Below are some common rock climbing terms — your style of climbing might fall into more than one category.
Free Climbing: Moving up a rock using only hands, feet, and natural holds. Ropes and pro are only used for protection of the climber and not for progression.
Free Climbing: Ascending using only hands, feet, and natural holds; ropes and other artificial gear are used solely for protection, not for upward progress.
Aid Climbing: Moving up a rock using fixed or placed protecting as a means of progression (and not just for protection).
Aid Climbing: Using ropes and other artificial equipment to aid in ascending the rock face, rather than just for safety.
Sports Climbing: A term used to describe modern rock climbing on bolt-protected routes. Sport climbing is a low-risk, well-protected rock climbing, usually one pitch and involving minimal gear placement.
Sport Climbing: Unlike traditional climbing, which was originally part of mountaineering, sport climbing uses pre-placed bolts as protection, making it lower risk. It usually involves a single pitch, rarely requires placing your own protection, and focuses primarily on difficulty.
Note: The style of climbing where you place your own protection is sometimes called trad climb (traditional climb).
Top Roping: Free climbing a route that has the safety rope attached to the top of the climb (usually one walks to the top to set up the top-rope belay).
Top-Rope Climbing: Climbing on a route where the rope is already set up from the top, allowing for balanced climbing (often you can walk to the top first to set up the anchor points).
Leading: To ascend a climb from the bottom up, placing protection (or clipping protection) as you go.
Lead Climbing: Starting from the bottom and climbing while placing (clipping into) protection points as you go.
Bouldering: Climbing unroped on boulders or at the foot of climbs to a height where it is still safe to jump off.
Bouldering: Climbing without ropes on boulders or at heights (typically 3–5 meters) where a fall won’t cause serious injury.
Gym Climbing: Climbing in an indoor climbing gym which is designed with the esoteric training needs to the climbers.
Indoor Climbing: Usually done for training purposes.
Big Wall Climbing: Rock climb that is so long and sustained that a normal ascent lasts several days.
Big Wall Climbing: Typically involves climbing for several days.
Soloing: Climbing alone, though not necessarily, without the protection of a rope. You fall you die.
Solo Climbing: Climbing alone without any rope protection; a fall could be fatal.