A wiregate carabiner uses a loop of stainless wire as its gate instead of a solid bar. This makes it lighter, less prone to freezing or icing shut, and resistant to 'gate flutter' — the gate momentarily vibrating open during a fall. Wiregates are popular on quickdraws, slings, and alpine racks.
Climbing chalk is magnesium carbonate powder that climbers rub on their hands to absorb sweat and improve grip on holds. Carried in a chalk bag and reapplied throughout a climb, it comes as loose powder, pressed blocks, refillable balls, or liquid chalk, and is near-universal in modern climbing.
A nut tool is a thin, flat metal pick used to remove stuck protection — nuts, hexes, and sometimes cams — that have wedged tight after being weighted. The following climber uses it to free the gear by poking and prying it loose, and it doubles for cleaning dirt and moss from cracks.
A cordelette is a long loop of accessory cord — typically 5 to 7 metres of 6-7mm cord tied with a double fisherman's knot — used to link the points of a climbing anchor and equalize them to a single master point. It is a simple, versatile, and inexpensive way to build a solid multi-point anchor.
A hex (hexentric) is a passive piece of trad protection — a six-sided metal chamber on a wire or cord that wedges into a crack and can also cam slightly when pulled. Larger and lighter than cams for the same crack size, hexes are a cheap, durable option for medium to wide cracks, though they have been largely superseded by cams.
Active protection is trad climbing gear with moving parts that grips the rock through a spring mechanism — chiefly spring-loaded camming devices (cams). It can protect parallel-sided and flaring cracks where passive gear won't hold, at the cost of more weight, expense, and maintenance. It contrasts with passive protection like nuts.
Passive protection is trad climbing gear with no moving parts that holds by wedging into a constriction in the rock — chiefly nuts and hexes. It is light, cheap, and durable, and works best where a crack pinches down. It contrasts with active protection like cams, which use a spring mechanism to grip.
A piton is a metal spike that a climber hammers into a crack and clips for protection — an older form of gear largely replaced by removable cams and nuts on free climbs. Pitons are still used in aid climbing and remain fixed on many classic routes, but because hammering them damages rock, their use is now limited.
A bolt is a permanent anchor point drilled and fixed into the rock, used in sport climbing for protection and at the tops of routes for anchors. A climber clips a quickdraw to the bolt's hanger and the rope to the draw. Bolts make hard climbing accessible, but where and whether they're placed is governed by local ethics and access rules.
An ice screw is a hollow, threaded tube that an ice climber twists into solid ice to create protection or build an anchor. Modern screws have a hanger and a fold-out crank for fast placement with one hand. Their holding power depends entirely on ice quality, so reading the ice is as important as the placement itself.