Crack technique advice

Hi i wanted to see if I could get a bit of technique advice for a specific crack type. Let's say its a vertical hand crack that traverses diagonally. I'm getting pretty decent on straight up hand and finger cracks with jamming feet and toes but when things start moving diagonally I'm feeling pretty lost on what to do with my feet. I feel pretty solid in what my hands are doing leading hand thumbs down and shuffling when it's diagonal but I feel kinda stuck on where to cram the feet. Almost feels like I wanna get them up close to my hands to keep my center under my hands. Hope I've explained it well enough. All this assuming there are no face holds for the feet. Any standard mode of attack here? Much thanks for any advice.
Steven

If it's traversing to the right try left foot in the crack and right foot smearing on the wall. Never have been a fan of crack climbing with hands/feet close together, always felt like this brought hips too far away from the wall/ center of gravity too far back.

OR

both in the crack and support with your core

BUT

I dunno.

try keeping your foot that is in the crack, at the same distance as you would if you were climing a vertical crack. make sure your foot is being placed correctly (which is awkward at that higher position) if you've left enough room between that foot and your hands you can then bring the knee in towards your body and align it with the crack, this will crank the foot in the crack and should hold the weight of your lower body. edge as much as possible with the foot that is outside the crack.
if you have any access to roofcracks get on them, they should help you develop footwork that will take that weight of your lower body, and off your hands.
Good Luck!

When I'm in cracks like that (diagonally L to R), I have my left foot in the crack and I am smearing/edging w/ my right foot. But I don't focus too much on camming the foot. I just use the crack as a foothold, put a lot of pressure on my toes, engage my left hamstring muscles, and that takes the weight of my hips. Foot still ends up cammed in the crack anyway to keep you from slipping out. I guess it depends on the crack though. On that 10a in the Needles (can't remember the name) I am pretty sure both of my feet were below the crack, smearing and edging. But there is also a 5.10 at The Wall in IC that traverses L to R and I remember getting my left foot deep in that sucker.

Then there is the 13a in BCC that goes R to L. Best crack I've ever had the pleasure of jamming. I was never really in that one though, so can't give advice on how to climb it. If you need advice on how to fall out of it, let me know.

Ryan Williams wrote: Then there is the 13a in BCC that goes R to L. Best crack I've ever had the pleasure of jamming. I was never really in that one though, so can't give advice on how to climb it. If you need advice on how to fall out of it, let me know.

Yeah, Fallen Arches was the route that came to mind when I read this thread. (LCC, incidentally). As Ryan said, you have to really just decide based on the nature and angle of the crack whether to foot jam it, or just smear along the edge.

Like everyone said, you'll almost always have one foot at/in the crack, and the leading side foot on the face somewhere. Set the jams, smear or edge the face and quickly re-set the crack foot and get all the weight you can on it.

The exception is if it diagonals only slightly, then it may be easier to have the leading-side foot on the face/flagging until you need to move the crack foot, then use the leading foot at the crack just long enough to move the trailing side foot.

You'll know pretty quickly, because once it diagonals more than just a bit, the center of grav/hips will make it difficult to get much out of putting the leading foot in the crack...it will require a lot of body tension and will shorten the distance you can move the trailing/crack foot.

(by "leading" I mean the side that it diagonals toward...diagonal from right to left going up, the left side would be "leading")

Sweet tons of good advice here. Thanks for all the input. Gives me some things to try and play around with. The final answer may just be that I need to be a better climber.

I say cheat and learn. Toprope the problem. Set a nut or cam in place if needed to hold in place. Practice your hands, jams, moves, combinations over and over until they bear your weight with ease and you can proceed with ease. I never got familiar with any crack by flailing and falling out of it a dozen times on my trad gear...I studied it and focused on what was there, how to use it, and just hung around to practice until I could at least top rope the route with ease. Of course, hate to do so when climbers are lined up waiting for the route, but works well on off days when not busy. It's a learning process, why not let the rocks become your classroom for a few hours.

Will S wrote:Like everyone said, you'll almost always have one foot at/in the crack, and the leading side foot on the face somewhere. Set the jams, smear or edge the face and quickly re-set the crack foot and get all the weight you can on it. The exception is if it diagonals only slightly, then it may be easier to have the leading-side foot on the face/flagging until you need to move the crack foot, then use the leading foot at the crack just long enough to move the trailing side foot. You'll know pretty quickly, because once it diagonals more than just a bit, the center of grav/hips will make it difficult to get much out of putting the leading foot in the crack...it will require a lot of body tension and will shorten the distance you can move the trailing/crack foot. (by "leading" I mean the side that it diagonals toward...diagonal from right to left going up, the left side would be "leading")

+1

all good advice from other posters, too.

i know you said your hands feel pretty solid, but even if they're solid, they can throw you off balance. in a right leaning hand crack, i'd lead with my right hand thumbs down and have left hand thumbs up, shuffling them and without taking them completely out of the crack. i usually don't let my left hand pass my right hand unless i get a really good high right foot (or the angle decreases and i can get a solid smear) on the face that will counteract the barndoor of passing my right hand and allow me to step up once i get my left hand jam in above my right. if you do find the a good right foot on the face, passing through with your left hand can cover more ground quicker and more efficiently than shuffling, for me anyway.

happy climbing!

Sweet thanks for all the tips. It def seems like a constant battle to stay in balance. I may try keep in one foot in the crack and just flagging the other occasionally bringing it back in to move the other foot jam up. Dunno guess I just need to work it.

Another tip, although you didn't ask for hand technique: I find the 'shuffle' to be the best way for me to move up diagonal cracks.

On a L-R diagonalling crack I'll establish a high, thumb-down hand jam with my R hand, L hand thumb up under it.

Hang off the high right,

work feet up, L foot in the crack, R on the face, smearing/edging.

left hand slides up the crack to the next good jam, but doesn't pass R hand

Stand up to slide R hand up, still thumbs down

Rinse and repeat

some good info in here. assuming it diagonals up to the right (to be consistent with other folks etc..) :

QUICKLY move that left foot up to the next foot jam. i almost 'bounce' off of my smearing foot to do it more quickly.

if i can get my hand/forearm into the crack pretty deep, i sometimes will go with my right hand thumbs up (yes, you read that correctly) and try to brace/lever off of the back side of my forearm while i am resetting my foot. this works really well on big hands cracks that would otherwise totally drain your upper (right) hand.

i love those diagonal cracks. there are a lot of them at vedauwoo. i think they make you pretty strong. my wife kind of hates them though.

youtube.com/watch?v=GYmfft0…

particularly watch his left knee, hips, and also his CG above his right foot smears..

a comfortable pair of shoes will help you get the most out of the foot jams

FYI on hand-sized diagonals that are close to 45 degrees you can often do a partial layback by (if the crack is bottom left to top right) bringing your left foot into the crack and camming it by dropping your knee slightly. This will feel really weird at first but it will allow you to easily smear with your right foot (assuming no features), bring your left foot up, drop the knee and twist it down A LOT and shuffle your hands up. Note that you'll need strong thighs to do this.