Taping Hands

I've been trying to hone my crack climbing skills over the last few years and discovered that I like the protection of tape for any prolonged hand crack climbing. According to all of the other climbers I've talked to and the websites I've checked I'm taping correctly but the problem is that the tape always comes off the backs of my hands, usually after only 1 to 2 pitches. It is still attached around my fingers and wrist but is no longer stuck to the backs of my hands. Are there any good ways to prevent this?

Get some Benzoin Tincture and apply it before you tape. Tincture provides tackiness for enhancing the adhesive property of tape. So as you climb and your hands start to sweat the tape wont come loose.

Make sure you get the kind with the applicator brush.

brucemedical.com/bentin.html

Since I've been buying my tape from our local climbing shop (Neptunes in Boulder) I haven't experienced any rolling. I formally purchased tape from various drug stores etc and their cloth tape always rolled. So if your not buying from a climbing shop at present you may want to try their tape first. I've used benzine (leaves back of hands orange and other spray on product and they work they can be a pain to clean off however.

Thanks for the input.
I am using Metolius Climbing tape that I bought at a local shop but I'll have to get some Benzoin Tincture and try it.

Tombo,
Any idea what brand Neptune sells (I'm not local their shop)? I haven't been very unsatisfied with the Metolius tape I've bought so far. It seems to have a serious lack of tackiness straight off the roll.

If you can find a Hockey specialty store see if they carry Jaybird and Mais. they make like twenty kinds of athletic tape and it comes in colors and stuff but i use their basic tape when i can get ahold of it and the adhesive doesn't come off until you want it to. Its about two bucks a roll and worth every penny. They also have this cool stuff called moleskin but i consider it cheating because the outside is pretty much rubber.

Have you tried different methods of taping? I find that wrapping all the way around the palm, and around the base of the thumb, and again at the wrist (rather than making the more complicated tape gloves with a separate wrap for each finger and the wrist backing) tends to be sturdier through the day, although hard to reuse. This usually will get through a full day at Vedauwoo no problem. the tape will always be a little detached on the back of my hands, but won't slip at all.

I agree with the Tincture of Benzoine idea; it's gotta be some of the stickiest shit of earth.

Chase Gee wrote:If you can find a Hockey specialty store see if they carry Jaybird and Mais.

I don't know about these specific brands, but I buy hockey tape at Play It Again Sports and it's much cheaper than any other tape that I've found. I think it works almost as good as the other, more expensive brands.

--Marc

Edit: The Kendall tape is definitely the stickiest tape that I've found; I personally think it's too sticky. It's also pretty expensive. But if stickiness is what you're looking for, Kendall's the way to go. I'd suggest going with the Benzoine only if the Kendall didn't do it for you; that stuff is a pain to deal with.

I'm cheap, so I take advantage of the fact that the full hand tape mit will loosen after a day of climbing and slice the inside of the mit up from the inside of wrist up to about a 1/3 or 1/2 of the inside of the palm and (after breaking any remaining adhesions) slide my hand out. Next time I put a piece of tape, face up on one side, wiggle my hand back in and tape it shut again, inside and out. Add a patch if needed and I'm good to go. Sometimes I have two or so salvaged pairs so I can use a thin pair or maybe a slightly beefier pair, depending on what I'm doing. A bit of work, but ultimately quicker than my friends who do a new tape job. Thin cracks require either a new tape mit, or the thinner style. On wider cracks, the looser fit works fine. I know, it's cheap, it's aid, but gosh it's worked well for over 30 years. (and my hands are lovely)

Thanks again for all the help. I think I'll try the Kendall Curity tape and then the Benzoin Tincture if I need it. It sounds like that tape will work a lot better than the Metolius tape I've been using.

Here is my taping method, which some might find useful:

I seem to be having trouble embedding video here so just paste this into a new browser window:
youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ87ZwU-A

youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ87Z…

You can get Kendall tape here: allmed.net/catalog/item/2531

You have to buy 12, but at ~$1.75 per roll, including shipping, it's a pretty good deal.

thanks bevan. i like that idea. ill have to try it next time.

you have to add a .com to the link though. here it is youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ87Z…

johnL wrote:Neptune is selling Kendall-Curity tape. It is without rival in the realm of taping. Everything else sortof works but works better with the tincture.

Since I switched to Kendall two things occurred: first, I used half as much tape to keep the thing attached; second, I haven't pumped out from over-tight tape gloves. It stretches a bit, and is quite a bit sticker, so I can use less tape (thinner gloves = more sensitivity and doesn't interfere as much while climbing) for the same protection.

Mueller tape is crap in comparison.

I must say that in my experience it never feels quite as good as the first time.

I like the feeling of a secure bond between tape and skin, and that just doesn't happen twice with one piece of tape. When you are trying to make thin rattly hands work, a fat glove with lots of loops on the fingers is (I feel) a hindrance, as is one that has been used before.
The taping method I mentioned above will be secure and low-profile in all sizes of crack, and I SWEAR the lack of finger loops does not decrease its utility, it only increases it.

Brian, Have we met before? I am from laramie.

Shumin Wu wrote: Their new stuff is cheaper and crappier.

They had kendall-curity last week

Bevan wrote:Brian, Have we met before? I am from laramie.

Maybe. I used to work at the UW gym, roomed with Jay Jurkowitsch until last December. I've climbed a bit with Edl and those guys but never really could keep pace with them.

if you have the money (I don't) try a pair of hand jammies, a partner of mine got a pair and I gave them a try, actually work really well, and much easier to get on and off than tape gloves. just size them right, it would suck if they were too big and ended up flopping around mid handjam.

keenan18 wrote:if you have the money (I don't) try a pair of hand jammies, a partner of mine got a pair and I gave them a try, actually work really well, and much easier to get on and off than tape gloves. just size them right, it would suck if they were too big and ended up flopping around mid handjam.

Keep in mind that if you can't risk the glove or jammy sliding, you will end up using so much tape that it would've been easier to just make a tape glove.

Same goes for reusable tape gloves. Not saying don't do it, just saying that hand jammies have met little success partially because of that problem (also because it seems too much like cheating for most).