climbing a tree without being secured by a climbing rope.
Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber can only use climbing equipment for climbing protection but not as an artificial aid to help them in ascending the route. Free climbing, therefore, cannot use any of the tools that are used in aid climbing to help overcome the obstacles encountered while ascending a route. The development of free climbing was an important moment in the history of rock climbing, including the concept and definition of what determined a first free ascent (or FFA) of a route by a climber.
Free climbing can be performed in several formats depending on the type of climbing protection used, including traditional climbing (uses temporary removable protection), sport climbing (uses permanently fixed in-situ protection), and bouldering and free solo climbing (uses no protection whatsoever).