Lead climbing

This article is about a technique in rock climbing. For the Olympic and IFSC sport of lead climbing, see Competition lead climbing.

Lead climbing (or leading) is a core technique in rock climbing where two climbers work together to ascend a climbing route. The 'lead climber' — who climbs — clips the rope to pieces of protection as they ascend. The 'second' (or 'belayer') stands at the base of the route controlling the other end of the rope, which is called belaying (e.g. if the 'lead climber' falls, the 'second' locks the rope). The term distinguishes between the two roles and the greater effort and increased risk of the role of the 'lead climber'.

Leading a route is in contrast with the alternative climbing technique of top roping, where even though there is still a 'second' belaying the rope, the 'lead climber' faces no risk in the event of a fall and does not need to clip into any protection as the rope is already anchored to the top of the route (e.g. if they fall they will just hang from the static rope). Leading a climbing route is a core activity in rock climbing, and first ascents (FA) and first free ascents (FFA) of new routes must be done via lead climbing.

Lead climbing can be performed as free climbing, in either a traditional climbing or a sport climbing format — leading a traditional climb is a much riskier and physically demanding exercise for the climber. Competition lead climbing is a sport-climbing format that is part of the Olympic sport of competition climbing. Lead climbing can also be performed as aid climbing. The term is not applied to free solo climbing, as the free solo climber is alone and thus there is no need to distinguish the role of 'leader' from the 'second'.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.