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Pocket

Definition of a Climbing Word

By Stewart Green, About.com

A climber crams two fingers into a limestone pocket at Shelf Road, Colorado.

Photo © Stewart M. Green

Pocket

Pockets are holes of varying sizes in a rock surface. They most often occur in limestone, but occasionally in other rock types including sandstone and volcanic rocks like basalt, tuff, and rhyolite. Pockets make excellent handholds, depending on their size. Climbers usually refer to a pocket by the number of fingers that can be crammed inside, like a two-finger or three-finger pocket. Sometimes a one-finger pocket is referred to by its French name mono doight.

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