Pitch (climbing)

In climbing, a pitch is a section of a climbing route between two belay points (or belay stations), and is most commonly related to the task of lead climbing (going up), but is also related to abseiling (going down). Climbing on routes that require only one pitch is known as single-pitch climbing, and climbing on routes with more than one pitch is known as multi-pitch climbing (where the number is large, it can be big wall or alpine climbing).

Modern climbing ropes are typically 60–70 metres (200–230 ft) in length, which sets the theoretical maximum length of a 'pitch', however, other factors mean that the average pitch on a multi-pitch route is circa 30–40 metres (98–131 ft) in length. Advanced climbing techniques such as simul climbing can materially reduce—and even completely remove—the need for 'pitches' on a multi-pitch climbing route. The term is also used in caving.

Description

In lead climbing — either in rock climbing, mountaineering, and ice climbing — the term 'pitch' describes the length of a section of a climbing route between belays of a 'lead climber'. A route that requires a leader to be belayed only once (ignoring any follow-up belay of the 'second climber' by the leader), is called a 'single-pitch' route; where there are multiple belays of the leader, it is called a 'multi-pitch climb'. The term is also applied to the reverse process of abseiling, where it denotes the number of anchor points needed to complete the abseil (abseil anchor points are often, but not always, the lead climbing belay points).

Most lead climbing route — particularly in sport climbing — are 'single-pitch'. Single-pitch routes vary from 10 metres (33 ft) to the full length of the climbing rope, which is typically 60–70 metres (200–230 ft).