What is good climbing technique?

Difference of opinion

What makes for good climbing technique varies from location to location, from culture to culture and from person to person. Yet there is some common ground... I think that, in general, the integrity of climbers is very good and few will tick a problem if they dabbed, nor a route if they loaded a quickdraw on their way up.

Equal ethics exist for climbing technique. Whaling your way up a sloped top out like a walrus or crawling on your knees may earn you that tick, but it makes very few climbers proud. Climbing in a way that you feel can't be significantly improved gives a much better feeling and climbing at our peak level this way gives tremendous satisfaction.

What will do?

Some feels that "up is up" and it really does not matter how you got there. Some may even ask why you didn't go up the backside, it would have been so much easier. Most of us though, feel there is more to it.

If your only goal is to tick something off your list, or onto it, you may find yourself lowering your standards and not really caring how it happened. In the long run though, this is not very rewarding. Throwing yourself at a problem until it randomly sticks is not really an achievement, it is more or less luck. Like winning the lottery, it can make you happy for a while, but is it really a testimony of your achievements?

Make it smooth, make it good!

I would suggest to climb in a way that feels good and that reflects how the sensation of climbing is at its most satisfying. Make it flow, achieve happiness rather than bragging rights. Posting a video of a perfectly flowing climb below your limit will not reflect badly on your skills.

Projecting vs style

I would also suggest to be relaxed about your climbing grades, at least in periods. You can progress just by increased climbing volume at lower grades, focusing on enjoyment and tuning your style and technique. Actually... just climbing and not getting injured is a pretty good recipe for progress.

Conclusion

I guess this post didn't offer much in terms of conclusions or strong opinions. I feel the climbing community encourages a high level of integrity and continues to raise the bar in all aspects. I would suggest that it is still up to you. Climbing is very much about competing against yourself and it is only fair that in this context you should have a say in what the rules are. It is like doing push-ups, you may have started with your knees in the ground, but at some point you raised the bar.

Do you feel that good climbing technique has fixed boundaries and should not be an individual consideration?

May The Normal Force Be With You!

What's a climbing move vs a climbing technique?

Does it really matter?

How should we separate between climbing moves and climbing techniques? Is it pure semantics or does it really matter? I stumbled across this problem producing content for my websites and didn't really have a good answer. Wikipedia defines a Move like this: "Application of a specific climbing technique to progress on a climb". Also from Wikipedia on Technique: "Specialized moves given names to help communicate what to do to another person." They both make sense, but also use each other in a circular reference. So where does this leave us?

Test it...

Pick a random video of a boulder problem or climb and count all the moves. I guess most of us would come up with similar number of moves. So if you count each specific move, what kind of move were they? (name them, then name all the techniques used in the climb... do they overlap or supplement each other?)

Black and white does not exist, there are only shades of gray

There will always be disputes and variations. Placing a foot on a hold is a move, but then rocking over on it..  does that count as a separate move? How about if the climber flags the other foot while rocking over? Or if she pushes off with the other foot? Is any kind of repositioning of the body a move? How then about a climber with a super smooth style where the entire climb seems like one, long, fluent motion. Are moves defined by the climbing style as well?

The authority on terms

Who really decides: you, me, or the most experienced climbers? I guess it really does not matter what any one authority decides, it is the climbing community as a whole and our usage and common understanding that dictates what is currently correct. Please weigh in and help define climbing technique :-)

May The Normal Force Be With You!

In The Beginning There Was... Rock!

Starting out

I started out this venture with an idea of having a perspective on climbing technique that could benefit others. I was consumed with the principles of analysis and the enormous gains to be had by spending just a little bit of time thinking about things. I started documenting these thoughts and shaping it into a message that could be consumed more easily.

A new world appears

In my documentation I started arguing for my points and finding facts to back them up. Much to my surprise, the facts did not match all that well with my understanding and I started to rethink what I knew about climbing technique. This process was very interesting and I learned a lot... things I want to share with you...

Missing the mark

My focus was on the cutting edge of advanced climbing technique and exploring topics and issues others were not even contemplating. Digging into this and gathering facts for my message, I found myself digging a hole in the ground. How many climbers would I reach, and how would that message be received? I gradually came to realise that I was missing the mark. The vast majority of climbers would not be ready for my message.

One step back

I regrouped and refocused my efforts into a broader approach to climbing technique. I started looking at the full spectre of the topic and trying to satisfy more needs. I also found the existing material was lacking. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of brilliant material out there, but there is no complete set of resources, there is no one stop shop for climbing technique. I also found that the otherwise brilliant material was not very focused, there was seldom a clear focus or purpose for each article/video.

Take Two

My first idea (that is... the second idea), was to include more basic climbing technique and then intermediate, before attacking the advanced. The content for basic technique soon lead to the need for some base factual knowledge and the terminology used in climbing. Wikipedia has a good listing of terms, but the more in depth documentation of these is more of a job to find. I decided to build a full library of all the moves with video content that breaks down each one with that sole purpose. No extra tips, no general or other climbing aspects involved, just simply explain each move with its variations.

This lead to the need to do exactly the same for all the techniques (i. e locking off etc). What are they and how do you use them, what do you gain by using them and so on. Here also, separately from any aspects of the move itself, keep the focus on the actual technique.

And what separates a move from a technique? Is crimping a move or a technique? How about rocking over?

Moving on..

Now, moving on... let's see how far along I get before the next reality check :-) Please join in and comment.

May The Normal Force Be With You!