This style guide sets shared expectations for contributors adding or editing content on climbing-history.org. It borrows sensible conventions from Wikipedia and other established reference works, while adapting them to the specific domain of climbing history: routes, ascents, climbers, crags, media, and related cultural context.
The aims of this guide:
Content should directly relate to the history and development of climbing and mountaineering, including the ongoing development of these pasttimes: significant ascents, interesting climbers, notable climbs, evolution of grades, style improvements, influential publications, accidents of historical impact, competitions, and culturally notable media (films, magazines, guidebooks) that shaped the sport.
Be skeptical of:
Notability heuristics (use judgement):
Neutral, concise, evidence‑based. Avoid:
Do:
Quotations: keep brief and to the point. Prefer block quote (> …) for longer passages and inline quotes ("...") for brief snippets. Quotations should have a source wherever possible. Quotations should be attributed except where context makes it obvious e.g. on a climber page an unattributed quote is assumed to be from the climber in question.
Name: Use the climbers preferred name where known. Where they go by other names use Other Name meta-data to record this. Retain local orthography (e.g. “Françoise”, “Štěpán”).
Gender: Use the climber's preferred gender where known.
Nationality is where the climber was born. If the climber has lived elsewhere for extended periods of time record this with the Country of Residence meta-data.
Relationships: prefer to document relationships that will not change over time (e.g. parent, sibling). Avoid relationships that can change (e.g. husband, girlfriend). Use informal relationships (e.g. contemporary, climbing partner) sparingly.
Exclude: is used where there are significant, well-documented doubts about a majority of a climber's claimed ascents. Use sparingly. High-quality sources are essential. Prefer use of exclude on the climber's ascents.
Name: The name chosen by the first ascentionist is authoritive though discretion is advised e.g. around misspelling. Use title-case for climb names. Retain local orthography.
Qualifiers: qualifiers (sit start, sit, stand, low start, left, right, direct, traverse, variation, extension, etc.) are always lower-case, even when they appear at the end of a climb name. Prefer the local-language qualifier over the English equivalent — e.g. for French climbs use assis, bas, gauche, droite, debout; for German climbs use direkt. Examples: "The Wave sit start", "Crimpy (left)", "La Merveille assis".
Non-Latin scripts: for climbs whose original name is in a non-Latin script use a romanised transliteration as the canonical name and record the original-script name with the Other Name meta-data.
Multiple names: The most common name should take precedence and the Other Name meta-data should be used to record the alternative names.
Changes in grade: where the grade of a climb has changed over time consider creating a separate page for each grade and linking the pages with meta-data. For example, a route may be established as trad at a grade of E5 and then later bolted to give a 7a sport route. Where the new and old versions of the climb have the same name the current climb should retain the name and the old climb should use a modifier e.g. Parthian Shot and Parthian Shot (pre-2011 break).
Currently unclimbable: where it is no longer possible for a climber to make an ascent of a climb (e.g. because it has fallen down) use the Currently Unclimbable meta-data flag. Discretion is required here e.g. a climb may still be possible after rockfall but the character significantly changed, in which case it should be flagged as Currently Unclimbable and if the new version is historically interesting then a new climb page should be created.
Projects: adding unclimbed projects is allowed but should be done sparingly. Use the working name for the project where available. Add some notes to make identifying the project straightforward. Make an educated guess at the grade based on opinions of climbers who have tried it, then tick the Approximate Grade flag. Add the Project meta-data flag.
Exclude: is used where there are significant, well-documented doubts about whether the climb is possible as claimed by the first ascentionist. Use sparingly. High-quality sources are essential. Prefer use of exclude on the climber's ascent.
Name: use the name in common use locally; where this is uncertain, the name used in the most authoritative recent guidebook takes precedence. Use title-case and retain local orthography. For crags or summits whose name is in a non-Latin script use a romanised transliteration as the canonical name and record the original-script name with the Other Name meta-data. Informal directional or positional qualifiers in the name (e.g. (upper), (left side)) follow the same lower-case rule as climb qualifiers; sector names that are treated as part of the canonical place name stay in title-case (e.g. "Stanage Plantation").
Locations: crag locations should use the approximate center of the area represented by the crag. Where the crag contains a major sector with smaller, less significant sectors consider biasing the location to the larger sector. Summit locations should be at the highest point.
A single system is used per-climb type to allow easy comparison between climbs of the same type.
The following resources may be found useful for converting between grade systems:
When adding a climb prioritise adding a UKClimbing.com link, then an 8a.nu link. Adding a UKClimbing link adds extra context to the climb around what crag it is on.
Where it provides useful extra context consider adding an alternative grade using the Alternate Grade climb meta-data.
If there is an existing consensus on the grade of a climb use this.
Climbs cannot have a slash grade.
If different contemporary sources give different grades then prioritise the grade from sources in this order
Use discretion. For example, if a climb has had a recent broken hold then even contemporary sources may be out of date.
For climbs where a consensus grade is not established in a guidebook then the grade of a climb should reflect the most common suggestion from ascentionists (i.e. the mode). Where there is an even split of suggestions from ascentionists then a slight weight is given to not changing the grade. For example, if the first ascentionist suggests 8c and the second ascentionist suggests 8c+ then the grade will stay at 8c until a further repetition breaks the tie.
Where the first ascentionist suggests a slash grade then the lower of the suggested grades is used for the climb.
Grade suggestions from climbers who have tried a climb unsuccessfully are generally given fairly low weight. Use discretion. For example, a climber offering a suggesion on a climb at a grade where they have a lot of experience may be useful even if they haven't made a successful ascent.
Where a climb has been completed in multiple styles the grade should be given for the typical style. If appropiate add an alternate grade to help describe the difficulty in the alternate style.
Climbers: use full name at first mention; surname thereafter. Retain local orthography (e.g. “Françoise”, “Štěpán”). Provide diacritics where known.
Climbs: Capitalize names exactly as originally published.
Styles / Ethics: Use standard terms (onsight, flash, redpoint, headpoint, ground-up, pinkpoint, AF, RP). Do not capitalize unnecessarily. Explain rare or historical terms on first use.
Competition Disciplines: “Lead”, “Bouldering”, “Speed”, “Combined”. Capitalize when referencing official event categories.
Hyphenation: “first ascent”, “second ascent” (noun phrase); “first-ascent effort” (attributive). Use “style-defining”, “ground-up ethic”, “headpointing” (no hyphen) per contemporary usage.
Numbers: Spell out one through nine when used in prose unless coupled with units (e.g. “5 metres” not “five metres” in technical contexts). Always use numerals for grades, years, dates.
Dates: ISO where metadata-like (2024-09-14) or “14th September 2024” in narrative.
Capitalisation: Keep to minimum. “Alps”, “Rockies”, “North Face”, but “south ridge” (unless formal name). “World Cup” (official series), “a world cup round” (generic reference).
Use markdown in long-form text for adding markup. A comprehensive guide is available here https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/getting-started-with-writing-and-formatting-on-github/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax.
In long-form text fields auto-complete is available to help with internal links. Auto-complete is triggered with an opening square bracket e.g.
In 1910 [heref
triggers a dropdown with suggestions that match the input heref.
In threads similar functionality is available for tagging users. This is triggered with @[.
Principle: Verifiability over truth claims. If it cannot be traced to a reliable source, either locate one or qualify the statement (“Reported in early accounts…”).
Acceptable sources (descending preference):
Avoid using as sole source:
Citation style: Use a simple reference list at the end under ### References, formatted as a numbered list. Prioritise including a URL which unambiguosly identifies the reference. Prefer references to sources catalogued on climbing-history.org.
References to sources catalogued on climbing-hisory should be formatted as follows
[1] *Item Name* {Issue} ({year}) {page number} {url}
for example
[1] *Mountain* Issue 20 (1972) page 23 [/library/7786/mountain-20](/library/7786/mountain-20)
Inline attribution: For contentious or debated facts, attribute directly in prose: “According to the 1992 AAJ report…”.
Citations: when making claims try and make sure they are supported by a reference. Citations should be formatted as such "Bob made the first ascent in 1998. [1]", where [1] is the first item in ### References.
Dead links: If a cited web source becomes unavailable, add a note (archived) and substitute with an archive URL if reachable.
Original research: Avoid synthesis that extends beyond cited sources (e.g. inferring motivations). It is acceptable to compare conflicting grade reports if clearly attributed: “Initial suggestions of 9a were later moderated to 8c+ by consensus. [1][2]”
Private sources: Avoid using non-public sources whereever possible. If no other sources are available, consider asking the source if they are happy to go on the record.
When citing sources that are not online use Chicago style e.g. Bonington, Chris. Everest the Hard Way: The First Ascent of the South West Face. United Kingdom: Vertebrate Publishing, 2025. If possible, link to the authors page e.g. [Bonington, Chris](/climber/729/chris-bonington). Everest the Hard Way: The First Ascent of the South West Face. United Kingdom: Vertebrate Publishing, 2025.
If you quote a source that has been translated indicate this in the citation like so This was the first climb of the grade in Fontainebleau [1, via google translate].
When covering disputes (bolting ethics, downgrades, style claims):
Paragraphing: One idea per paragraph. Split long chronological narratives at natural temporal shifts.
Lists: Use lists sparingly for discrete, enumerated items (e.g. “Selected notable ascents”). Avoid turning narrative sections into bullet catalogues.
Emphasis: Prefer plain text. Use italics for publication titles, route names only if disambiguation is needed within a dense list (otherwise plain). Avoid bold for routine emphasis.
Parentheses: Use to clarify acronyms on first use (International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC)). Minimise nesting.
Abbreviations: Expand at first mention. Avoid colloquialisms unless historically relevant (“El Cap”, “Gunks” acceptable after initial full form).
Numbers and ranges: Use en dash for numeric ranges without spaces (1992–1995). For grade progressions “8b → 8b+ → 8c (proposed)”.
Units: SI / metric preferred. Provide imperial in parentheses only where historically significant (e.g. “300 metres (985 ft)”). Do not mix both in every sentence.
Spelling: Default to International / British English (grade, colour, metre) unless the proper noun or source title uses a different form. Maintain internal consistency within an article.
Misspelling: where a misspelling exists within a quotation use [sic] after the misspelling to indicate it is an original quotation and not a transcription error e.g.
Brown went straight to camp 45 [sic], skipping camp 3.
Quotes: Reproduce quotations verbatim. Preserve the original wording, spelling, punctuation and grammar within a quotation even where it differs from article style — never "correct", tidy or rephrase text inside a quotation (whether an inline "..." quote or a block quote). Where the original contains an error, mark it with [sic] (see Misspelling) rather than fixing it.
Consistency: When listing ascents, include: Year, Climber(s), Style (if distinctive), Notable commentary (optional, concise), Source.
Uncertainty: If a date or detail is approximate, note it (“c. 1974”, “reported late 1980 season”). Do not guess.
Be cautious around claims of "first of the grade". Prefer "an early example", "an early climb at the grade", "one of the first at the grade" etc.
Write with global readership in mind:
Gender and Identity: Use the pronouns the individual uses publicly. Avoid speculation about personal life unless historically pertinent and sourced.
Sensitive Topics: Approach accidents, fatalities, or ethical breaches factually and compassionately. Prioritise verifiable facts and avoid sensationalism.
Link (once per section is usually enough) to:
Avoid Overlinking as this hurts readability.
Minor edits: spelling, punctuation, formatting – no need to open a discussion unless pattern changes.
Substantive edits (restructuring, removing sourced material, re-framing controversies): start a thread to gain concensus before making the changes.
Disputes: Strive for consensus. Summarise differing sourced viewpoints in the article rather than reverting repeatedly.
Attribution: When adding large blocks from a public-domain or permissively licensed source, note the origin in an HTML comment for traceability.
Thank you for helping preserve and refine the history of climbing. Thoughtful, careful contributions compound into a durable, trustworthy record.