Search help page
The Search for photos form is easy to use, but this page gives an explanation of each option and tips on how to make best use of it.The search form //
The search form allows for powerful searches to find very specific images, which is often needed by commercial magazine or book editors looking to illustrate some text. Casual users just browsing the photo galleries may find some of the options redundant.- Title - search for exact text in the photo title. e.g., the name of a climber, the route or the crag
- Location - search for photos in a specific country, climbing area or city. You can also Browse a world map to find photos graphically
- Keywords - search for photos which include certain keywords, and exclude other keywords (see below)
- Shape - search for photos in Portrait shape (taller than they are wide), or Landscape shape (wider than they are tall)
- Dates - search for photos within a certain range of years, or a certain UK season
- Print size - select the minimum print size & quality required, so that very low resolution digital photos are not shown
Example searches //
Some examples of searches that you can perform are:- Photos with 'Thea Williams' in the title
- Photos taken in Kalymnos, Greece
- Hard climbs with the climber chalking-up their hands
- Climber placing gear on a British sea cliff
- Crack climbing (but NOT gritstone)
- Older woman leading an overhang
- Landscape-shaped photo of a sunset
- Bouldering in the Peak District during Winter
- Sea cliff climbing, suitable for printing a double A4 page spread
Search keywords //
Each photo in our online library has been tagged with a series of keywords. e.g., "gritstone, leading, young woman, extreme, helmet", which allows for quite specific searching. You can choose to only search for photos with certain keywords, as well as optionally excluding other keywords to help narrow down the number of photos to look through.
Most of the keywording is focussed on climbing-specific terms, such as Abseiling, Bridging, Crimping, etc. UKClimbing.com has a very useful article A Glossary of Climbing terms: from Abseil to Zawn to help the non-climber understand what the terms mean.
| abseiling | with a climber abseiling (rapelling) down a rope |
| belaying | belaying (holding the ropes) of another climber |
| blue sky | photo with some sunny blue sky in it |
| bouldering | free climbing (without rope) typically close to the ground |
| bridging | climber bridging (stemming) their legs wide apart |
| buildings | photos of buildings/architecture |
| chalking-up | climber dipping their hand into a bag of gymnasts chalk to soak up any sweat |
| chimney | climber in a wide crack that they can fit their whole body into |
| clouds | photos with attractive cloud formations |
| crack | climbing a crack |
| crimping | pulling hard with the fingers on a tiny hold |
| dark skinned | climber with dark skin |
| dyno | climber jumping upwards for a hold |
| extreme | photos of harder climbs (roughly E1/F7a/5.11d and above) |
| falling | climbers falling off |
| gritstone | gritstone rock |
| heel-hook | climber hooking a heel onto a ledge, often up at head height |
| helmet | climber wearing a helmet |
| ice climbing | not available |
| indoor climbing | climbing in an indoor gym, either bouldering or routes |
| jamming | climber jamming their fingers or hands into a narrow crack |
| landscape | photo of landscapes as opposed to sports action or people |
| laughing | person laughing |
| laybacking | climbing up a crack/flake with hands on one side, opposing the feet (liebacking) |
| leading | climber protecting a route as they climb, with the rope below them |
| mantleshelf | climber doing a press-up with their arms to get onto a small shelf |
| miscellany | miscellaneous photos (e.g., climbing equipment) |
| monochrome | black and white photograph |
| multi-pitch | longer climbs (often over 40m/130ft) |
| offwidth | climber in a wide crack that they can fit an arm or leg into, but not their whole body |
| older man | older male climber. e.g., over 50 years old |
| older woman | older female climber. e.g., over 50 years old |
| overhang | climber on steep rock, much steeper than vertical |
| people | group shot of a number of people |
| photographer | photos of photographers in action |
| placing gear | climber placing or removing traditional protection in the rock, or clipping a bolt/quickdraw |
| portrait | close-up shot of a single person |
| rockover | climber rocking their bodyweight over a high foot hold |
| run-out | poorly protected climbing, a long way between placements |
| sea cliff | photos where the sea is visible |
| seconding | climber following up a route with the rope above them |
| shirtless | climbers without a shirt/top on |
| silhouette | figure black against lit background such as the sky |
| slab | climber on inclined rock, less than vertical |
| soloing | climbers free soloing (climbing without a rope) |
| sport climbing | bolt-protected climbing |
| spotting | protecting the hard start of a route/boulder problem by holding up hands to catch the climber if they fall |
| sunglasses | climbers wearing sunglasses |
| sunset | photos including a sunset sky |
| teamwork | group of climbers working together |
| top roping | safe climbing with the rope running through a fixed anchor at the top of the route |
| trad climbing | traditionally-protected climbing (no bolts in rock) |
| walking | not available |
| woman | female climber |
| young man | young male climber. e.g., under 21 years old |
| young woman | young female climber. e.g., under 21 years old |
![[RSS]](/images/feed.gif){kind=small}