Glossary

Outdoor types do like to get beardy about their hills (lumps of earth/rock), walls (what people climb up), clothes (to wear) and kit (handy accessories). This can go two ways, either they try to appear all smart and out wit you with olde Jargon like cwms, cirques and cols for things which could easily be described in normal English, or they take normal English words and darkly subvert their meaning into a cipher so that  they confuse, or in the case of wondering what nut to put in the crack, disgust the novice.

Just the other day requisition emanating after the Freedom for Information Act 2000, principally under Part 1, Section 10, 5(a), necessitates UBES to expedite the elucidation of appropriated words from the English language. Erm, so here are what alot of the words you may want to understand, but may not/forget...

Land Forms

	Corrie, Cwm, Cirque These are bowl shaped hollows found at the star of a U-shaped valley. It's like half a breakfast bowl with some milk at the bottom, as they often have little lakes (tarns) in them. The steepwall at their back is called the headwall
	Col, saddle, bwlch, bealeach This is the low point between two peaks, often found along a ridge between the two peaks. If you stand in the col looking towards a peak the land will rise in front and behind of you, whilst it will fall to your left and right.
	Arête It's a rocky spine or ridge, separating two steep sided valleys. 'Striding Edge' leading up to Helvellyn and 'Crib Goch' on the approach to Snowdon are two very famous examples of this.
	Tarn A little lake found in valleys. They form behind a moraine dam following glacial retreat. they are usually roundish, deep and very very pretty.
	Scree This is where the side of the mountain has fragmented into loads of smallish yet sharp rocks. It often sits at its maximum steepness, so a little nudge will send a rock or few sliding to the bottom. This can be pretty dangerous but it also allows for a quick down route- Scree running, much much much fun!

Climbing Talk

	Top Roping When the rope tied to the climber is coming from above, from an anchor above them. It usually then goes back down to the belayer on the ground (which is technically known as 'bottom roping' but nobody really cares).
	Leading When the climber climbs with the rope trailing beneath them to aa belayer below and secures it as they go.
	Seconding When a climber follows a route just previously led. As they go they have to unclip the rope, or if outside take the protection out.
	Belay This is the method to stop the climber falling to the floor if/when they fall. The belayer puts the rope through their belay device, who then pays attention and grabs the rope before they hit the floor, amazing. The belay introduces bends into the rope around the metal, and the friction between the rope and metal generates the force to stop the climbing falling to their death.
	Trad(itional) Climbing This is when leading outdoors the climber needs to place protection like nuts and cams and things to clip their rope into. This is what you'll mostly find in the UK.
	Sport Climbing This is leading outdoors, but the Is what leading inside is. Kindly someone has already placed protection in the wall (like a screw and eyelet), so all the outdoor leader needs to do is clip a quickdraw onto it and their rope. Though inside even the quick draw is provided, how lucky

Expedition Chat

	Alpine Route This is route to get up a hill which involves walking on snow and ice, but also having to clamber up some big rocks, maybe using rope for support.
	B2 and B3 boots Bigger, heftier, stronger boots for walking on snow and can be used with crampons
	Crampons These are metal plates with spikes on them which you attach to the bottom of your shoes so you can walk on ice and steep snow
	Gaiters These are what some people wear to stop the bottom of their trousers getting wet and dirty. They go over the tops of the shoes and bottom of the trousers.
	Helly A Helly Hansen thermal top, they got diagonal stripes down the sleeves, very smart. You also get their thermal trousers/leggings too.
	Platypus It's a bag of water, which goes in your bag, and a hose which you drink from, quite incredible. But beware the curse of the platypus - having to piss every 15minutes.