Off width climbing

What's the best way to get good at O-dub climbs, besides sacking up and going for it time after time?

Aside from just having experience, any other ways to practice off width without actually doing offwidth? if that makes sense?

"ways to practice off width without actually doing offwidth?"

Are you kidding? Is this for real?

if by sacking up u mean climb something than if u want to be a part of the sport of sacking up u will need to sack up.

go climb some 5.10 tight chimneys, it will give you a teets taste of what you'll be in for. Or as the above posters have previously suggested....say fuck it and give her.

Every one knows to train for off widths you do Superman Push ups followed by Three five minute rounds of wrestling a Bear. Just do a Forum search and you'll see!

sack up it is!

Bouldering at Vedauwoo would be great practice w/out getting on lead. Great core strength, cardio, and strong shoulders certainly help, so i'd cross train those areas.

Getting strong with your fist/hand/thinhand jams is essential for making the transition to stacks. Lots of good grovly fist cracks at the red in the 5.9+ range if i remember correctly that are perfect!

You're certainly better off going and doin it, but here are some basic pointers that might help: go to the base of an offwidth and boulder out different mechanical ways to move up AND rest. (i'm pretty sure the's something in the RRG guidebook about a roof crack boulder problem too, btw). Sometimes the best body configuration to rest and/or move your pro up (which is often in the back of the crack to keep the rope outta the way of your knee/foot jams) is impossible to make upward progress with.

If you have specific questions you can shoot me a msg.

have fun and climb safe!

You probably want to head over to Super Topo, which has a big collection of wyde experts, 'cause so far yer gettin' nuthin' here. "Just sacking up" may get you somewhere if you have exceptional natural talent, but most people will benefit enormously from the techniques and advice of folks who really know how to do it. Unfortunately, there is an enormous amount of static on Super Topo, seems to be getting worse over time, but there's a hell of a lot of expertise there too.

For openers, you should look at widefetish.com. The the forums section is thread devoted to technique. The How To section has several articles on technique. Check out the videos too, which (by and large) will show you what competent offwidth climbing ought to look like. (Beware: offwidth done right doesn't look too bad. Even more than other types of climbing, you have to be there and try it to grasp what the difficulties really are.) Then read the accounts in the Features section. The only disappointment is the Links section, which doesn't seem to point to that much more about offwidth.

Next, have a look at the Wide Boyz blog, wideboyz.blogspot.com/, to see what the current cutting edge looks like. (Some of the videos illustrate techniques really well too.)

OK, that should be a start.

I haven't read the above posts, so please forgive me for repeating anything already mentioned. O-dubbs are a great thing to learn and enjoy, because you may need to call on that learned skill many pitches up a big climb. I haven't done anything like the late and great Craig Luebben, but I can say that I have enjoyed my forays in the wide. My advise is as follows:
1) Don't let people talk you out of them
2) Hydrate and fuel (not too much) before them
3) Enjoy them
4) Make sure to tease all the sparkle jocky fun boys who avoid them
5) Have fun

Go climb every 5.7 at Lumpy Ridge and Vedauwoo. I am sure you will encounter some OW.

No it doesn’t make sense. If you want to go the North Pole then start walking south – eventually you’ll get there!

Most crack climbers go through a learning phase in which OW is actually attractive. Some of us even forget that it’s only a phase in our climbing careers.. . . .

If you’re looking for technique then check out the “Technique” tab at WideFetish, widefetish.com/pages/how_to… , which has copies of the best articles ever written on the wide. If your nearby hangs are not suitable training grounds, then head to Indian Creek, Vedawoo (as others have suggested), or almost any granite area. It is also possible to build yourself an adjustable OW crack to be featured at your next party.

Could your question be rephrased as "how do I train for off width climbing?" The answer if of course yes assuming you have a crack simulator somewhere. An english duo just did a fairly successful tour of hard US off widths having used a number of off width specific training methods.

Joseph P. Crotty wrote:Could your question be rephrased as "how do I train for off width climbing?" The answer if of course yes assuming you have a crack simulator somewhere. An english duo just did a fairly successful tour of hard US off widths having used a number of off width specific training methods.

Find some big gear and go out and try them! Besides a crack machine there is no realistic training for off-wdiths, just go out and squeeze and figure that shit out! Every climber's body is different and fits in cracks in entirely different ways. The beauty of off width (well one of the beauties) is that you can do whatever works for you personally, and nobody out there is gonna harass you for your technique (unless you just layback everything.)

I just did a blog post on wide climbing, if you're looking to get psyched take a look, there a good amount of photos too.

www.mattkuehl.blogspot.com
or
www.mattkuehl.blogspot.com/2012/01/take-walk-on-wide-side.html

Matt

Being comfortable with the sensation of rapid fire dry heaves while being smushed into agonizing contortions helps. Also good to not be skiddish at the sight of blood; yours or the leader's.

A great way to train for OW routes is to do OW boulder problems at Vedauwoo. Low commitment, no wide gear, relatively safe.

+1 on getting stronger at hand jams and the easy sizes. Many OW routes have a move or two of easy sizes that you have to milk to get something back before offwidthing again.

Crack machines are easy to build. Just check out some of the other forum posts here.

I think to paraphrase an indirect quote I heard attribute to Scarpelli, here is how to get good at OWs.

Step 1: Spend a year doing 1,000 situps a day
Step 2: Spend a weekend learning basic hand, fist, and cups-sized crack technique.
Step 3: PROFIT!!!1

I've also seen a lot of average climbers decide that the way they'll make a name for themselves is to become "that guy that's really good at OWs." So they train, and get really fit, throw themselves at all the Oh Dubbya's and the next thing they know, they're strong enough to have fun on all the climbs that used to shut them down– sport lines, fingercracks, boulder problems, whatever. They then realize that these types of climbs are more rewarding anyway, and they never OW climb again. It's a logical progression.

But this is all second-hand information for me. I max out at like 5.11/v4 OW, tops, and as far as I'm concerned, this is enough to get me up most big climbs that I'll ever do.

johnL wrote: I think I might actually be the person described in the example above but it was never about a "name" it was about naivety.

Lie on your belly and crawl across a Walmart parking lot. It might not make you physically stronger, but it might help you get mentally stronger for OWs. At the very least it will be less painful then Vedauwoo.

On a similar note, I do feel there is a mental part that has to change in order to climb OW. You have to understand that it is usually a slower process. Even if the climbing is easy things like gear, water, rope, clothing, helmet, etc often get in the way. Be patient. Secondly, learn how to rest in new ways. Hanging off a knee, thigh, helmet, heel-toe, etc is a new sensation. Sometimes you can find OW sized cracks on buildings. Instead of climbing them, try to get in them and rest.

mozeman wrote:Aside from just having experience, any other ways to practice off width without actually doing offwidth? if that makes sense?

OW climbing is one of my favorite ways to get bloody and bruised, working my ass off for what seems like eternity and yet only ascending an inch, and nothing beats the uncontrollable dry heaving.

:-)

I actually really love the wide stuff!!! Such a mind and body game trying to figure out what seems to be impossible body positions, yet they are needed to ascend.

IMHO a padded bra is absolutely necessary to protect the jugs!!!!!!

:-D