2 climbing hacks used to complete my project
Hey Cracksters
I've got 2 sneaky little hacks for you today which helped me complete my latest project at The Profile Wall⌠I havenât talked about this in any social media or video, so you guys are first to hear what made the difference.
In this email, Iâll show you:
- The hacks and what made the difference
- How to apply these to your own climbing
I really think you should try it, or at least give it some thought for your next project. Itâs definitely something I will be doing in the future.
Let's dive in,
So, Iâve been working on this hard trad/crack climbing project in Jøssingfjord this year, and a few weeks ago I managed to complete it. Itâs most likely the hardest trad/crack climb Iâve done, or at least to me thatâs what it felt like.
The climb itself follows an obvious crack feature, but does have face holds in-between. So, lets talk footwear. Usually for climbing cracks the default is to go for flat, low-profiled shoes, right?
That way you get plenty of surface area of the foot inside the crack.
Obviously, I started working the route in my usual crack shoes (Unparallel Rise), but found myself struggling with some of the foot jams.
Occasionally the route breaks away from the crack then you have to re-enter the crack from the side, by pulling in with a toe jam. What I was actually finding was that when coming from the side a flat shoe was really hard to seat in the crack effectively.
I decided to bend the rules and just âtry outâ my downturned high profile bouldering shoes. I was shocked!! Immediately I was able to place the foot into the crack more effectively as it felt like I was hooking around the edge of the crack with the downturn of the toe.
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I carried on climbing and as the rest of the foot jams werenât that technical the downturn didnât hinder me. I actually found that it improved my performance for much of the route, as there are also many face holds which you have to stand on outside of the crack.
Now Iâm not saying that for every climb you need to forget what weâve been saying (that flat low-profiled shoes in cracks are the best), most certainly donât
But my point is, flat low profiled shoes for cracks are a general rule, and 99% of the time this will be the most effective solution. However, every route is different and has unique movements and sequences. Keep an open mind and donât be afraid to break the rules. Maybe nothing will come of it, but the one time it works youâll discover something great!
Iâve realised that this newsletter is now quite long, so Iâm actually going to save my second hack until next time ;)
see you in the next newsletter and keep spreading that jamming joy with the crack climbing community!
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