What exactly does "Alpine" mean?

[A_Little_Off_Route]

I'm not familliar with some of the climbing terms in use. This is partly because I grew up climbing in 'stralya where they talk funny, and also because some of the terms may be new since I was last climbing frequently.

 

So what exactly is alpine climbing? I thought it meant that you are going up a mostly 3rd and 4th class route to a summit with "occasional" 5th class parts requiring minimal gear and rope.

 

I'm confused because I heard someone call the Bukley route on Liberty Bell an alpine climb. Isn't that just multi-pitch trad???

 

Off_Route

[Luzak00]

Not my blog, but not a bad response… http://raphaelslawinski.blogspot.com/2010/12/faux-alpinism.html