His preferred climbing style is in very small teams, mostly climbing without even sherpa support, and without the use of bottled oxygen (except on Everest). His physical ability to perform at high altitude has been noted by other Himalayan climbers. The term gritty is often used to describe Lock, and he is noted for his understated and self-depreciating manner. Unusually for a long-standing high-altitude climber, Lock has lost no digits to frostbite. Climbing all 14 eight-thousanders, and surviving, is an uncommon feat as the deaths-to-summits ratio on some of the mountains is at one-in-five (including Annapurna, K2, Nanga Parbat, Kangchenjunga), and it often takes more than one attempt, on average, to climb an eight-thousander (Lock has an overall eight-thousander success rate of circa 50%).