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"What an odd sport we inhabit, where bits of obscure rock in remote locations are recognizeable."

Different Holds

There are several different kinds of holds. these include jugs, crimpers, slopers, pinchers and pocket-holds. There are also foot chips, but those are basically just small holds that are ridiculously hard to hold, and are usually only used to place the feet on.

Jugs, (pictured below) are any hold that you can fit a large amount of your hand in. Any hold that is really good to grasp and easy to hold on to is considered a jug. Jug holds are usually the most popular as they are so easy to grab and hold.

The next kind of hold is the crimper (pictured below). Crimpers are really small holds that you can only get your finger-tips on. you have to try and get as many fingers on as you can, and then wrap your thumb on top of those fingers, locking your grip on the crimper. Crimpers are great for building individual finger strength.

Next we have the sloper holds (pictured below). Sloper holds are usually smooth enough that there is no sure way to just grab them. With sloper holds you have to pretty much hang/lean with the hold in order to stay on it.

Pincher holds are my favorite as they are fun and take a good amount of forearm strength. To hold them you pretty much do as the name implies: pinch the hold. On pinchers you have to use a good amount of strength to squeeze and stay on. Below is a video that has two good pincher moves in it. The left hold and the upper yellow hold are pinchers. In order to stay on them you have to use that forearm strength and squeeze the hold.

The final kind of hold is the pocket or sometime mono-hold (pictured below). These holds consist of just a small hole in which you can usually only fit one or two fingers. The rest of the hold is slippery and not good for gripping. usually you only have to pocket your fingers and lean with the hold. You will usually not have to hang straight on the hold, as it is risky and potentially dangerous to your fingers and ligaments.

Foot chips, (pictured below) are just small pieces that are usually too small to hold or crimp, and are meant to put your feet on, as they are great for gripping the rubber on your climbing shoes.

Video

be sure to check out my youtube video! it is just a montage of my climbing videos. i will eventually post each of these seperate videos and discuss them. enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8--7R21OUw

also, if you are in need of climbing gear or just interested in browsing different climbing equipment, be sure to check out my ads posted on the sides and bottom of my site.

campassing

Campusing is climbing without using your legs...it doesn't mean that you're a great climber, but it does take lots of strength and determination. There are plenty of climbers who can't do anything with just their arms, but are none-the-less amazing climbers because they have great technique. Here are a couple videos of me attempting to campus some V4's. I have done one of them before, but it was after a good twenty attempts. NEVER give up after only a few tries... only consider giving up if you have failed at least three dozen times on the same route. :P

Campusing is loads of fun and is a great workout for your entire upper body. i personally enjoy trying to find harder routes to campus, because i love the thrill of feeling like i'm gliding from one hold to the next. It gives you a sort of feeling of being Tarzan on a vine. you just move one hand and then the other, and it allows you to find new ways to accomplish problems. If anyone has campused a challenging problem, you might know the feeling of strength and power of which I speak. I strongly urge climbers to give it a shot. If you don't have the strength, it will build up over time and i recommend doing plenty of pull-ups and other arm building exercises.

"You can grunt and heave, sweat and strain, wear yourself out, and unless you simply forget about it and step up, you won't even get off the ground." — Mike Borghoff.

Batman Hang

There's really not much to say about this, it just looks cool. there's a big volcano hold. and one day i decided to try and hang from it:

You just chalk up your toes, grab the two nearest jug holds and pull your feet into it. it hurts like mad after a few seconds, as the volcano is a rough hold to make for better gripping. but it's fun to do and looks cool. I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you know you can handle a little pain.

White V6 route

I've been trying to do this white cave V6 for the longest time! it starts out easy enough with a good jug on the second and fourth moves, but on the third move you have to do this big switchover

which really saps your strength!. then i have to lock the right hand and match on the jug.

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The swing and pull from this move almost tears you off the hold. then you toe hook a sloper on the face side of the wall with both feet. then you statically bring your right hand over and grab it...then match. you then have to heel hook that hold and go up the two crimpers to two underhanging holds...they are pretty decent, not quite jugs and not quite crimpers. once here you have to make sure you bring your feet over and go up to another sloper, match on that and pull into a ok crimp. once here you just have to make the huge move up to the avocado looking hold, and over to the finishing hold, which is an excellent jug. if i could just get past that toe hook i could probably finish it...can't decide how to go about it. i have seen that one move done in four or five different ways, i've attempted a few of them, but my reach just isn't large enough to pull them off.