Rock Climbing Forums: Climbing Information: General: Re: [camhead] Height: Are tall climbers actually more disadvantaged?: Edit Log

Forums: Climbing Information: General: Re: [camhead] Height: Are tall climbers actually more disadvantaged?: Edit Log

jt512

Jan 11, 2008, 3:14 AM

Views: 18712

Registered: Apr 12, 2001
Posts: 21904

Re: [camhead] Height: Are tall climbers actually more disadvantaged? Report this Post Average: (0 ratings)

camhead wrote:

so, I was thinking about this the other day at the gym, while I was watching a pretty good climber get shut down on a heel-hook-sloper move.

We all know about how there are moves that shut down short people... we think less about moves that shut down tall people; high steps, hand-foot matches, high heel hooks, etc. And in harder sport climbing, I think it is safe to say that perhaps

Then I looked at the top fifteen male climbers on 8a.nu; the average height of them is 171.9 cm (about 5'7"), which is lower than the average caucasian male height of 5'10"... why is this? I have heard probably a dozen times from friends about meeting a pro climber "whoa, he's so much shorter than I thought he would be."

In hard sort climbing, say 5.13 and up, do physical limitations of flexibility and keeping your body into the wall, which disadvantage taller climbers, outweigh the physical limitations of reach that disadvantage shorter climbers?

I would love to hear from the engineers and statisticians here (yeah, you jt512!)

Well, statistically, your results from a sample of only 15 climbers might not be significant. Data from the CDC for US males aged 20-29 -- not the best reference population in this case, but data that I can get my hands on quickly -- shows a mean height of 176 cm and a standard deviation of 11 cm. A quick 1-sample Z-test of your sample mean of 171.9 cm gives a 2-tailed p-value of 0.15. So, using this questionable reference population, the result is not significant. That said, I think that on overhanging routes, the shorter you are the less torque there would be on your hands, which would make staying on the rock easier. Of course there are other factors that come into play. For instance, a taller person can reach more handholds from his footholds. On the other hand, if the only next footholds are near the current handholds, the shorter person will tend to find it easier to use them.

Jay

(This post was edited by jt512 on Jan 12, 2008, 2:31 AM)

Edit Log:
Post edited by jt512 () on Jan 12, 2008, 2:31 AM

Search for (options)

Log In:

Lost Password?