belay
Descendre en rappel – to rappel
Grimper en tête – to lead
Parer – to spot
Tomber – to fall
Attacher, Nouer – to tie
Dénouer – to untie