Glossary of Climbing Terms

Face climbing: To ascend a vertical rock face using finger holds, edges and smears, i.e. not crack climbing.
Fall

Undesirable downward motion. Hopefully stopped by a rope, otherwise see mountain rescue.
A free-solo belay, the quickest way to reach the ground.

Feet Follow: An instruction on indoor bouldering routes requiring foot movements match preceding hand movements, with no intermediate moves.
Feature: A protrusion or indentation on an indoor climbing wall which is permanently moulded into the wall itself.
Figure Four: Advanced climbing technique where the climber hooks a leg over the opposite arm, and then pushes down with this leg to achieve a greater vertical reach. Requires strength and a solid handhold.
Figure eight: A belay device or descender shaped like an "8".
Figure eight knot: A knot commonly used to secure the climber's harness to the climbing rope.
Finger board: Training equipment used to build finger strength.
First ascent: The first successful completion of a route.
Fist jam: A type of jam using the hand. See climbing technique.
Fixed rope: A rope which has a fixed attachment point. Commonly used for abseiling or aid climbing.
Flagging: Climbing technique where a leg is held in a position to maintain balance, rather than to support weight. Often useful to prevent barn-dooring.
Flake: A thin slab of rock detached from the main face.
Flapper: An injury consisting of a piece of loose (flapping) skin. A climber will usually just repair these with sticky tape or super glue.
Flash: To successfully and cleanly complete a climbing route on the first attempt after having received beta of some form. Also refers to an ascent of this type. For ascents on the first attempt without receiving beta see on-sight.
Flat-lander: Non-climber.
Flute: A usually insecure fin or flake of rock or ice.
Follow: What the second does.
Font: The French bouldering grading system.
Fourteener: Mountain that tops 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in the contiguous United States.
Free base: Climbing with your only protection being a parachute that is deployed in the event of a fall. A combination of free soloing, and BASE jumping.
Free climbing

Climbing without unnatural aids, other than used for protection.
Often (incorrectly) used by non-climbers as a synonym for soloing.

Free solo: Climbing without aid or protection. This typically means climbing without a rope.
French free: Also known as French climbing, or French freeing, it is the use of aid climbing techniques to bypass a section due to climbing difficulty, rock conditions, etc.; typically for only a short section of the total climb.
Frenchies: An exercise used to develop lock-off strength.
Friable (rock): Delicate and easily broken rock, often dangerous.
Friction: Climbing technique relying on the friction between the sloped rock and the sole of the shoe to support the climber's weight, as opposed using holds or edges, cracks, etc.
Friend: A name brand of a type of spring-loaded camming device (SLCD), sometimes used to refer to any type of spring-loaded camming device.