Fixed ropes are ropes anchored in place along a route, left for climbers to clip into or ascend with mechanical ascenders. Common on big expedition peaks and steep snow, they speed travel and add security on terrain that would be slow or dangerous to climb unroped — but they rely on the ropes and anchors being sound.
A summit bid (or summit push) is the attempt to reach the top of a mountain, typically the final, committing stage of an expedition launched from a high camp. Summit bids are timed for a weather window and good conditions, and require turnaround discipline — committing to descend if the climb runs late or conditions deteriorate.
An alpine start is beginning a climb very early — often well before dawn — to take advantage of cold, stable conditions and to leave a safety margin for the descent. Frozen snow is firmer and safer in the early hours, rockfall and avalanche risk is lower, and an early start means finishing before afternoon storms.
A roped team is a group of mountaineers tied together on a single rope for mutual protection, most commonly during glacier travel, where the team can arrest and rescue a member who falls into a crevasse. Members travel at set spacing with the rope managed to minimize slack, ready to react instantly to a fall.
Self-arrest is the technique of stopping yourself after a slip or fall on a snow slope by using an ice axe to dig into the snow and halt your slide before you gather dangerous speed. It is one of the most important and practiced mountaineering safety skills, drilled repeatedly because a real arrest happens in seconds.
Glacier travel is the technique of crossing a glacier safely as a roped team, managing the hazard of hidden crevasses. Climbers travel roped together at set spacing, ready to arrest a fall and perform crevasse rescue, while reading the glacier's surface for sagging snow bridges and other signs of crevasses below.
Crevasse rescue is the set of techniques for extracting a climber who has fallen into a crevasse, using the rope, snow anchors, prusiks or ascenders, and mechanical-advantage hauling systems like the Z-pulley. It is an essential skill for glacier travel, practiced until it's second nature, because a real rescue must be fast and is physically demanding.
Fording is crossing a river or stream on foot where there is no bridge. Hikers face upstream or angle across, unclip the pack hip belt, use trekking poles for stability, and judge depth and current carefully. Swift water is deceptively powerful, making fords one of backpacking's real hazards.
A dead hang is hanging from a hold, bar, or hangboard edge with straight, relaxed arms and engaged shoulders, used both as a rest position on the wall and as a core finger-strength exercise. Timed dead hangs on a hangboard are one of the most effective ways to build the specific finger strength climbing demands.
A knee bar is a resting and locking technique where you wedge your leg between two opposing surfaces — jamming the knee or thigh against one and the foot against the other — so the leg supports your weight and frees your hands. A good knee bar can offer a precious no-hands rest on steep terrain.