Foot Hold Techniques for Rock Climbing

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. Climbing technique involves getting your weight onto your feet and how you feet contacts the rock makes a difference on how well they are going to stick. So I want to talk about your feet and then how to put them on the rock. In your climbing shoe a lot of pressure in directed towards the big toe and the ball of your foot this is where you want to contact the rock for the most part. How do you do that? If you want to use a small edge get that part of your foot over that edge and really dig it in there that is going to give the opportunity to stick in that spot that is called edging. Another technique is smearing where there is really nothing there but if I can get enough rubber on that and pressure it the right way it is still going to stick cause I have sticky rubber shoes. A third way to use your foot that you might consider in over hangs or some sort of extreme situation is a heel hook and it is going to use the back of your foot, up high almost as a hand to pull yourself up. Pretty strenuous you don't want to do it unless you have to. So remember try to use the front of your foot the ball and the big toe that is where you shoe is concentrate your foot and really get it in there and make it stick."