Boulder Lessons

WHHF

Wall: Look at the angle of the wall, and natural features such as aretes and dihedrals. Athletes should consider how the wall angle will impact the style of the climb. For example, a slab climb may be fast or slow and not necessarily as obvious. A slab may tend towards more delicate footwork while a steeper climb may have better holds that allow for a climber to cut feet.

Hands: come up with a sequence for your hands, figure out what your handholds are and which order you are going to grab them in. Ensure you know all of your handholds are.

Hips: Our hips are arguably the most important and frequently overlooked part of one’s sequence. Where our hips are placed in relation to our hands has a huge effect on how holds feel and how doable the moves are. For example, if we have a left hand undercling standing our hips up into the hold might make an otherwise unusable hold very good.

Feet: Our feet are very important because they drive the rest of the movements of the body. Once we know where we want our hips to be able to grab a certain hold our feet are used to drive our hips into a certain position. We want to choose which holds we will use for our feet and then also how we are going to stand on the given feet.

Why is this skill so important in comp climbing? Attempts matter, for score and for energy levels. It is really important to have a plan for the whole climb and have a sense of all your holds and the movement ahead of you. Athletes don’t have endless energy or power endurance, and having good beta makes climbs easier. Giving unnecessary attempts due to bad beta or because you didn't have a plan can make an athlete much more tired, not only for that climb but for the whole round.

How can athletes practice this skill in everyday sessions?

Athletes should always have a plan when they get on the wall. Even if it is an easy climb or something that seems simple athletes should practice telling coaches “the crux of this climb is____,” or “on this climb I am going to focus on_____”

Drills like onsight rounds and anything with limited attempts are designed to force athletes to sequence well before getting on the wall. Look out for athletes spending time sequencing and thinking about beta before pulling on.

holds are often directional meaning that they are in some orientation other than just downpulling. In other words, the usable surface of the hold is not facing straight up.

Directional holds, especially those that are bad require the climber to quickly and efficiently move their weight into the optional orientation to hold the hold.

Sidpull. When the usable surface of the hold is pointing away from the climber the climber wants to lean away from the hold. The more the climber can have a straight arm with hips opposite of the usable surface of the hold the better with will feel.

Gaston. When the usable surface of the hold is facing the climber you want to shift your hips in line or beneath the hold.

Undercling: When the usable surafce of the hold is facing downwards the climber should aim to get their hips high and stand into the undercling. The higher above the climber the undercling is the hard it will be to hold.

Learning to weight different types of feet is very important and something that younger athletes often struggle with.

Smear feet. A foothold that is very bad and smeary means that you generally want to drop your heel to get as much surface area of your shoe on the hold as possible.

Incut feet. A foothold that has a groove or something with an edge allows the climber to pull on the hold instead of only pressing. Small but incut foot holds can be toed in on, meaning that athletes can raise their heel and engage their hamstring as they pull their hips into the wall using the foot.

Volume feet. These are often another form of smear feet. It is important to drop heels down to get good contact with the volume. Also since volumes are more 3 dimensional standing further from the wall towards the tip of. a volume can sometimes make balancing on a volume much easier.

Why is this so important for comp climbing? Comp climbing is often about risk. In other words, setters don’t only want to test athletes on how strong they are, but also how they deal with various types of risk. Traditional commercial climbs often have ample foot options in ideal places. Comp climbs do not. Athletes are asked to trust bad feet often. This could mean a duel texture (shiny) foot, or a bad volume, or a very tiny foot jib. It is essential that athletes practice engaging various types of feet and that they know how to stand on them.

What is a skate? A skate is a type of lateral dyno that focuses on your foot movements. It is often coordinated requiring the climbing to do multiple things during the move, such as shuffle the feet, grab a hand, and then stomp a foot. These moves can be very intimidating until you begin to try them and you work out how to approach them.

Break down the move. Don’t let these moves overwhelm you, break down the move into each section of focus. For example, start position, foot shuffle, end position. Generally, I find it helpful to think about the end position first and work backward from that. For example, I know that to end I want my right leg on the last volume, my left hand on the jug. I can then work backward and figure out that I should lead with my left leg to jump, foot shuffle in the middle, and then quick foot switch at the end to stop my barndoor.

How are you going to stop your momentum? Thinking about the end position and how you are going to stop your momentum can save you many attempts. If you have a directional hand you are catching such as a side-pull, with bad feet you will need to do something active to stop your lateral momentum. Simply reaching the hold will often not be enough and you will end up barndooring off.