TECHNIQUE
Part 1: An Introduction to climbing technique
Parts 2 & 3 : Specific climbing techniques explained
Ask most people why they climb and you will hear a whole variety of theories, although the most common one is usually to do with a unique sensation of movement. Power may well be handy on that crux and you'll certainly need some stamina for that sustained headwall, but from the moment you pull onto the route you will be required to move well. The ability to move efficiently, to conserve energy and flow well, to read the rock and use everything it offers to the best advantage is encapsulated by one word: technique. It is not and should not be the case that technique is just another word on the long list of things you need to improve in your climbing. Technique is the chain itself and everything else, power, stamina, flexibility and so on, are the links. Everything in climbing stems from technique and will, in turn, lead back to it.
All this is fair enough but what exactly does this word mean which is so often banded about and yet so little understood? How many times, at the wall or crag, have you heard things like "Oh yeah, he's weak and he doesn't train but, he gets by with technique"? You may have said that sort of thing yourself about a friend or climbing partner but could you actually quantify what they have that you don't? The point is that we all know how to go out and get strong or fit, there's a simple formula: do the work, get the results. But the problem with technique comes when you look in the mirror, you can scrutinise others all day but it is so hard to be objective about yourself. You've always climbed the way you've climbed so how can you change and where do you start? It's not surprising that so many of the European competition teams regard video-analysis as being an essential tool for self assessment. The first time you see yourself climb on the screen is always a levelling experience; invariably you will be either faster or slower, smoother or more shaky than you would have expected.
Seeing as technique is so hard to apply to yourself we tend to use other people's performances either as bench-marks or as ideals from which to guide our own performance. If asked to define 'good technique', we tend to conjure up images of the archetypal, smooth European climber who would rather fall off than display the slightest shake, or worse still, snatch for a hold. But what of climbers like Johnny Dawes? - deemed by many to be one of the most technically creative climbers of all time. Here is an example of someone who had an intimate understanding of his own physical limitations: height build, strength and so on, and who developed a unique and personalised dynamic style in order to compensate. A more extreme opposite could not exist and yet both types of climber are categorised under the seemingly meaningless heading of having 'good technique'.
So now it all becomes clear, technique is not about climbing a certain way, forget everyone else, it's about listening to the rock and asking yourself what physical resources you have to best solve it's problems. The reason the French are so slow and controlled is because they can afford to be! They have enough stamina to make it possible to hang in there for as long as it takes to find the best possible sequence. Remember if you're strong but unfit, that a fast, fiery and tenacious style could well be far more effective! Why hang around when you can power through? Needless to say there is an obvious shelf-life to this approach. ASs you progress through the grades you will come to a point where you go to call for those hidden reserves of strength and they simply won't be there for you. Obviously the ideal solution would be to have the remarkable natural ability to be able to read very technical sequences very quickly and still have loads of stamina in reserve. But is this natural ability or can it be learned? Must we resign ourselves to adopting a style which accepts and accommodates our own technical limitations or do we have a fighting chance of changing and doing something about them?
An impressive example of someone who attempted to answer this question is the French climber Jibe Tribout during his efforts to improve his onsighting performance. Tribout, after carefully analysis, concluded that he was failing to realise his full potential on the grounds of poor technique. He decided that the decision-making process involved when reading a move sequence was, for him, a far too slow and conscious phenomenon. Ideally, even when the going gets tough you should be able to simply switch on the auto pilot, compute-in the rock in front of you and compute-out the optimum sequence. No need for thought; neuro-muscular processing takes care of everything. If only this were the case! For most of us, this subconscious process must be backed up with a great deal of conscious rationalising, simply because it is under developed. Just like learning to ride a bike, the more you practice, the less thought and indeed the less wobbling and shaking are required. As climbers we never allow ourselves to carry out the full technique-learning process and the more we continue to train and recruit our strength and ignore technique, the harder it will be to get back on the learning path.
Tribout realised this and set out to do something about it; despite the fact that attaining his goal would inevitably involve much patience and worse still a few blows to the ego. The answer was to go back to basics, drop the grade a notch or two but force yourself to climb properly. When you arrive at a hard section, fail to read it first time, start to feel pumped and those warning bells start to sound, you must resist the obvious temptation to power through. At all costs you must not proceed until you have found the best possible sequence. Inevitably this will take too long at first, you will pump out and fail when you could have bodged it and been victorious. But what Tribout found was that his ability to find the optimum sequence got quicker and quicker until it eventually became almost instantaneous and subconscious. The 'throw-away' routes had proved worthwhile and the end product was an overall increased level of consistency. One step back in order to make two steps forward. It's a case of whether or not you're prepared to make the sacrifice.
Yet some would consider it to be contrived and artificial to go out and actively search for good technique. Perhaps like searching for the grail, the harder you look, the harder it is to find. Beware the pitfalls of performing what you perceive to be a 'technical manoeuvre' for the pure sake of it. The gratuitous use of flashy moves will invariably mean you expend more energy than you save. Remember what this is all for - Good climbing technique is supposed to make life easier; it should be honest, impulsive and spontaneous. Whether or not the rumours were true about the new-wave French 'technique training' method of climbing slabs with tennis balls in your hands, a few people over here who were gullible enough to try it concluded that you're probably better off just going out and climbing! And for technique this is probably the best advice that anyone could give, as, unlike with power, there can be no short-cuts. Unless you are a true natural, your only hope is to go out and try to climb well on as many different rock types and as frequently as possible. Every surface you encounter, be it limestone or granite or even wood or plastic, will build up your 'move repertoire' and increase your versatility as a climber. The same is obviously true for different angles. Slabs and overhangs each have their common theme and to an extent they are mutually exclusive. I dare say that someone who has only ever climbed on slabs won't know what an 'egyptian' is, and similarly, if you've never rocked-over onto a smear then you're probably spending too much time on the steep stuff. It is easy to become obsessed with the importance of footwork when attempting to improve your technique and although there is no doubt that climbing on easy angled rock is important for learning the ability to trust your feet, steep rock will often teach you more about general body positioning. Remember that the whole body contributes to the upward movement and not just the points of contact.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing of all about technique is that the more a situation demands it, the harder it is to produce. It's all very well working out a cunning sequence when you've just stepped off a rest and you're right next to a bolt. The bitter irony is that the times when a bit of good technique would most come in handy: when you're either getting pumped, feeling weak, getting gripped or worse still - all three, are, of course, the times when it decides to evade you. For some reason, in the heat of the moment we become convinced that all this thrashing around is conducive to staying on, even though our subconscious knows full well that we should be trying to relax and stay in control. The 'fight or flight' response may have served primitive man well but it isn't too handy for climbing. Pulling good technique out of the bag when placed under increasing pressure must surely be the ultimate goal of any climber.
Unfortunately it is at the crucial introductory stage when you are likely to learn all your long-lasting habits in climbing, whether they are good or bad. If you have engrained the idea of hauling yourself out of trouble with your arms whilst scrabbling worthlessly with your feet over many years, then it's going to be that much harder for you to change. Yet with an open mind it may still be possible. By climbing on rock types that prevent you from using your tried-and-tested formula you will have no choice but to adapt. Get out on some Gritstone slabs and aretes which generally won't listen if you try to batter them into submission with thuggery; a softer and more cunning approach is invariably the only way to crack them. The overriding thing is that you can only hope to 'improve' your technique as opposed to mastering it; which perhaps says something about the mystique of climbing. Far be it for anyone, either from a creative or scientific standpoint, to tell us how to do it. Climbing technique is about an individual's ability to relate to one thing and one thing only, the rock.
The next two web articles will focus on some more specific aspects of climbing technique to help you learn and master a variety of climbing moves.