Training to Become a Better Climber Part 3

In the previous article, we looked mainly at balance techniques for use on the wall, such as Egyptians, drop knees and flagging. All of these techniques are mainly focused on keeping the climber in balance to avoid stressing the arms too much.

In this piece we will look at some more subtle techniques for use on more specialist types of walls such as corners, arêtes and slabs. The training focus of this article will be on bouldering and how to build your sessions specifically around strengthening the areas you are weak at. We will also take the first step into looking at tactics at the wall and how we can improve our performance mentally as well as physically.

Following from previous articles, I am going to introduce an imaginary character, someone who this article is best suited to.

Movement Skills – Slabs, Arêtes and Corners
In the climbing wall or at the crag, these three features are by far the most feared. The reasons for this are simple, they tend to be awkward, obscure and holdless! If you are new to climbing on these types of walls, you will find them hard. These are funnily enough also the first walls we as climbers encounter when we start to climb, so why is it that as we improve as climbers, we forget how to climb on them? It's simple, most modern climbers climb indoors and thus will improve physically far quicker than technically. It's very rare that you get harder routes on these features indoors simply because modern climbing gyms have far more spectacular walls such as roofs and overhangs to have the hardest climbs on, however, when we go outdoors, unless we are lucky enough to live on the continent, we very rarely come across steep jug pulling routes and instead are faced with gnarly vertical test pieces, slopey holdless arêtes and corners as well as blank slabs.

The best way to improve on these types of walls is simply to climb on them more, but we also need an idea of the techniques required, so let's take a look at them:

Slabs

Slabs are anything less steep than a vertical wall. As the wall leans back, it becomes more apparent to the climber that gravity becomes less of an issue since most of the weight is now distributed through your feet rather than your arms, it's therefore essential that you have perfect footwork on slabs. As discussed in Article No.1, your toe, inner and outer edge are incredibly important parts of the climbing shoe, and these should be the main ones used on slabs.

Also, as discussed in Article No.2, the use of the 'rock-over' is an essential movement skill for slabs. Slabs in essence are the simplest of walls to climb on (please don't hurt me grit lovers), there is not a massive amount you have to learn in the way of technical skills (far more needs to be learned for steeper climbs), however, a lot comes down to your own innate ability to balance your body and weight your feet enough without them slipping.

Corners

Corners are where two side walls meet (imagine the corner of a room, inside your house). Corners are another feature of the indoor and outdoor climbing world often feared by many a climber. Specialist techniques for corners are bridging and palming. Bridging is basically the act of placing each of your feet on the two connecting sides of the corner. This technique immediately creates a bridge from one to the other (hence the name) and will displace most weight from arms to legs and in a lot of circumstances allows you to gain no hands rests!

Palming is encountered mostly during bridging and is simply the act of placing your hand or palms on the wall to help you step up your feet as you ascend the corner.

A good thing to work on is the adjustment of palm and foot placements as you move up the corner i.e. wider stance or palm positions? Bigger steps or smaller steps? On the hardest corners, there will be almost no sign of any visible hand or foot holds and friction will rest mainly on the amount of pressure given from your feet. Note: Your foot won't slip if adequate force is applied in the right direction, so work on this as opposed to how hard you pull up on your arms!

Arêtes

Arêtes are essentially the opposite of corners i.e. they stick out (imagine to walls meeting on the outside of your house). They are horrendously balancy, generally have no distinct hand or foot holds apart from the actual feature itself and they are scary to fall off!

The main technique required for arêtes is lay backing, however specific foot placements, hand placements and hip positioning are all essential skills necessary to climb them. Lay backing is the act of climbing a flake or arête where you primarily use the same feature for both your hands and feet. Because these features are generally linear in shape, you can come across a lot of difficulties with balance; this is where foot, hand and hip positioning come in.

When trying to climb arêtes, practice where you place your hands opposed to your feet i.e. how far apart they are. Also, play about with positioning of your feet to minimize the forces caused when making moves e.g. a badly positioned foot can cause more of a swing when you re-position it to make the next move. A well-placed foot won't have this effect and instead will allow you to continually ascend without any displaced force.