How to Use an Arm Bar Technique in Rock Climbing

Series Summary

Man has been climbing trees, hills and mountains for centuries; however, as a sport, rock climbing began at the end of the nineteenth century in Germany and England. Since then, it has grown into a world famous sport that hundreds of thousands participate in. There are several different types of climbing, each having its own grade of difficulty and danger; and it is considered one of the more extreme sports because of the high risk involved, no matter what type of climbing you do. But when the proper rock climbing techniques are employed and safety procedures are followed, it can be a very enjoyable and safe sport.

In these free rock and mountain climbing instructional videos, learn how to set anchors for lead and top rope climbing. Having strong anchor points is crucial to a safe and successful climb. Get professional tips and techniques on using strong rope knots to secure your climb. Learn how to rock climb with natural anchors like trees and boulders. Discover how to join anchors together for a more stable climb in unstable conditions. Watch this series and use these tricks on your next rock climbing trip.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Steven with Climb On Adventures and I'm going to show you how to move your weight upwards in a crack whenever the area is too big for your hand to get in there and do a fist jam or a hand jam but too small to go ahead and crawl inside there and climb it like it's a chimney. So, one of those techniques is known as an arm bar. Some people call them chicken wings. The technique is just to get your entire arm or as much of it as possible inside the crack and either kick it outwards or inwards so that you can exert opposing forces onto the edge of the crack. That will allow you to move up off of it. You can do that with your elbow up or down, either way, whatever the crack calls for. Here I'm going to show you in the upper portion right here an example of an arm bar, in which you just shove your entire arm in there, as much as you can, and right now I'm pressing with my palm against that way as hard as I can and my elbow is pressing out that way. So I have these opposing forces and that allows me to just hang on and move up towards where my next hold may be. Arm bars are a little tricky and hard to get used to at first but once you get them it's about the only way to climb and off width crack."