Pain in crack climbing

[bar-tacked]

I’m not necessarily new to crack climbing and I’ve done my share of easy crack climbs, but as I’m trying to progress into harder climbs where significant portion of one’s weight needs to be placed on hands, I find this incredibly painful, to the extent that often dealing with pain is the hardest part of the climb (as opposed to e.g. getting pumped)

 

As an example, I tried Pisces at Index just yesterday and I could easily find quite secure (although thin) jam at the start of the climb, but committing my weight to it just before I could reach a better foothold on the face above the small overhang hurts like hell.

 

So here is my question: is this just a normal nature of things and I just need to learn to deal with pain, or does it simply mean that I’m doing something wrong?

 

[Alex]

Are you using tape? It helps prevent skin abrading.

Otherwise, I find good hand jams and finger locks one of the most comforting things out there. They CAN BE painful sometimes, for me mostly because I rarely climb with tape, but its not like ALL your weight is on your hands, your feet are still taking the majority of your weight. Right?

 

I've found Breakfast of Champions is a good crack for painless hand jamming. There are a few routes at Leavenworth in the 5.9 - 5.10 range that have nice secure hands.

[bar-tacked]

Thanks Alex,

yes, I use tape and it helps quite a bit. I don't usually have problems with perfect hand jam or perfect fingers (although my footwork is indeed much worse when cracks get thin), it's all the other stuff (mostly very thin hands and fist) which gets me.

 

I remember when I was just starting I managed to make even perfect hand jam quite painful, and that somehow resolved itself over time, so I was wondering if it's the same for other crack sizes.

 

[pcg]

I have the same issues. Tape helps, but I'm surprised how painful this can be. Fingers are fine, but fists are unbearable. It's not pain from scraping on the rock, it's pain from pressure on the bones on the back of my hands.

Feet are worse - often impossible to put my weight on them after jamming.

Help!

[Crillz]

I have the same issues. Tape helps, but I'm surprised how painful this can be. Fingers are fine, but fists are unbearable. It's not pain from scraping on the rock, it's pain from pressure on the bones on the back of my hands.

Feet are worse - often impossible to put my weight on them after jamming.

Help!

 

For fists, probably want to have your hand turned so your palm is either pointing out or into the crack, and not toward either side. You should be using cupped jams, otherwise. For your feet, maybe change the position of your heal - probably drop your heal just a tad. Don't know, just guessing.

[markwebster]

Pisces is also known as Libra, depending on which of the many Index books you have. I filmed Craig leading Libra last summer. It is in high def, you have to click the HD link:

 

 

Crack climbing pain is hard to pin down. But your observation about the pain diminishing with practice rings true. Much of crack climbing is dependent on your hand size. I've climbed with petite women who excel at thin fingers, but flail in fist cracks.

 

I'm the opposite, I have wide feet and huge hands. I suck at thin fingers, but excell at wide hand and fist cracks.

 

Hand jammies are nice for cruising, but not good for thin hand cracks, where tape has a thinner profile.

 

I suspect that a lot of your pain will go away as you climb more. Your body gets used to being stuffed in cracks, like breaking in a pair of shoes.

 

Working your way up through the 5.6,7,8,9 cracks at Castle rock in Leavenworth, or Tieton is a great way to master crack climbing in all it's flavors. Believe it or not, Smith actually has a ton of great crack climbing too.

 

Smoke Bluffs at Squamish also has awesome beginner crack climbing.

 

For fist pain, put your fist in palm down or up, thumb tucked down below the fingers. Only the fleshy muscle of your fist on either side should be touching the rock, not bone.

 

If you live in Seattle, the new Vertical World gym has 4 cracks, and probably the best long hand/fist crack in Washington. For me, it is perfect hands, for small people, it can be tight fists. Tape up and work it until you can climb it up and down.

[wetslide]

It is very common for relatively new crack climbers to have poor technique and therefore to experience pain. I used to tape for several years for harder cracks, now I rarely do (not that I don't get myself bloody on 5.10 and harder cracks from time to time). There isn't any easy cure for this, short of taping. Just climb more.

[montypiton]

everything markwebster says, plus two items:

 

Ocun makes a version of handjammies that is a fraction of the thickness of the American product - hardly more than a thick tape job. In my dotage, I don't climb enough to keep my skin tough enough to climb "harder" cracks barehanded. I ordered my Ocun crack gloves from an outfit in Vancouver B.C.

 

if your pain is muscle/cramping, focus on achieving jams that are "skeletal" - when "cupping", place your thumb in your palm to create a "skeletal stack" that requires no muscular contraction to maintain. same goes for fingers - don't flex 'em, stack 'em. This tip from crackmeister Dennis Horning at Devils Tower, took my crack climbing from 5.9 to 5.11 back in the seventies... it's also the principle behind "Leavitation" - the offwidth technique pioneered by Randy Leavit.

 

I don't quite comprehend pain associated with fist-jams, but my hands are enormous and meaty, like Mr. Webster's above - thin finger cracks might as well be knifeblade cracks for me...

 

a caveat: my suggestions may be suspect because I've been repeatedly told I have a "stupid-high" pain tolerance (no brain - no pain??)

[ryanb]

Skeletal jamming is a great way to describe it...for both hands and feet it is key to use the flat parts of your bones against the rock and not overgrip. Pain comes from grinding the pointy parts of your bone into the rock.

 

For feet this is easier in flat shoes but, with care, doable even in slightly downturned shoes like miuras/anasazi...place the edges/bumps of the crack in between your toe knuckles.

 

Crack bouldering is the best way to develop the control to do this reliably unless you have a very patient belayer who doesn't mind you hanging out feeling the rock and trying slight variations on jams till you find one that can support your weight without pain. Off hand the best crack boulder problems for training in wa/seattle/highway 2 area are:

 

1) The concrete cracks at the uw rock.

2) Royal flush (steep hands) and a couple of nearby offwidths at swiftwater:

http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBi44C4M

3) Various things at clamshell cave and the v5 roof crack in the hanta man cave:

http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBiI8C4M

 

The starts to various taller crack climbs.

 

As for libra...It has been a while but I think you can knee bar the wide bit to reduce the weight on your hands.

 

 

 

[selkirk]

It is very common for relatively new crack climbers to have poor technique and therefore to experience pain. I used to tape for several years for harder cracks, now I rarely do (not that I don't get myself bloody on 5.10 and harder cracks from time to time). There isn't any easy cure for this, short of taping. Just climb more.

 

Bartacked has been at this game longer than you have Wetslide

[selkirk]

I’m not necessarily new to crack climbing and I’ve done my share of easy crack climbs, but as I’m trying to progress into harder climbs where significant portion of one’s weight needs to be placed on hands, I find this incredibly painful, to the extent that often dealing with pain is the hardest part of the climb (as opposed to e.g. getting pumped)

 

As an example, I tried Pisces at Index just yesterday and I could easily find quite secure (although thin) jam at the start of the climb, but committing my weight to it just before I could reach a better foothold on the face above the small overhang hurts like hell.

 

So here is my question: is this just a normal nature of things and I just need to learn to deal with pain, or does it simply mean that I’m doing something wrong?

 

Well, your first mistake is assuming that Libra is 10a It's a much bigger sandbag than say Godzilla. The first couple of moves on that involve committing probably 70% or more of your weight to thin hand jams. Your hands are about the same size as mine so the first 5 or 10 ft of the upper crack is too small for a good hand jam and too big for a good finger jam. For me anyway that's definitely move fast territory, and I don't think that tape will help that one much.

 

My own experience is that painful jams are usually eliminated by footwork and stemming, carefully choosing the jams and milking the good jams for as long as possible to bypass the intermediate bad jams. And them sometimes they just hurt like an SOB (i.e. finger locks on Orange sunshine are a great example).

 

I don't think Libra is 10ish climb unless... you stem off the boulder behind you

[Tyson.g]

It is very common for relatively new crack climbers to have poor technique and therefore to experience pain. I used to tape for several years for harder cracks, now I rarely do (not that I don't get myself bloody on 5.10 and harder cracks from time to time). There isn't any easy cure for this, short of taping. Just climb more.

 

Bartacked has been at this game longer than you have Wetslide

 

We should not turn our noses at the morsels of wisdom passed down from on high by the One who has insight and skill far beyond his years...........

Edited September 20, 2012 by Tyson.g

[Riley81]

Libra crack ripped the skin of the first two knuckels of both my hands when I flailed on it. Don't base your crack climbing experience on Libra crack. It is a painful hard start and that's all there is to it.