Climbing route

A climbing route (German: Kletterrouten) is a path by which a climber reaches the top of a mountain, a rock face or an ice-covered obstacle.

), the difficulty grade of the route–and beta on its crux(es)–and any risk or commitment grade, the length and number of pitches of the route, and the climbing equipment (e.g. climbing protection gear) that is needed to complete the route.

After a route is established, variations can be created (e.g. directessimas, sit starts, or enchainments), and climbers will try to improve the "style" in which the route is climbed (e.g. minimizing aid climbing or other supports such as oxygen or fixed ropes).

[23][26] In June 2020, climbing author Andrew Bisharat wrote in Rock & Ice that "routes belong to us all.

[23][27] At the same time, Duane Raleigh, the editor of Rock & Ice, stepped down from his post recognizing some problematic names that he had given his own routes in the past.

[23] The debate intensified, reaching national media attention in countries around the world,[28][29] and was described as climbing's "#MeToo" moment.

[30] In 2021, the American Alpine Club created the "Climb United" initiative to bring magazine editors, guidebook publishers and database managers, and other climbing community leaders together to create principles for naming routes that would "Build the best publishing practices to avoid harm caused by discriminatory or oppressive route names".

[35] Such acts have at times caused controversy (e.g. Fred Rouhling's Akira and Hugh), but at other times has not (e.g. Antoine Le Menestrel [fr]'s famous Buoux route, La Rose et la Vampire).

5.15d (9c); it was later deconstructed having never been fully ascended, despite attempts by some of the world's best climbers, including Adam Ondra, Stefano Ghisolfi, and Alex Megos.

[40] In 1971, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner wrote a famous essay called The Murder of the Impossible (which was believed to have been inspired by the 400-bolt Compressor Route), challenging that the use of such protection was diminishing the nature of mountaineering, saying of such climbers: "he carries his courage in his rucksack, in the form of bolts and equipment".