How to jam fat fingers

Sadly none of the people I have climbed with have done much, if any, crack climbing so I can't ask them. But it often seems that when I come across a "finger crack" it is too wide for my fingers to wedge in by the standard jam (sticking my fingers in and torquing my hand). Is there another technique for getting a good hold? Should I just be trusting this jam more than what I am? Sometimes my fingers kind of grip but not enough that I'm comfortable with it. But sometimes they don't grip at all, yet I can't get my hand in either.

Do you know how to finger stack?

I've found the Crack Climber's Technique Manual by Kent Pease to be extremely helpful.

There's also an old article by Dale Bard (pretty sure) that you can Google up for free, covers a lot of good information.

If you're super motivated, look for Moab Desert Adventures Splitter Camp at Indian Creek. They'll throw you on all the green camalot cracks you want!

Good luck.

Ring locks, finger stacks and thumb stacks. Takes a while to trust this size.

Yeah, practice ring locks and stacks. +1 to Pease.

Brady3 wrote:Sadly none of the people I have climbed with have done much, if any, crack climbing so I can't ask them. But it often seems that when I come across a "finger crack" it is too wide for my fingers to wedge in by the standard jam

Consider yourself lucky!

After 3.5 decades of climbing my fingers are the size of Jimmy Dean Sausages. I have the opposite problem: in a "finger crack" I can only get my tips in, maybe up to the cuticles, or maybe my pinky.

So if the crack is too wide... my advice is find a "harder" crack. They will generally be thinner. Experiment until you find the right grade that fits your fingers.

Do I remember right that Practice Crack in Boulder Canyon (I see OP recently did a route in Clear Creek Canyon) might reward smaller fingers? Although seeking your good size won't teach you how to finger stack...

Nip and Tuck further up boulder Canyon has a really nice varied thin 9 crack also.

Homer problems

jaredj wrote: Homer problems

easily top 5 best simpsons episodes....

Butter'em up and slide 'em in!

my favorite was always weekend at bernies. speaking of the trust the size of the jam, fingers, stacks etc, how did you all come to trust them? my main weakness with crack climbing is a lack of trust (secureness) in my jams..

Yea – the term “fingers” is often used loosely in guide books, plus finger sizes vary. What you’re dealing with is a lot more difficult than the prefect finger size, so don’t feel bad. In my opinion that is the most difficult size (Although some would argue in favor of OW).

You need to include your thumb in some form of a finger/thumb stack. See chapter 3 (Semi-Thin) rather than chapter 2. It feels really bad at first, but there are subtle ways to make it work better by using physics to your advantage. It is very technical! Even with good technique it takes time to master the jams. Artificial cracks adjusted to the right (wrong) size can accelerate the learning process 10X.

youtube.com/watch?v=mIdE-Dz…

Thanks for the responses!
I do not know how to do ring locks, finger stacks, or thumb stacks. I've heard the term ring lock but wasn't sure if was what I should be looking for.
Also it seems there isn't much on youtube for how to do finger stacks or thumb stacks, all about how to strengthen your fingers.

I might end up actually buying the book, and I was thinking about making a simple crack system. Hopefully my girlfriend is ok with that since she doesn't seem to be ok with me putting up a bouldering wall in the apartment, ha.

And yes, I am in the Denver area so Boulder Canyon is not too far, I'll look into those routes.

I had watched through the first few of the Wideboyz videos, but apparently I stopped too soon.

The little bit of crack climbing I've done I have liked, but all my friends want to do sport so there aren't as many cracks.

Brady,

This is a nice solution if you lack the space/carpentry skills to build an actual crack machine:

blog.hillmap.com/2012/12/si…

I ordered the 10' clamp on amazon, but you can pick up something similar at a hardware store. It's a little too small for hand/fist jams, as you need significant surface area, but works great for practicing fingers & off finger sizes (such as your troublesome ringlock). The trick, though, is that clamps need to clamp onto something...I find it works best if you can find a door/piece of wood that is the right size. I'm working on several ideas to improve it, including attaching larger blocks, but it works great for working out the techniques.

I'm also trying to get better at finger and off-finger cracks, especially since I just made my first trip to Indian Creek last weekend. I have Pease's book, watched all the Wide Boyz tutorials, and I still can't figure out how to jam off-finger efficiently. Since you're in Denver, Earth Treks has a thin hand and a finger crack that are great to practice on. They are parallel with no constrictions, so it's very hard to figure out how to jam them correctly. But I think once I can jam the parallel cracks, the more natural ones with constrictions will be easier.

I hadn't thought about that Ted. My plan was to get two 2x6's or 2x8's and bolt them together parallel, I'd be able to change out whatever I use as spacers to adjust the size of the crack. My apartment has beams that come down about 8-12 inches from the ceiling, so I was just going to lean it against one of those with the bottom against the wall. If I move I can just lean it against a limb on a tree. With this I could also work on movement through the crack. But I have been slow on getting my crafting projects put together recently, so I might go ahead and get one of the clamps for now. What about tying cord around one of the bolts and just hooking your foot with the cord to pull against?

aikibujin, I have been to Earth Treks a few times, if I'm going to go to a gym then it is my preferred one in the area, but it is expensive and a bit of drive (I was apparently spoiled going to the gym in IN where a day pass is $10 for bouldering rather than the $20, also there was no registration fee for a membership). So I am leaning towards the two board thing described above since it won't cost about the same a couple trips to the gym.

I'm no off-finger crack maestro but one of the most important things to remember when climbing this size is to bring your elbow in towards your center as you climb. For me this is often the difference between sliding out and getting a secure jam.