The Cyber Crag

A climbing knowledge base on the inter web.

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When I received a message from my friend Mario asking me if I wanted to go on a climbing trip, being the princess of the crag wasn’t really my goal.

But sexism in climbing is an ongoing feud, with many magazines and articles reporting on majority of women having unsolicited beta sprayed on them, while only a few men. Then there’s the creepers who just can’t keep they’re peepers on their project to observe another climbers assets.

But what isn’t reported is the fair game. The guys who make you feel like family, and treat you like an athlete. When I went on this trip, I was not genuinely a climber. I climbed, but I had no one really pushing me, and I was basically using climbing as a social mean to meet people in my new home where I knew no one. So, being asked to go on a trip with the “hard” climbers at the gym, I didn’t even hesitate. I knew I was only going as an attractive woman for a camera, not to sound full of myself. I knew there weren’t many female climbers at the gym, and being one of the younger, single, females…when the pickings are slim, right?

I knew the boys would cater to me, offering to carry the heavier gear, over spotting me, a few questionable comments…but I expected it just the same as the boys at the gym rush over to tell me I sent something incorrectly because my movement differed from theirs, I never expected it to be such a learning experience. You see, there are genuine climber guys who view women all the same. Sure, they treated me like a lady, offering a hand for high steps, but they treated me just the same. Being a little more cautious for me because I was the baby climber, not because I was the only girl. As we hiked to our climb in Sitting Bull Falls, I was pleased to lead the single trail…and leave the boys behind. They made sure I could handle my own on trips, and made sure that I wouldn’t tolerate any sexist treatment from others. Making me carry my own gear, shake it off when I swung out and missed the crash pad, and suck it up and deal with the lack of privacy when it came to restrooms.

While we rant and rave about men treating women like eye candy, we really should take a moment to highlight and praise the men who are just trying to be helpful. Ladies, if a guy approaches you at the gym, don’t immediately assume he wants in your harness, hear him out first, he may just be looking for a decent climbing partner…and if not, then tell them to get bent.

Photos are courtesy of Steve Rokks, Sean Berry, and Michael Lieto.

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THINKING ON YOUR FEET

Our feet are one of the tiniest pieces of our bodies, and yet they support all our body weight all day, even when we do horrible things like cramming them into tiny climbing shoes. If they are such tiny muscles with multiple nerve endings and sensitivity, why would our feet be such a focal point of climbing? Wouldn’t it make more sense to let them relax while the big muscles do the work? Get out of here with your logic and reasoning, this is rock climbing!

I personally am a tiny beta climber, being a woman my body is naturally stronger in my rear and legs, that’s just genetics. Men are built with a muscular structure prone to upper body strength, that’s hunting/gathering evolutions, where woman are more lower body oriented because we were created as child bearers. The wonderful thing about the sport of climbing is that both of these work to the climbers advantage! However, footwork is a necessity to all!

What are some different ways to develop good footwork? Let’s continue off of our last topic to start, down climbing. Because of the opposing movement of down climbing, you’re actually being forced to focus your feet more, exclusion being campus training. Because to maintain a static control as you lower down, one absolutely must have stable feet.

Ok, but down climbing can’t be the only way? It’s certainly not. Climbing without hands helps too! Wait a minute, no hands? Isn’t that kind of the point of climbing? Taking inspiration from Johnny Dawes, who sends entire projects without using his hands, a little balance mixed with strong muscle control in the lower extremities goes a long way.

A more common method amongst climbers is slack lining, a sort of high wire practice at varying heights and cords of different widths. You not only have to have precise foot placement, but it works your balance, which is controlled at the core.

Or, if you’re too tired to climb, hands are achey, or whatever, try dancing with old school tap steps. No, you don’t have to become an amazing Best Dance Crew member, but following a pattern on the floor will help you to think about your foot placement. First, third, toe, or heel, it doesn’t matter. The point is to get your brain to understand that your feet determine where you go.

So try something new, because you never know, when you get in a pinch on the rock wall, you may just have to be able to think on your feet.

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How to determine which shoe is appropriate for you.

Why do we downsize? The idea is compression. The more you can get your toes to work as a single unit the better, because that creates one central point of force for your body to gain leverage off of. How much should I downsize? Depending on the shoe, your climbing style, and comfort, it varies. Just because your La Sportiva's needed to be two sizes too small doesn't mean your Scarpa's will. So try them on, get a feel for them, and find what works for you. Range of Downturn Flat shoes: Great for multipitch, slab, and crack climbing. Typically has a stiff sole, great for edging, and a more neutral fit. Aggressive shoes: Great for steep wall and bouldering. Designed to create a claw like grip for the feet, much like a second set of hands. Asymmetric Curvature: This is referring to the inward, supination, of a shoe. The idea behind a shoe pigeoning the foot is to focus the central point of force on the big toe. Lining Lined shoes will provide a more "true to" fit immediately. They will have very little give and will fit as they are coming out of the box. As well as they provide cushioning to the feet, and insulation. Unlined shoes are typically made of a suede or leather, and will have a stretch ratio depending on the shoe. Enclosures Laces, Velcro's, moccasins While moccasins are easy to slip on and off, laces will give you a more customized fit for the entirety of the shoe, and Velcro is an intermediate between the two of comfort and ease.

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HEAD OVER HEELS

“Head over Heels,” is typically the position we want to be in on the wall, even in bouldering as fun as it may be to be upside down. The idea of inversion is fun, and it’s great, but Gravity is a force that no man is immune to. While you would think gravity would help in the instance of flipping the body over, it actually hinders because all of the weight is being pulled down, which when in reverse is STILL DOWN though the body is up. You just can’t defy the logic, or else we’d float away every time we did a handstand.

So, with that logic in mind, down climbing.

How often do you hear, “oh yeah, down climbing will make you strong!” After you just did all this work moving upward, against the pulling force of gravity, down climbing is the training regime that increases strength? Accurate.

But WHY?! You would think, if I let go and fall I am going down, climbing down should be easy, right? Incorrect. Because Gravity is a little bitch like that, pardon my language. Ok, so the scientific reasoning is eccentric vs concentric movement.

This is that push/pull effect. Once again, opposition work being a key factor of climbing!

While some movements will force us to literally get upside down, reverse bat hang crawl, the idea is eyes to sky. No matter where you are in your climbing journey, strive to get your head in the clouds, because once you're at "rock bottom," there's no place to go but up.

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You should fall because you fail to do the move, not because you failed to try the move.

Andy Kirpatrick

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OUT OF THE GRIP, INTO THE HIPS

Keeping the actual weight of the body continually beneath the hold takes the force “Out of the Grip and into the Hips.” The upper legs and center torso are the mass muscles in the body. It only makes sense to use them more so. Understanding muscle group movements like rolling the thighs in toward one another to create balance even In over hang situations makes a world of difference between arm strength and full body efficiency. Even in the case of giving the arms a break, being able to find balance on the smallest of feet and have a moment of reprieve to shake out. Considering under cling circumstances, you certainly can’t keep your weight below the hold to relax the hands, nor can you alter the universe so that gravity pushes instead of pulls. So how do we maintain counter moves in under clings? Opposite contraction. Rather than rolling the thighs in laterally we want to create anterior movement and bring the hips forward. The hips are soooo underutilized in climbing. Happy hips make a happy heart. This absolutely applies to core rotation as well. Knowing what type of movement the body needs, whether clenching the abdomen to create stability or causing the complete opposite contraction,as in exhaling, bringing the belly in to further rotation and give the body full extension in static moves. So, by understanding the extension of the body, it makes sense to use your hips. If you are reaching out left, bring the left side body into the wall to give yourself that space, otherwise you are cutting yourself short. It may even only be an inch or two difference, but that inch or two often is the difference between another send for the books and a project.

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Hang loose, bruh

Everyone always assumes climbers have ridiculously strong hands, essentially, that’s true. But why? Special hand exercises that only climbers know about? Certainly not. The fingers are actually not that muscular, just a ton of nerve endings and pulley tendons that correlate with one another to create the force of grasping onto a hold. So what’s the big deal about strong hands? Opposing forces. Number one being hanging. Climbers can hang for days. Why? Because they know that it isn’t really in how hard you hold onto something, it’s your body placement. “Hang loose,” is more than a surfer slang for a Shaka. It actually transposes into climbing. Climbers may have complete hand control, but they certainly don’t demonstrate full exertion on a climb because when it comes down to it you are trying to CONSERVE energy, not exert. You want to hang freely, being fully engaged as little as possible to keep up energy to manage not to get pumped out.