Free climbing is a type of rock climbing in which the climber uses only hands, feet and other parts of the body to ascend, employing ropes and forms of climbing protection to prevent falls only.
In contrast, free soloing uses no aids of any kind for protection or ascent while aid climbing employs ropes, protection, and direct aids to pull or stand upon such as jumars to make upward progress on extremely sheer vertical surfaces.
Used as an umbrella term, "free climbing" spans four subsets of climbing styles: traditional, sport, free soloing and bouldering.
Read more about Free Climbing: Methods and Techniques, Style, Common Misunderstandings of The Term
Famous quotes containing the words free and/or climbing:
“To be free in an age like ours, one must be in a position of authority. That in itself would be enough to make me ambitious.”
—Ernest Renan (1823–1892)
“An old, mad man still climbing in his ghost,
My fathers’ ghost is climbing in the rain.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)