Climb with your feet; not your hands!

Julio shares some tips for beginning climbers.

Often when people are new to climbing they'll focus more on their hands than on their feet. This is especially the case with people who have experience bouldering or climbing inside. Climbing inside promotes a more hand-dominant way of climbing, because you get used to reaching for specific-coloured holds on vertical or over-hanging walls. Climbing outside is another ball game. Here (and especially in Todgha Gorge with its very sticky rock!) you have near-limitless opportunities for where to put your feet. Less emphasis should be put on your hands, which are often placed only for balance.

In the first pictures, you can see Julio demonstrating (albeit with some exaggeration ;) ) how beginning climbers often climb: their hands high above them, reaching for holds, while their feet are trailing off behind them, useless and out of control. When you climb with your hands high above you, it's not possible to see where you are placing your feet and therefore you render the most useful limbs of your body completely useless!

In contrast, the climber should be more like Julio is in the last picture: his hands are no higher than shoulder height and his feet travel up towards his hands, rather than his hands moving away from his feet! This way his body is active and ready, balanced, and his head is in a good position to see where his feet should go next.

Happy climbing, and remember to use your feet, not your hands!