How To Get Better Without Even Climbing

Hey Cracksters,

I have some thoughts from Crack Fest a few days ago which I want to share with you today, and I’m also going to ask you to do a little something as well. It’s fun, and it will actually improve your crack climbing.

What I noticed at Crack Fest this year

This was year number six of Crack Fest and the seventh event we have ever done (last year we did two). What I noticed is that the average standard of crack climber is improving year on year. It’s not like we have had massive jumps, but the general standard is rising.

When I think back to 2020 and our first ever Crack Fest, the difficulty level of the boulders we set was so much lower than what we have now. I think if we set boulders at that level this year, probably half the field would have topped everything. So firstly, let’s all give ourselves a big round of applause for the huge progression we have made over the last six years. It’s really impressive and I’m psyched!

With this in mind, we now see more and more people really understanding the basics. There are so many people these days who are comfortable in the hand, thin hand, and the fist jam range. I saw many people at Crack Fest where these jams really looked like jugs to them.

Passing it on

If you are in that position and you’re thinking, "Yes, I know what to do with these and I’m feeling confident," it is now down to you to start passing that knowledge on. That is what I’m asking—to start passing that knowledge on to people. There are two big reasons for this:

1. Teaching makes you better: I have noticed myself that by passing this knowledge on—teaching, writing, and talking about crack climbing—I have improved my own knowledge. Every coaching session I do with beginners, intermediates, or experts makes me think about the techniques in a different way. Just by teaching, I've become a better crack climber without even pulling off the ground. If you know the basics, give it a go with someone totally new. Try explaining and showing someone how to jam, and you’ll start to find out more for yourself. It really worked for me!
2. Spreading the word: We all want more cracks in climbing gyms to practice on. If you can show more people how it's done, they will get intrigued and want to see this style more—and then gyms will have to start setting them. We are already starting to see it, but it’s just the beginning. The more we teach, the more cracks we’ll get.

Keep going, keep improving, and collectively let's try and get more jams to more people!

Happy jamming,

Pete

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