How to Traverse a Rock Wall

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Bill with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com we are here today at a Chapel Ledges at Ashfield, Massachusetts and in this series I'm going to be talking about the basics of moving on rock. Traversing is moving sideways across the rock, you might want to traverse if you are route goes that way, you might traverse if you don't like this route anymore and you want to try something over there. It helps to know how to do it well and effectively. It takes some planning ahead, you are going to use whatever climbing technique the face detects but you are going to look at the holes and think about how I'm going to use these to get to there. If I put my left foot here I don't leave myself a lot of chooses but if I cross over and put my right foot here then I can move my right foot all the way over here that helps cause now I can shift my body weight, reset my hands, and stand up over here. Move about 3 feet. I might want to share with my feet, I might need to hop switch with my feet. Find another foot hole reset my hands, move over again. So traversing, planning ahead, sharing the holes, knowing that you are moving side ways and planning so that you give yourself the best advantage to move on the direction that you want to go."