Tips For Bigger Cracks

Hi Steph!
After 5 years of sport climbing I am moving onto trad, which has opened up for me so many possibilities in the mountain. I’ve learned mostly through trial and error, so your articles about thin cracks have been really useful! At least they helped me up a 400mt wall I climbed this weekend . Do you have any how-to material you could recommend me for hands, fists and off-width cracks?
Thanks in advance and keep it up with your amazing site!
Jose from Chile

Thanks Jose!
Here is a link to some offwidth info I wrote a while back.
And this is a general crack climbing article I wrote some years back that could also give you some good tips for all crack sizes.

Between those two, you should get a lot of the basic crack advice I have, but here are some more random tips….

For hands/fists and offwidths, you should get a bigger shoe–I use Moccasyms or Super Moccs, very comfortably sized. For a lot of offwidths at Indian Creek, I actually wear Five Tennies, which makes them significantly easier! In Yosemite, where you need to use more footholds, I make sure to wear a very big shoe for offwidth cracks (often Anasazi Laceups, very oversized), and tape my ankles thoroughly. This really helps.

One issue with wider cracks (including fists), is the rack. It’s very awkward and cumbersome to carry even a rack of 5 3.5″ pieces, and it just gets bigger and heavier as the cams get larger. Usually I plan to push up gear when the crack is wider, to save me carrying so much large gear. In a crack where I might need the equivalent of 6 3.5″ pieces, I bring 3 and plan to slide some of them for a long way. Be aware that this can put you in a very run-out situation, and if you blow it somehow, it could be a very dangerous fall. So I’m not recommending this as a basic technique for new climbers, but it is something I do commonly myself at Indian Creek, with caution.

This is a small tip, but it is something that I have to catch myself on every time during the colder months….it’s great to wear a long sleeved shirt for offwidths, but when you are climbing hands and big hands, having a sleeve down on your wrist will always be an annoyance (or worse) when you are trying to jam. I can’t count the number of times I’ve started up a crack and had to work myself into some awkward stance while I pushed up my sleeves, partway up the route So, a small thing, but nice to remember before you start up.

Hope that helps!
Steph