| Means | Clean lead ascent after practice |
| Contrasts with | Onsight, flash |
| Style order | Onsight > flash > redpoint |
| Difficulty | Intermediate concept |
From the German Rotpunkt, coined by climber Kurt Albert, who painted a red dot at the base of routes he had climbed free.
A redpoint is a successful lead climb of a route from bottom to top without falling or resting on the rope, after having practiced it. It is the standard benchmark for ‘sending’ a hard route and contrasts with an onsight (no prior knowledge) and a flash (first try, but with beta).
The term comes from the German Rotpunkt: climber Kurt Albert painted a red dot below routes he’d climbed free, and the name spread worldwide.
The style hierarchy
Clean ascents are ranked by how much you knew beforehand: an onsight (no information) is most prized, then a flash (first try with beta), then a redpoint (after practice). All are a send.
How redpointing works
Climbers treat a hard route as a project, rehearsing moves and refining beta over many attempts until they can link it cleanly on lead — the redpoint.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a redpoint and an onsight?
An onsight is climbing a route cleanly on your first try with no prior knowledge or practice — the purest style. A redpoint is climbing it cleanly after practicing the moves and rehearsing the sequence. Onsighting is considered a higher achievement at the same grade.
What does it mean to 'send' a route?
To send is to complete a route cleanly — without falling or weighting the rope — in good style. A redpoint, onsight, and flash are all types of sends; the word just describes a successful clean ascent.
Where does the word redpoint come from?
It's a translation of the German Rotpunkt. In the 1970s, climber Kurt Albert painted a red dot at the base of routes he had managed to climb free, without aid, marking his clean ascents — and the term stuck.
Sources
- Climbing styles and ethics — American Alpine Club