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blueeyedclimber
Dec 3, 2006, 4:17 PM
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I will be the first to admit, that being a northeast climber, cracks are NOT my specialty. But, I consider myself a very versatile climber. I have diaganosed that big hands are my weakness, just smaller than fists. Specifically when feet and hands must go in the crack. I noticed that I have an extremely large thumb muscle which makes it hard to rotate my thumb under my palm, which means I usually have to do something harder. Can anyone give me some little hand crack tips (other than to get on some hand cracks)? I am looking for some really specific tips. It's frustrating when I can jump on a finger crack or even an offwidth of a certain grade but then I get humbled on a big hands crack.
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camhead
Dec 3, 2006, 4:50 PM
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A couple tips that have helped me on big-hands cracks, especially large blue camalot-size, which really pump me out.
1. Shoes. duh. The beefier your shoes are, the more ease you will have in large-hands cracks. My primary crack shoe is the Moccasym, but I recently found that they are simply too narrow to jam painlessly in wider stuff. Now I actually use a pair of approach shoes for cracks that are blue camalot width or wider.
2. If you are getting pumped out on wide hands cracks, try this: stick your forearm deeply into the crack, so that you are jamming with your arm, and not your hand. With the other hand, gaston the edge of the crack, andd using both feet in the crack, lean into this gaston. This has always provided kind of a respite from cupped jamming for me. Sometimes you can even move on this type of jam.
3. Find a narrower crack instead, climb it, and then talk about how lame wide hands cracks are. This is the most surefire technique, and works for me every time I climb.
Good luck!
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imcd
Dec 3, 2006, 5:58 PM
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I would echo some of camheads statments. I have a pair of high top board lasted climbhigh shoes for wide cracks. if your hands are to big to bring your thumb under wouldn't this actially make it a small crack for you? anyways, I also find it helps to tape up a bit and get your hands and feet right in there.
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caughtinside
Dec 3, 2006, 5:58 PM
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Have you tried cupped hands? with your hands forming an 'L' shape, with the base of your hand and fingertips on one side, and your knuckles on the other?
You don't have to wedge your thumb down to do it. Further, if the crack is textured you can work around and get your tips or knuckles on a ridge or ripple and really stick in there.
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grampacharlie
Dec 3, 2006, 6:48 PM
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I like what caughtinside and camhead had to say about cupped hands, and fore-arm jams. If I can, I use the two together to get the most friction I can, and keep from getting pumped. (More friction = less power needed to hold on)
In addition, I keep on hand below shoulder level, about mid chest, and the other with the elbow up above my head. I do not climb hand over hand like I would with a splitter, perfect hand crack because it causes too much weird rotation of the body that can throw off your balance when your hands/arms are so deep in the crack.
I also use 5.10 spires for cracks bigger than fingers cause they're comfy, padded, durable, and purple. The leather on my moccasims is just too thin for me to climb large cracks in comfortably... but maybe I'm just a pansey.
Hope this helps you out. Oh yeah, a good set of tape gloves can add a little comfort and thickness to your hands. Once you get good technique though, they become less nessicary.
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angry
Dec 3, 2006, 6:58 PM
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Ummm...just lay it back.
Faster, easier, more efficient, and no gobies.
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schveety
Dec 3, 2006, 7:43 PM
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My big cupped hands are probably a little smaller than yours - Supercrack in Indian Creek is big cupped hands for me, just a little too small for fists.
I agree with the L-shape hand - when big cupping, don't fold your thumb in, either keep it tight to your index finger or press the tip of it to the wall where the rest of your fingertips are (okay, as long as the crack isn't overhanging). The biggest thing to take the weight off hands is your feet though - either bigger shoes or just cock your foot at an angle so your toe touches inside one wall and your heel touches outside opposite edge of crack.
And the forearm thing helps too, that's usually how I move up on strenuous big cups - you might even be able to do a double hand jam stack if you have good enough feet in the crack...
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petsfed
Dec 3, 2006, 7:45 PM
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Hard to lay back a splitter, but if you've got the power to spare...
I don't really tuck my thumbs in with wide hands. Just stick your hand in the crack then twist away from the thumb until it sticks. No tucking. Try to twist from the shoulder so that when you weight it, your entire arm twists, not just your wrist.
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weirdoclimer
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Dec 4, 2006, 1:47 AM
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thegreytradster
Dec 4, 2006, 2:50 AM
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Most large cracks aren't totaly smooth or uniform in size. Patiently moving the jam around and fully using tactile senses to find just the right sweet spot often involving tourqueing the jam.
Crimpers or even slopers for the fingertips in the crack also.
Board lasted shoes also.
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madscientist
Dec 4, 2006, 3:48 AM
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This is how I tackle hand cracks in the width you describe. It seems to work well for me.
1. I have the upper hand thumbs down and the lower hand thumbs up.
2. The feet are key, and I concentrate on getting good foot jams more than getting good hand jams.
3. The body position is different than a smaller handcrack. I lean in the direction of the upper (thumbs down) jam. For example. If my left hand is the upper hand, it is thumbs down and my body is more to the left side of the crack than the right.
Good luck, and have fun learning. I am in the opposite boat. I struggle on finger cracks compared to hand cracks. Must be to much climbing on Vedauwoo.
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vinnie
Dec 4, 2006, 7:40 PM
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In addition to the stuff already mentioned something that works really well for me is rotating your hands and cupping them. Try to rotate them inside the crack so that your pinky and the outside edge of your hand are pressing against one side of the crack and the back/opposite edge of the hand against the other. Combining this with keeping your top hand thumb down and your bottom hand thumb up and leaning to one side to get camming action on your forearms will make wide hand cracks seem much easier. I think there was an article in Climbing about this a while back.
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