redpoint

To free-climb (a route), while lead climbing, after having practiced the route beforehand.

Verb

  1. To free-climb (a route), while lead climbing, after having practiced the route beforehand.

Origin

From red + point, as a calque of German Rotpunkt, coined by Kurt Albert in the mid-1970s at Frankenjura. He would paint a red X on a fixed pin that he could avoid using for a foothold or handhold.

Forms

redpoints redpointing redpointed