MOUNTAIN & SNOW

TERMINOLOGY
 INTRODUCTION
STUDY OF TERMS USED ON ROCK
CLIMBING & MOUNTAINEERING. IT
IS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
IN THE FIELD OF MOUNTAINEERING.
 AIM

TO IMPART THE KNOWLEDGE OF

TERMS USED IN ROCK CLIMBING &
MOUNTAINEERING.
 ACCLIMATISATION
IT IS PROCESS BY
WHICH CERTAIN
PHYSIOLOGICAL
CHANGES ARE
INDUCED IN THE
BODY SO THAT A
PERSON IS ABLE TO
ADAPT HIMSELF TO
ALTERED
ENVIRONMENT AT
HIGH ALTITUDES.
 ACCLIMATISATION
S.NO. ALTITUDE (IN FT) STG
1 9000-12000 I
2 12000-15000 II
3 15000-18000 III

FACTORS HELPING IN ACCLIMATIZATION

1. AGE 25-40 YEARS
2. WEIGHT PROPORTIONAL TO HEIGHT AND AGE
3. PHYSICAL FITNESS
4. ABSENCE OF ILLNESS
5. CARBOHYDRATE AND PROTEIN RICH DIET
6. INTAKE OF SUFFICIENT FLUIDS
7. COORDINATION OF RESPIRATORY AND SKELETAL MUSCLES
USED IN CLIMBING
8. GOOD MOTIVATION AND LEADERSHIP
9. AVOIDANCE OF SMOKING AND ALCOHOL
10. ADEQUATE SLEEP
11. PREVIOUS ASCENT.
 AVALANCHE
• AN AVALANCHE IS A
MASSIVE MASS OF UNSTABLE
SNOW AND/OR ICE THAT CAN
COME HURTLING DOWN A
SLOPE AND BRINGS WITH IT
SNOW, ICE, ROCKS, SOIL,
TREES ETC.

• THREE TYPES:-
❑ LOOSE SNOW AVALANCHE
❑ PACKED SNOW
AVALANCHE
❑ COMBINATION
AVALANCHE
 ARETE
• A small ridge-like
feature or a sharp
outward facing corner on
a steep rock face.

• Arête, a narrow
ridge of rock formed by
glacial erosion.

• A knife sharp ridge,

it may be of rock, ice or
snow.
 ANCHOR
• An arrangement of one or
(usually) more pieces of gear
set up to support the weight
of a belay or top rope. While
operating in mountains,
anchors are required to fix
rope, preparation of bases for
rappelling, stream crossing
and belaying. Proper selection
and placement of anchors is a
critical skill that requires a
great deal of practice.

• Anchors are of two types i.e.

natural and artificial anchors.
 BELAY
• To protect a roped
climber from falling by
passing the rope
through, or around,
any type of friction
enhancing belay
device. Before belay
devices were
invented, the rope
was simply passed
around the belayer’s
body to create friction.

• Anchors are of two

types i.e. natural and
artificial anchors.
 BERGSCHRUND
• A crevasse that forms on
the upper portion of a
glacier where the moving
section pulls away from
the headwall. Also called
a 'shrund.

• A crevasse in a glacier or
snowfield, formed when
the movement of snow or
ice diverges away from
the fixed mountainside.

• It is a crevasse between
the glacier and mountain.
 BUTTRESS
• A prominent
features that
juts out from a
rock or
mountain.
 CAIRN
• A pile of stones
used for
marking the
summit of a
mountain.
• Cairns are also
used to mark out
routes where
paths are not
obvious.
 CHIMNEY
• Gap between two rocks
which is wider than crack
and narrower than a gully.
Chimney can be used to
climb a rock face.

• A rock cleft with vertical

sides mostly parallel, large
enough to fit the climber's
body into. To climb such a
structure, the climber often
uses his head, back and feet
to apply opposite pressure
on the vertical walls.
 CHOCKSTONE
• A stone,
boulder or
pebble, jammed
in a crack or
chimney.
Artificial chock
in metal are now
used for
protection.
 CORNICE
• A consolidated
snow bank
projecting over the
edge of a ridge,
plateau or cornice,
and formed by
prevailing winds.
They may be
temporary which
are likely to cause
Avalanche, or they
may be permanent.
 CREVASSE
• A crevasse is a deep crack
in an ice sheet or glacier.
Crevasses forms as a
result of the movement and
resulting stress associated
with the sheer stress
generated when two semi-
rigid pieces above a plastic
substrate have different
rates of movement.

• The resulting intensity of

the shear stress causes a
breakage along the faces.
 FREE CLIMBING
• Climbing without
using any
mountaineering
equipment like
pitons, nuts,
runners, etc is called
free climbing.

• Natural holds are

used during free
climbing.
 FIXED ROPE
• Ropes fixed by
climber during
the course of
an expedition,
enabling them
to pass up and
down the
difficult face of
mountain more
quickly.
 GENDARME
• A free standing pinnacle on
an Alpine ridge. Gendarmes
may be quite small or
immense.

• A pinnacle or isolated rock

tower frequently encountered
along a ridge.

• A prominent pinnacle of rock

found mostly on ridges. it is a
French word , in France
Gendarme means Policeman
 GLACIER
• A huge mass of ice that
moves because of its own
weight. Glaciers are
formed at places where
rate of accumulation of
snow is more than the
rate of melting of snow.

• Formed by the perennial

accumulation of snow and
other precipitation in a
valley
• movement of glaciers is
caused by gravity.
 GLACIER
• Types of glaciers
❑ Valley glacier—resides and flows in a valley.
❑ Cirque glacier—forms and resides in a bowl.
❑ Hanging glacier—these are a result of valley or cirque
glaciers flowing or deteriorating. As the movement
continues, portions separate and are sometimes left
hanging on mountains, ridgelines, or cliffs.
❑ Piedmont glacier—formed by one or more valley glaciers;
spreads out into a large area.
❑ Retreating glacier—a deteriorating glacier; annual melt of
entire glacier exceeds the flow of the ice.
❑ Surging glacier—annual flow of the ice exceeds the melt;
the movement is measurable over a period of time.
 GULLY
• The rift between two
buttresses caused by
erosion may be very
wide or narrow and
may contain a
stream. A gully filled
with small stones is a
scree gully.

• It is a depression
between two spurs.
This usually refers to
a wide, shallow
ravine on a
mountainside.
 HANGING GLACIER
• A subsidiary glacier set at
a higher level than the
valley with great ice cliffs
or it may join the main
glacier by means of a
steep ice wall.

• These are a result of valley

or cirque glaciers flowing
or deteriorating. As the
movement continues,
portions separate and are
sometimes left hanging on
mountains, ridgelines, or
cliffs.
 HOLD
• A small irregularity of
rock which can be used
by a climber for
progress or rest. May
come in any shape or
form, from cracks,
ripples, crystals, flakes
and so on. Small holds
can be used by the
finger tips only while
larger ones may be
grasped by the whole
hand. In winter holds
may be cut in snow or
ice by an ice axe.
 LEDGE
• A platform on
the rock face
which can be
used by climber
to rest for some
time.
 MORAINE
• The moraine is an accumulation of
rock or debris on a glacier caused
by rockfall or avalanche of valley
walls.
• The lateral moraine is formed on
sides of glacier.
• The medial moraine is in the middle
of the glacier. This is also formed
as two glaciers come together or as
a glacier moves around a central
peak.
• The terminal moraine is at the base
of a glacier and is formed as
moraines meet at the snout or
terminus of a glacier.
• The ground moraine is the rocky
debris extending out from the
terminus of a glacier. This is formed
by the scraping of earth as the
glacier grew or surged and exposed
as the glacier retreats.
 OVERHANG
• A plane of rock or ice
beyond the
perpendicular/vertica
l, it means that the
rock face whose
angle is more than
90° and less than
120°.

• Roof
• Horizontal
overhang. Ceiling
is a synonym. It is
the down part of
rock up to 180°.
 PITCH
• In the strictest climbing
definition, a pitch is
considered one rope length
(50–60 metres). However, in
guide books and route
descriptions, a pitch is the
portion of a climb between two
belay points.

• Distance between two belays

or a section of difficult rock,
ice or snow. Anything from 10
to 120 feet. A very short
pitch is a move.
 RAPPELLING
• Descending down
a rock face or ice
wall with the help
of rope is called
rappelling.

• The process by
which a climber
may descend on a
fixed rope using a
friction device.
Also known as
Abseil or roping
down.
 RIB
• A small ridge on a
mountain face. In rock
climbing it is used
somewhat
indiscriminately and
can mean almost any
small protuberance.

• A short, small
buttress. In which
outside corner is even
smaller.
 RIDGE
• The line on which two
mountain faces meet
together, it may be
rock, ice or snow or a
combination of these
three.
 SCREE
• Loose rock eroded from a
mountain and found in steep
slopes below cliffs. Can be
very awkward to climb and
descent though scree.

• Small, loose, broken rocks,

often at the base of a cliff. Also
an area or slope covered in
scree. Scree is distinguished
from Talus by its smaller size
and looser configuration.

• SCREE-CHUTE
❑The line of stone falling
down a scree slopes.
 TALUS
• An area of large rock
fragments on a
mountainside that may
vary from house-size to as
small as a small backpack.
The area, if older and
consolidated, may be
stable, or the rocks may be
precariously balanced.
Talus is distinguished from
scree in that it is larger
and may feature solid
interlocking of the rocks,
while scree is by definition
loose.
 SERAC
• A pinnacle or tower
of ice. Seracs are
found in ice falls
and at the edge of
ice cliffs. They are
unsuitable for
climbing and are
potentially
dangerous, as they
fall off periodically.
 SLAB
• A flat area of rock
inclined
approximately
between 30’ and
75’. May form a
pitch of a climb or
be large enough to
hold several
climbs.
 SNOW LINE
• An imaginary line
joining places of
same height above
sea level above
which snow is found
through out the year.
 SNOUT
• Base of glacier
from where glacier
stream starts
flowing is called
snout.
 TARN
• Lake found in HAA
in mtns.

• These lakes are in

perennial in nature.
 TRAVERSE
• Moving laterally across terrain instead of ascending or
descending.

• A TYROLEAN TRAVERSE is crossing a chasm using a

rope anchored at both ends.

• A PENDULUM TRAVERSE involves swinging across a

wall or chasm while suspended from a rope affixed above
the climber.
 VERGLAS
• Thin ice lying on rocks
and making climbing
difficult. Similar to black
ice on roads in
appearance and effect.

• A thin coating of ice that

forms over rocks when
rainfall or melting snow
freezes on rock. Hard to
climb on as crampons
have insufficient depth
for reliable penetration.
 WHITE OUT
• A dangerous condition in
winter when falling and
drifting Snow, or poor
visibility cause the
horizon to merge with
the ground and the sky.
It is difficult to then
orientate oneself and
very easy to walk over
an edge.
 WIND CHILL
• The effect of low temperature is compounded by the
heat extracting effect of the wind and the two in
combination should be taken into account when
considering the weather. Charts, as shown below are
available to compute such combinations.
 WIND SLAB
• A dangerous snow
condition when an
upper layer of
firmer snow is
loosely attached to
a lower layer. The
upper layer can
then break away in
slabby chunks at
a climbers touch,
causing an
avalanche.
 AID CLIMBING
• Climbing a pitch by
hanging from
equipment that has
been placed in or on
the rock.
 ALP
• The grassy pastures
below the snowline,
the place where
animals are taken to
feed in the summer
months.
 APPROACH
• The path or route to
the start of a
technical climb.
Although this is
generally a walk or,
at most, a scramble
it is occasionally as
hazardous as the
climb itself.
 BELAY DEVICE
• A mechanical device
used to create friction
when belaying by
putting bends in the
rope. Many types of
belay devices exist,
including ATC, grigri,
Reverso, Sticht plate,
eight and tuber. Some
belay devices may also
be used as descenders.
A Munter hitch can
sometimes be used
instead of a belay
device.
 BOULDERING
• The practice of
climbing on large
boulders. Typically
this is close to the
ground, so protection
takes the form of
crash pads and
spottinginstead of
belay ropes.

• Bouldering is a form
of rock climbing that
is performed without
the use of ropes or
harnesses.
 COL
• A small pass or "saddle"
between two peaks.
Excellent for navigation
as when standing on
one it's always down in
two, opposite, directions
and up in the two
directions in between
those.

• A steep, high pass.

• Way across a col is

known as a pass.
 SADDLE
• A high pass between
two peaks, larger than a
col. a high pass that is
not as steep as a col.
 COULOIR
• It is a french word
used to defined a
steep gully or
gorge or steep
chute, frequently
filled with snow
and ice
 CWM
• A hanging valley, or
cirque—a steep-
walled semi-circular
basin in a mountain—
sometimes
containing a lake;
also known as a
corrie.

• A deep bowl-shaped
hollow at head of a
valley or on mountain
side, it is also an
enclosure of
mountain.
 KNOLL
• A temple like
formation on a hill
 MOAT
• A crevasse that
forms where the
glacier pulls away
from a rock
formation.

• The gap between

snow and ice and a
rock wall.
 NÉVÉ
• Permanent granular
ice formed by
repeated freeze-
thaw cycles.

• consolidated
granular snow. This
is common on
glaciers and
snowfields during
the height of
summer.
 NUNATAK
• A mountain or rock
that protrudes through
an ice field.
 PRUSIK
• A knot used for
ascending a rope. It is
named after Dr Karl
Prusik, the Austrian
mountaineer who
developed this knot in
1931.To use a Prusik
knot for ascending a
rope.
 SLCD
• Abbreviation for
SPRING-LOADED
CAMMING DEVICE,
a type of protection
device. These are
better known by the
term cam.
JAI HIND