Traverse (climbing)

In climbing and mountaineering, a traverse is a section of a climbing route where the climber moves laterally (or horizontally), as opposed to in an upward direction. The term has broad application, and its use can range from describing a brief section of lateral movement on a pitch of a climbing route, to large multi-pitch climbing routes that almost entirely consist of lateral movement such as girdle traverses that span the entire rock face of a crag, to mountain traverses that span entire ridges connecting chains of mountain peaks.

Long traverses in rock climbing and alpine climbing may require additional climbing techniques (e.g. a pendulum or a tension traverse), and pieces of climbing equipment (e.g. ascenders) to manage the risks of the lead climber and/or the following climber falling far off the main route. Long traverses also place increased pressure on the abilities of the following climber than in a normal climb. Traversing is an even more regular feature in bouldering and is also a popular rock climbing training technique on indoor climbing walls.

Notable traverses include the 4,500-metre El Capitan Girdle Traverse on El Capitan, the world's longest rock climbing route, the Hinterstoisser traverse on the Eiger, which was the key to the famous 1938 Heckmair Route, and the Fitz Roy traverses (both directions) of the Cerro Chaltén Group, which are considered some of the hardest 'mountain traverses' ever completed. Climbers consider the 'Everest-Lhotse traverse', and the even harder 'Everest-Lhotse-Nuptse traverse', as some of the unfinished "holy grails" of mountaineering.

In rock climbing
Some rock climbing routes have traverse sections that move horizontally for a period. There are many reasons for this including avoiding or side-stepping challenges whose grade is too hard (e.g. a major roof or a very 'blank' section of rock), or trying to follow a crack climbing route where a set of cracks run out and the climbers must move horizontally for a period to find the next set of cracks to continue upward. The term 'direttissima ' (or 'direct') is used for refinements of climbing routes that dispense with traverses and rise vertically upward in the straightest possible line from the ground to the top.

Traversing uses specific climbing techniques such as 'crimping', 'side-pulls', 'laybacking', 'stemming', and 'cross-throughs' (the limbs are crossed so the moves are longer and fluid). On some big wall climbing traverses, such as King Swing on The Nose on El Capitan, the traverse cannot be climbed and is instead crossed using a 'pendulum' or 'tension traverse' rope technique. Traversing also requires the following climber to have stronger technical abilities than they would normally need on a non-traverse route where the following climber is essentially top roped when belayed by the lead climber.

Long traverses require specific pieces of equipment and protection to handle the resulting 'pendulum falls' where a fallen climber (both the lead and following climber) can end up so far off-route that climbing back up is impossible and they will have to jumar back up to the route using ascenders. In addition, the lead climber will place strong protection both before and after a difficult (or crux) move on a traverse to allow the following climber to remove the first piece of protection before making the difficult move while still having protection against a more significant 'pendulum fall' from the protection that was placed just after the move.

Routes with traverses can be found at most climbing areas and some are famous for their 'girdle traverse', which are very long traverse routes that horizontally span the entire rock climbing area or crag. Notable girdle traverses include The Great Wall of China (3,000 metres, 67-pitches, 5.9 R) on the Shawangunks in New York State, the Stanage Traverse (circa 5,000 metres but broken up in places, E5 6b) at Stanage Edge in England, and as of 2024, the world's largest continuous climbing pitch, the El Capitan Girdle Traverse (4,500 metres, 75-pitches, 5.10 A4) on El Capitan in Yosemite.

In bouldering
Traversing is an even more regular feature of bouldering, where there is less focus on moving exclusively upwards and many bouldering routes will involve a quasi-traverse of diagonal upward movements (e.g. Dreamtime), or at the more extreme end, traverses across a low roof (e.g. The Wheel of Life). Long boulder traverses have been described as a "distinct sub-discipline in climbing", and in the famous Fontainebleau bouldering area, specific amendments are made to the Font grade to allow for the increased stamina requirements of traverses (e.g. while a bouldering Font 9A is equivalent to an American V grade of V17, a long boulder traverse of 9A may only have the technical challenge of an American V13 grade).

In mountaineering
As in rock climbing, mountaineering also uses the term 'traverse' for sections of routes that require horizontal or lateral movement. Traverses are a particular feature in long alpine climbing routes, where —just like in big wall rock climbing—traverses are used to bypass unclimbable sections (i.e. where a direttissima is not yet possible and the climbers need to move laterally to access climbable features). One of the most famous examples is the Hinterstoisser traverse (see image above), a critical 'tension traverse' on the 1938 Heckmair Route (ED2, V−, A0, 60° snow) on the north face of the Eiger.

In mountaineering, the term is also used in a broader sense to describe large mountain routes that follow high ridges that connect several mountain peaks. A classic example of a 'mountain traverse' is Peter Croft's Evolution Traverse (VI, 5.9, 8-miles, over 3,000 metres of cumulative elevation gain CAG) in the Evolution Basin of the Sierra Nevada, which follows a rocky ridge that crosses nine peaks of over 13,000 feet in elevation, and takes circa 1-2 days to complete. Other examples of notable 'mountain traverses' include the Cullin Ridge Traverse in Britain.

The CAG is a key metric of 'mountain traverses' that gives the total amount of vertical climbing required (i.e. a flat ridge across a chain of peaks will have a zero gain outside of the gain to ascend the ridge). The greater the CAG, the less the route is like a traverse and more akin to an enchainment of peaks. Where a mountain traverse does not follow a well-defined ridge, it is also more likely to be an enchainment. A notable example of the distinction is the 'Everest-Lhotse enchainment', which was first completed in 2011 by American guide Michael Horst, but the harder 'Everest-Lhotse traverse' that follows the crest of the sharp rocky ridge connecting the two peaks, remains an unsolved problem in mountaineering.

Some of the hardest 'mountaineering traverses' include the 5 km traverse of the seven main peaks of the Cerro Chaltén Group, which is called The Fitz Roy Traverse if done north-to-south, and the Moonwalk Traverse if done south-to-north, and has over 4,000 metres of CAG. The traverse of the Mazeno Ridge, which is the longest continuous ridge of any of the eight thousander mountains, is also notable. The climbers who made the first ascents of these extreme 'mountain traverse' routes won the Piolets d'Or, which is the highest award in mountaineering. The unclimbed 'Everest-Lhotse traverse' and the even harder 'Everest-Lhotse-Nuptse traverse', are described by some as the outstanding "holy grails" of mountaineering.

In training
In climbing, traversing along a climbing wall is often performed as a warm-up exercise, and to also build finger strength and stamina.

In 1964, a novice British climber named John Syrett, began training obsessively by continually traversing on a low newly built climbing wall in a long corridor of Leeds University—it was one of the first climbing walls ever constructed. On one of his first ventures to outdoor rock climbing, Syrett onsighted Wall of Horrors, which at E3 6a was one of the most intimidating traditional climbing routes in Britain. Several other British climbers would follow Syrett's example so that traversing on small holds (or even on brick walls), became a staple training technique for climbers.

Standard variations include traversing using only side-pulls, or only just two fingers, or only cross-throughs.