[Closed] climbing technique and theory for a noob

Why dont you try ukclimbing.com. like stw loads of trolls, bitching and arguing 🙂

Youu will get good climbing advice in the forums though, plus instructional vids in the vid section.

libby Peters book is good. Also get a copy of her Dvd. Get out on rock, I think its called. Excellent tips in it.

theres tons of stuff. ukclimbing or ukbouldering has lots of links and as said above they are like us, a nice bitchy/jokey bunch, you've been warned.

I was about to write a top ten list of techniques and then realised theres SO very many. hmmm. just remember it isnt about arm strength, its about core strength, finger and forearm strength, balance, footwork and flexibility. If yer a cyclist the flexibility will be your downfall. 😉

It's always best to climb as part of a group and learn from the good 'uns.

Not just the prepubescent rock monkeys who are made out of rubber; but the grizzled old stagers who seem to slither up a face with little obvious effort and can keep going all day. Conservation of effort takes some practice.

And I'll double up on the flexibility observation.

It's always best to climb as part of a group and learn from the good 'uns.

This. I had the pleasure of being taught how to climb by my Dad, who was a very active -and very good - rock climber in the "golden days" of Brown, Whillans et al. He also has no body fat, is still pretty strong and would no doubt still out-climb me using his sneaky old skool techniques he's not (yet) passed my way.

climb with women - they don't have quite the same natural ability for chin-ups, so they tend to climb with something called [i]skill[/i].

USE YOUR FEET! - you're a beginner, you should be on easy-ish stuff, if your arms are getting tired then you're doing it wrong (ie, not using your feet), when you figure out how to do this, let me know.

Just starting out myself.

I found this article series quite interesting:
[url= http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3694 ]Training to Become a Better Climber Part 1 - The Building Blocks
by Robbie Phillips (UK Climbing)[/url]

[b]ti_pin_man[/b]: were you at Climb Newcastle on Saturday? Long hair in a bandana?

Yunki

Just spend a while watching how others are climbing ,and make a plan before launching on to a problem or a route.

Good shout by ahwiles ,some girls use a lot more technique ,rather than just beasting it 🙂

Get chatting,our wall is very friendly and people are always helpful at pointing out moves and explaining how they got past certain sections.

GrahamS - yep that was me sir, flayling around trying to get all their new blue routes bagged. You should have said hellooooo.

Damn wondered if it was you, but I didn't want to do the [i]"Hello, are you that man off the internet?"[/i] routine. I'll wear a red carnation next time. Or maybe a STW buff.

I was the bloke slightly frustrated that his three year old daughter was keener on warm-up dancing than any actual climbing (she did a Rockstars session later though) 😀

(I was only doing the yellows - I am teh noob!)

GrahamS - ahhh yes the little dancer, I remember her, she didnt stop smiling and dancing. Say hello next time.

We're not great climbers, just a rough group of like minded parents trying to be good and usually failing.

that reminds me, advice for the OP - get used to failing, climbing is 95% failing.

Just watch the women and ignore the men. They always have better technique as they can't rely on brute muscle strength.

I had the pleasure of being taught how to climb by my Dad, who was a very active -and very good - rock climber in the "golden days" of Brown, Whillans et al.

I assume this means not placing any gear (cheating) or using dynamic ropes (also cheating) and just using waist belays no matter how exposed the route.

Just watch the women and ignore the men

yeah, that was pretty much what the little zen guy advised (he climbed like a ballerina)

we thought he was just trying to get us noobs in trouble for letching 😀

Just watch the women and ignore the men.

No hardship. Though the women do seem to be [i]considerably[/i] more flexible than I am. Not too mention lighter. And stronger too!

It's like bike training - some of the techniques are quite hard to understand until you actually get shown them properly with the chance to feel how they make a difference. It's like trying to explain pump and flow.

I used to be a complete brute force climber until I gave it up for a while, lost all my finger (and most of my arm) strength. When I came back to it, I had to learn all the little tricks, foot and body positioning that I'd steadfastly ignored up until then.

So, hang around the wall like a stalker until you see a small group trying the problems you're failing on, then latch on like a parasite...

Watch this guy (Adam Ondra), he has all the techniques totally dialled!

we thought he was just trying to get us noobs in trouble for letching

I believe it's acceptable at a climbing wall. Just shout out random phrases like "Great move", "good reach", "Nice arse" etc

Suzane is a very gifted climber in those clips GrahamS

Also frequent at Climb Newcastle three times a week

Just get some time spent on rock or plastic and build up your climbing strength and stamina. This will give you the base you need to develop the technique. I'd climb at least twice a week.
If you have a bouldering wall then work some problems with other people and you'll soon see how they climb and you'll learn quickly.

At ClimbNewcastle they are all pretty good climbers and very approachable, they'll happily show you a move if you get stuck on something and give the odd pointer here and there. From those vids posted of Suzane it shows the importance of flexibility and also watching your foot, placing weight on it then looking for the next move. She makes it look very easy.

What those vids also show is how well she places her feet - the only time you hear a foot knocking against the plywood is when she puts one out for balance, or when the lower foot moves off a hold. Her foot placements on the holds are all precise and where they need to be without bouncing around or readjusting.

She's also precise with hands as well (no slapping around or readjusting), although that's harder for beginner climbers to work on, as it mostly comes from having a lot of contact strength.

The other thing to notice from the vids of her and Ondra is how good climbers position their bodies in relation to the holds. Both of them move from side to side to ensure that they're always in the best possible position relative to the holds.

Wow, even I have never asked about climbing technique... 🙂

She makes it look very easy.

Its easy to make stuff look easy if you are strong and climbing well within your limits though.

In a lot of cases focusing on precise foot and finger placements actually use strength, waste time and can be counter productive. No style is best for everyone.

Useful techniques to think about are flagging, drop knees/egyptians, heel/toe hooks and body position (notice how ondra tries to ensure the hold is at 90 degrees to his arm).

And, do not discount strength as being less important than technique. You can only get to a certain (relatively low) level on technique alone, especially on indoor walls.

Annoyingly she makes it look easy when she is climbing near her limit too, like at the ASBO competition:

Looks to be some nice 3D problems on that wall. As for getting better, climb more, think less for one. Getting some mileage in will embed the moves and build up your library of moves and body positions. Beyond that, just boulder with other people, get chatting, most people are happy to share. Like you did right at the top with the guy dropping some tips. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh set of eyes.

As a person who 'learnt' (can it be learnt?) to climb on outdoor crags in the Yorkshire area, I'm not sure if indoor walls are the best place to hone technique. They are the turbo-trainer of climbing. Something to do when you can't do your sport on the real stuff due to weather, light or location. A way of keeping the specific muscles in good shape (and meeting up with your climbing buddies for a chat). The best training for climbing is... climbing. So we do need indoor walls.
I recommend you try to find a quiet crag, put your sticky boots on and chalk bag on your belt and just move. Across, up, down. Concentrate on weight distribution, try not to overreach, keep moving, looking, thinking. Think 'vertical ballet'. 'Feel' your way across the rock.
A crowded, noisy indoor wall is not the best place. But, if you can find a quiet wall on a midweek afternoon then do some unroped traversing.
A bit 'wistful' there, just remembering the climbing years, must return to it one day.

the vids of her and Ondra is how good climbers position their bodies in relation to the holds

Next time I see her I will tell her she was mentioned at the same time as Ondra. She'll find that funny and flattering.

some nice 3D problems on that wall

As a person who 'learnt' (can it be learnt?) to climb on outdoor crags in the Yorkshire area, I'm not sure if indoor walls are the best place to hone technique. They are the turbo-trainer of climbing.

As a person who "learnt" to climb on long mountain routes in Scotland, cragging in the yorkshire area isn't the best place to hone technique. They basically training for proper mountain routes. 😉

People climb for different reasons. Climbing indoors is a sport in itself and many many people do it. In fact, i'd say that there's a lot you can learn about technique from climbing indoors that you'll never be able to practise outdoors for the first year of your outdoor climbing career (there isn't much in the way of fancy body movement/technique required get up a Severe). I found indoor stuff great early on as a safe, easy to communicate place where I could get comfortable with basic rope skills and communication. I know what you mean though, indoor/outdoor are very very different things. I definitely think there is some transferability of skills though.

I'm not a massive fan of indoor walls (i don't like how busy they can get) but there's 2 professional Alpinists and a couple of everest summiteers in our club who all use indoor walls for training, honing technique and enjoyment, so it can't be all bad!

Climbing indoors is a sport in itself and many many people do it.

I was going to say roughly the same thing.

Admittedly I'm [i]very[/i] novice, but I'm not really interested in "real" climbing outside on crags or proper mountains. It's cold and wet out there and there's no coffee shop. 😉

So I'm not doing it as training for real climbing. This is my real climbing. 🙂

(there isn't much in the way of fancy body movement/technique required get up a Severe)

I dare you to post that on UKClimbing 😀

haha, you know what I mean though! Someone with the ability to lead 6b indoors will be busting out far more climbing "moves" than someone climbing a severe multi-pitch route, yet both can be attained within a similar sort of time (in my own experience anyway).

You'd need to be leading in the E's to get the same sort of technical difficulty you'd face on a 6a/b indoors.

Chimneying, fist-jamming and hideous thrutching clearly don't count as 'fancy body movements' any more.

there's 2 professional Alpinists and a couple of everest summiteers in our club who all use indoor walls for training

Even used to see Kenton Cool at the Leeds Uni wall honing his skills way back in the day (early 90's).

Chimneying, fist-jamming and hideous thrutching

heaven 🙂

There's something utterly bomber about a good jam!

Chimneying, fist-jamming and hideous thrutching clearly don't count as 'fancy body movements' any more.

🙂

Not a huge amount of that on the road to Severe though (where I climb anyway).

Even used to see Kenton Cool at the Leeds Uni wall honing his skills way back in the day (early 90's).

One of the guys I was talking about summitted with Kenton when he took the gold medal to the summit of Everest recently.

Chimneying, fist-jamming and hideous thrutching

I think I've seen that video.

Didn't realise those Germans were climbers too though...

This is heading into the trail centre debate isn't it?

😀

Chimneying, fist-jamming and hideous thrutching

Even used to see Kenton Cool at the Leeds Uni wall honing his skills way back in the day (early 90's).

This is heading into the trail centre debate isn't it?

nah its the what the wahts size wheel debate! even worse.

answer = whatever one you're riding, now shut up and ride. 🙂

This is heading into the trail centre debate isn't it?

eh?
trail centres = indoor walls and sport climbing?
Proper riding with beards n' maps = trad climbing?

Nah- we're over all that surely.

😉

I used to see that Ian Vincent at Oldham wall, whatever happened to him?

A penny may have just dropped somewhere in my head. ianv, i did think you seemed to know quite a bit about climbing 🙂

I used to see that Ian Vincent at Oldham wall, whatever happened to him?

I've got a coffee table book with him in somewhere.

Power of Climbing?

Hustler

Googles "Ian Vincent", finds this on [url= http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=3701.0 ]a UK Bouldering thread[/url]:

[i]"Ian Vincent - turned into a techno-raver and we did lots of clubbing together. Last I heard he was big into mountain biking and still living near Bradford but not heard from him for ages - if you read this Ian, get in touch...."[/i]

Rumbled iainv 😀

I am (was) a '29er' climber! being 6foot3 with chimp arms I was able to reach over the top of many a crux! Leverage was bad on overhanging stuff though. I preferred to solo on gritstone up to about 30ft (singlespeeder?).

By those measures, I'm a fatbike in urgent need of a full service.

By those measures, I'm:

[img] [/img]

haha.

old knackered 26er. Might work again one day!

in that case I'm a penny farthing rusting in the barn.

Pop out to Tesco and it all kicks off 🙂

whatever happened to him?

Shagged shoulders. I started climbing again a few years ago but ironically every time I start going OK, I nail myself on the bike 🙁

Just to bring it all back to the OP, I'm not much of a learner but you might find some of this stuff interesting:

Shagged shoulders. I started climbing again a few years ago but ironically every time I start going OK, I nail myself on the bike

I bet your rubbish is a lot better than most people's rubbish

Anyway, I'm attempting a comeback now too. A few sessions at the wall and I realised I missed it so keen to get out to the crag at some point. At this stage i'm fairly certain i'll never get back the standard of my younger self, but if I can get enough in the tank to go out and climb nice classic routes in some great locations, then I'll be more than happy. Might start a list now.

At this stage i'm fairly certain i'll never get back the standard of my younger self

I wouldn't be so sure of that (unless you were a particularly talented youth). I'm over 40 now and having a bit of a resurgence - turns out that pretty much everything that I thought was good training 20 years ago was probably actually doing more harm than good!

Read up on some of the recent training and injury avoidance info from Dave Mac and others, have a skim through the UKB training forum ( http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/board,4.0.html ) and before you know it you'll be climbing like your younger self, except without being permanantly overtrained and injured.