Climbing: How to Jam Hand Cracks

The first time you try crack climbing it will probably feel counter intuitive and it might even hurt a little, but your technique will improve with practice. In this video, we show you the basics of climbing a crack, including hand and foot jamming and shoe selection to get you started.

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Video Transcript:
My name is Dave Burdick, and I have been climbing here in the Northwest for more than half of my life, and I am going to share with you today a few tips on crack climbing.

Jamming is a way of climbing cracks with your hands and feet, so essentially what you're doing is taking your hands, putting them in the crack, and twisting or squeezing so that they expand and hold really tight in the crack. It's more about the friction of your hand squeezing against the rock versus pulling down on a hold.

There's, you know, a variety of techniques for different sizes of cracks, but probably what you're going to look for as you start out crack climbing are hand cracks. They're the easily cracks to jam, and they're really the most secure. Find a two inch section of crack, put your hand in, and you're going to squeeze your thumb in so that the meat of your hand presses against the sides of the crack. You'll push with your fingers a little bit, but it's going to feel like this very secure lock in the crack.

One of the things you want to do when you put in a hand jam, is to get it really tight and quiet. You don't want your hands slipping around. You just want to be able to set it in there, squeeze, and have it be in one place. If you're making a big reach, or if you're maybe traversing slightly, you can have a thumbs down jam which will get you into a slightly thinner constriction or give you just the right body position. When you put your hand and your elbows out, and then when you bring it in tight and vertical, it kind of constricts with your hand in the crack.

Feet are actually the most important part because if you have a good solid hand crack, you can just walk your feet up like you're standing on ledges. Think about it like putting a key into a lock and then turning it. You're going to insert your toes with your knee to the side, and then turn that knee upwards so that it cams in to be a really secure foothold. A good crack shoe is something that is comfortable and snug, but not maybe down turned or really crimping your toes. It's important that you're able to put your foot in there, twist, and stand on it and not be in a lot of pain.

So the key things you look for when you're climbing a hand crack are a nice place to set your hand where you can get a nice comfortable jam, and then keep that hand quiet. Don't try to move it around too much. Then, look for great feet. Right? Feet are the foundation of climbing. Stick your foot in, again turn it like a key, and stand up on that foot. At first, crack climbing may seem really counter intuitive. It just takes practice to develop like any other skill in climbing.