Dave's Climbing Glossary

EL CAPITAN or EL CAP or THE CAPTAIN (n): a hulking 3,000-foot granite cliff in Yosemite National Park, California. Most people consider it "pretty" and find it challenging to fit the whole darn thing in a photograph. Big-wall climbing was, in large part, invented on this mountain. There are more than 50 established routes to the top.

PROTECTION or PRO or PIECE (n): nuts, bolts, cams, pitons, and any other metal bits that attached us to the wall. Some pro is "time-bomb pro" and fine for years, until, as Ivo says, "the day Jesus says this bolt is going to go off and you're going for a sick ride." Ivo says Buddha and Allah are just as good at dishing out sick rides.

BELAY (v): to protect another climber by minding the rope that person is attached to. BELAY (n): the various stations between climbing pitches that are used to belay from, haul from, jug from, and sleep at. Keeping all the rigging at a belay organized is a neat and intricate cat's cradle. I tended more to the cat-with-a-ball-of-yarn model, tangling every rope I touched.

HAUL BAG (n): a heavy bag that contains all your water, food, and clothing and is never all that easy to get into when you want those things.

AIRMAIL (v): to drop something down the wall accidentally. As in "Jimmy had a knee pad come loose one day and airmailed it down the cliff." Ivo kindly airmailed Jimmy's other one for him shortly afterwards so that somebody down below could have a pair.

SANDBAG (v): to entertain oneself by downplaying the difficulties of a particular challenge to a gullible friend or rival. See also: Dave Hahn on El Capitan.