The British trad grade is a two-part system for traditional climbs combining an adjectival grade for overall seriousness (Moderate, Severe, E1, E2, and upward) with a technical grade for the hardest single move (4a, 5b, 6a). Together they convey not just difficulty but how bold or well-protected a route is — a distinctive feature of British climbing.
The Ewbank system is an open-ended climbing grade scale using a single number — 1, 12, 25, 35 and upward — used in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. A higher number means harder, with no letters or pluses. It rates a route's overall difficulty and converts approximately to YDS and French grades.
The Font grade, from Fontainebleau in France, is the European system for grading bouldering difficulty, written as a number plus an uppercase letter and optional plus — 6A, 7B+, 8C — with the capital letters distinguishing it from French route grades. It is the main bouldering scale outside North America, where the V-scale dominates.
The munter hitch, or Italian hitch, is a friction hitch tied directly on a locking carabiner that can belay or lower a climber without a belay device. It works by feeding rope through a reversing hitch, making it the standard backup if a device is dropped. Its main drawback is that it tends to twist the rope.
The girth hitch is a simple hitch that attaches a sling or loop of cord around an object — a tree, a harness tie-in point, or another sling — by passing the loop through itself. It's quick and handy but loses some strength at the choke point, so climbers avoid girth-hitching slings together at sharp angles under critical loads.
The double fisherman's knot, or grapevine, joins two rope or cord ends by tying two interlocking double overhand knots. It's compact, very secure, and hard to untie after loading, which makes it the standard for tying prusik loops and cordelettes and a reliable — if stubborn — way to join rappel ropes.
A stopper knot is a backup knot tied in the tail of another knot or at the end of a rope to keep the main knot from slipping or the rope from running through a device. Climbers add a stopper to back up a tie-in figure-eight and tie stopper knots in rope ends to avoid the deadly error of rappelling off the end.
The autoblock, or French prusik, is a friction hitch wrapped around the rope and clipped back to itself, used mainly as a rappel backup. Unlike a prusik it releases easily under load and slides one-handed, so a rappeller can tend it as they descend and have it grab the rope if they let go of the brake.
The klemheist is a friction hitch, similar to a prusik, tied with cord or webbing around a rope so it grips when loaded and slides when relaxed. Unlike the prusik it is directional — gripping only when pulled one way — and it slides more easily, making it useful for ascending a rope and as a rappel backup.
The flat overhand bend, often nicknamed the European Death Knot (EDK) despite being safe when tied correctly, joins two rappel ropes with a simple overhand knot in both strands. Its flat profile lets it slide over edges and roofs without snagging, making it the preferred knot for joining rappel ropes — provided the tails are left long.