Route: A route is basically like a vertical pathway, high enough that one would most likely use a rope to prevent a ground fall. In otherwords, a route is the thing you climb with a rope.
Types of climbing: There are three types of climbing mentioned in the game, though others exist as well. Below are descriptions of each. If you're interested in a more visual, more effective explanation,
please click here.
Bouldering: a category of climbing in which one climbs short, usually quite challenging problems close to the ground. It unsurprisingly most often occurs on acutal boulders.
Lead climbing: when I climber ascends above their protection, trailing the rope behind them and clipping it to protection(which is either installed in the rockm, or carried and placed in the rock by the leader).
Sport climbing: sport routes are predefined by a vertical pathway of bolts which have been drilled into the rock. The lead climber clips a carabiner to the bolt, and then clips the rope to the carabiner.
Trad climbing: (or traditional climbing) is much, much trickier than sport climbing. The leader places protection (cams, nuts, etc) into weaknesses in the rock as the climb, clipping to the protecion behind them. It requires much study and is as much art as it is science. It also require much more strength and endurance to rummage through a wad of gear clipped to your harness, find the right piece, and place it well enough to catch you if you fall; all while holding on with one hand. Typically there is a two-grade reduction between sport and trad: meaning if you can lead 5.10's sport climbing, you can probably trad lead 5.8's.
Send (or sending): When you succesfully complete a route.
Redpoint (or redpointing): Succesefully finishing a route without weighting the rope, by either falling or resting by hanging from the rope, but it's either not your first attempt or someone has explained how to finish that route to you.
Flash: Successfully finishing a route without weighting the rope, cleanly on your first try, with no advice from outside sources.
Free climbing: When you don't climb aid pieces. You are protected by a rope, but you're using only the rock itself to move upwards.
Free-soloing: When you don't use protection at all. Soloists spend huge amounts of time rehearsing a route with protection. Then when they're ready, the clean the route very carefully before climbing it without ropes.