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Offwidth foot work

Original Post
climber57 Jones · · Saint John, NB · Joined Nov 2012 · Points: 60

Struggling to find a solid foot jam where the crack is slightly larger than a toe heel cam. Any suggestions??

Kent Pease · · Littleton, CO · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,066

Yea when crack is too wide for your foot to bridge across, it is that wide transition size between OW and a chimney — the wider of the two hard OW sizes. In theory you can use foot stacks like a “T”, but in practice they don’t seem to work well except for occasional rests. More realistically you’ll use a chicken leg with your outside leg (corners and flares only, but not too useful in a splitter) and a leg bar for your inside leg. Think of it as more of a full body movement with extensions and compressions than as specific jams. Grunting helps too.

Norm Rasmussen · · North Jersey · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 866

+1 to Kent. Mostly the grunting.

For me (and I think most of us) a totally bent leg widens your thigh muscles that are right above your knee creating a nice jam. Just fight the rock and wedge whatever you can to create a squeeze on your arms, legs, back, head whatever.

David Gibbs · · Ottawa, ON · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 2
Jake Jones wrote:Try to picture a slimy fish tail flailing about on a wet pier. That's my offwidth footwork.
+1
GhaMby Eagan · · Heaven · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 385

Try to get the sole of your shoe onto the wall behind you, then push into the wall in front of you with the inside of your knees. palms down in front (at waist level and elbows pushing into the wall behind you) or chicken wing. I find this size the hardest of all!

Remember to make short movements, like an inch at a time. If you try to move too far at a time your fee will pop. Good luck. Practice lots.

Matt N · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 415

Cursing (the more creative, the better) along with the grunting. Makes your feet stick better.

GhaMby Eagan · · Heaven · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 385




Trevor · · Cottonwood Heights, UT · Joined Jul 2006 · Points: 180

^^^
Chimney, not offwidth.

Sometimes you can fish your leg in deeper and find heel/toes. If the T stacks dont work, as mentioned approach shoes are bigger. Can sometimes smear/scum the "arete" of the crack...

I like to chicken wing a leg up high, kinda sideways...hard to describe.

GhaMby Eagan · · Heaven · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 385
Trevor wrote:^^^ Chimney, not offwidth. Sometimes you can fish your leg in deeper and find heel/toes. If the T stacks dont work, as mentioned approach shoes are bigger. Can sometimes smear/scum the "arete" of the crack... I like to chicken wing a leg up high, kinda sideways...hard to describe.
If it's too big for a heel toe, then it's probably not an offwidth, it would be a "squeeze chimney" unless climber57 has baby feet and a big ol gut.
slim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2004 · Points: 1,103
DoesNotCare wrote: If it's too big for a heel toe, then it's probably not an offwidth, it would be a "squeeze chimney" unless climber57 has baby feet and a big ol gut.
not really. its pretty easy for it to be too big to stack, too small to wing, and too big for good heel toe.
John McNamee · · Littleton, CO · Joined Jul 2002 · Points: 1,690

This might help... hotaches.com/free-climbing-…

It's totally legitimate.

Hmann2 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 30

ow is a strange beast! You can try knee jams in the in between size. Or the cartwheel technique depending on how slitter it is. Check out widefetish.com they have great ow technique tips.

Salamanizer Ski · · Off the Grid… · Joined Sep 2005 · Points: 18,914

Sometimes the crack constricts deeper in the OW to where you can get a good heal toe deep inside. In that case I've often gone almost horizontal, working a chicken wing with my lead arm, arm bar with the pushing arm and alternating moving my feet, then upper body.

A double heel double toe stack works on some off sized cracks too. Put your heels together, toes out on the opposing walls, knees slightly bent and frogger your way up. This usually works in conjunction with stacked hands. Stack and lock feet, move hands, lock hands, move feet etc... I've been able to cruise many test piece O.W's up to hard 5.11 with this technique.

Hiking boots or approach shoes work great too for the old school test pieces. Like Twilight Zone in Yosemite. They were originally done in boots and are much easier to repeat in a similar style. One of the few examples where the old school climbing shoes work better then the current crop of ultra sticky, specialty shoes of today.

J Achey · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 155

Kent mentions the T-stack, but underrates it. This is the ticket. Learn it, practice it, it will change your life.

DannyUncanny · · Vancouver · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 100

keep jamming your leg in there until something (calf, knee, thigh) sticks. If nothing sticks, then get your hips inside and it's a chimney.

marty funkhouser · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 20

Keep thrashing around with your ankles and knees until you get some nice patches of exposed bone and tendon. The bone does an amazing job of sticking to small irregularities in the rock and the tendons can work themselves into tiny cracks which is very secure.

slim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2004 · Points: 1,103
J Achey wrote:Kent mentions the T-stack, but underrates it. This is the ticket. Learn it, practice it, it will change your life.
my experience with T stacking is pretty much the same as kent's - you can hang out in one place pretty well, but trying to move off of it is usually pretty rough. usually it is too tight to chicken wing so you are arm barring like there is no tomorrow - which is pretty strenuous.

i have had pretty good success with the diagonal/horizontal method that salamanizer describes. the lower arm can do some arm barring, but the configuration naturally lets gravity cam your arm a bit. one drawback is if you are trying to push a piece above you, it is tough to find a free path for both ropes, and you can end up grinding the shit out of the rope.
Ryan Kempf · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 371

Let's get a little more specific to really help out the OP (links prob are the best though). What size in inches are we talking? Too big for heel/toe is what? like 10-12".... Baggy new #6's?

Matt Kuehl · · Las Vegas · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 1,712

When in doubt, invert.

Shelton Hatfield · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2011 · Points: 650
Ryan Kempf wrote:Let's get a little more specific to really help out the OP (links prob are the best though). What size in inches are we talking? Too big for heel/toe is what? like 10-12".... Baggy new #6's?
#6 what?
Ryan Kempf · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 371
Shelton Hatfield wrote: #6 what?
Baggy #5's and tight #6's I get my knee in, sit on it and stack away. that shit's easy (5-7"). Bigger than that I can heel/toe for a few inches...?

Am I way off here? What size do you lose your heel/toe?
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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