Offwidth Technique?

I'm heading to the "Voo" this weekend for two days of offwidth climbing. I was there last November and got my butt handed to me on a three pitch 5.4....5.4!!!! So, in order to maximize my climbing efficiency this time around, I'm wondering if there are any offwidth afficionado's here that could give me some pointers for ascending these rather difficult routes.

My technique (or rather, lack thereof) last time consisted of squirming, grunting, grovelling and thrutching up the thing until I topped out quite dishevelled and exhausted. I'd like to do it in a better style this time!

Thanks in advance!

Do lots of situps.

I always thought that squirming, grunting, groveling and thrutching WAS offwidth technique. hmmmm.

This site has got links to a bunch of awesome old articles:
widefetish.com/
Have fun!

Use your feet. Heel-toe jam with one foot and smear or stand on edges with the other. Alternately, get a knee jam with one leg and heel-toe with the other leg. A knee jams work best (and are easiest to remove) when your foot stays out of the crack. Your heel should be nearly touching your ass. Your arms help you to maintain balance, and in a pinch, keep you from losing progress, but otherwise do nothing for you.

Which 3 pitch 5.4 kicked your ass? There are blessed few 3 pitch lines out there, even fewer 3 pitch 5.4s, and no 3 pitch 5.4s that need a lot of wide technique, so far as I know. And trust me, I know the 5.4s out there.

I'll be up there Friday and Sunday. Maybe we'll run into each other.

Brian Scoggins wrote:Which 3 pitch 5.4 kicked your ass?

Foolishness. We did it in three pitches anyway and only the first had the offwidth. I had my entire leg in there and was arm jamming up to my shoulder.

Thanks for the tips...I'll see if I can put them to good use. I'll be up there sat morning and leaving sun afternoon. No idea where our group is going to climb yet though.

jfox wrote:I'm heading to the "Voo" this weekend for two days of offwidth climbing.

What are you ??
Some sort of masochist or something ?

Two words. Craig Luebben. He is teaching a crack class through the totalclimbing.com guys (BRC). June 1 I believe and yes at the Voo.

Ray

Dave Brower wrote: What are you ?? Some sort of masochist or something ?

hehe...just trying to climb as many places and styles as I possibly can. I don't aspire to be great at any one type of climbing, just proficient enough to get by anything I might encounter up in the high peaks. Yeah, OW climbing is painful and ugly, but its kinda fun trying to figure it all out.

Craig is teaching that course in Vedauwoo.

totalclimbing.com/page.php?…

jfox wrote: hehe...just trying to climb as many places and styles as I possibly can. I don't aspire to be great at any one type of climbing, just proficient enough to get by anything I might encounter up in the high peaks. Yeah, OW climbing is painful and ugly, but its kinda fun trying to figure it all out.

Thats quite awesome really... a good thing to practice.

One thing that can help is learning to fist jam.
If you can possibly get your arm back there far enough
to get one, they can really help.

Bring lots of tape !!

When using chicken wings, get your elbow higher than your shoulder so that the wing cams open when weighted.

After years of flailing, I can finally get chicken wings that feel like jugs sometimes.

Dave Brower wrote: Thats quite awesome really... a good thing to practice. One thing that can help is learning to fist jam. If you can possibly get your arm back there far enough to get one, they can really help.

Or they can hobble you by getting you too far into the crack. So use your good judgment.

And if you have to arm-bar, keep your elbow below your shoulder so you can actually push off of it. You can't pull on an arm bar, so don't try.

Stacks are fantastically useful, especially on slabby terrain where you don't need a bomber knee lock or heel-toe to move with them. On steep terrain though, you really need to dial the technique, so bear that in mind also.

Wear long pants. Tape your ankles and/or wear socks. Build your tape gloves in such a way that they'll actually offer protection, and not just get in your way. The Indian Creek standard that just covers the back of your hand, but not the heel or the thumb, yeah, they're useless. You'd be better served to go tapeless if that's your glove. Think about what will get rubbed during a fistjam, then tape to protect those areas.

Nick Stayner wrote:This site has got links to a bunch of awesome old articles: widefetish.com/ Have fun!

Nick, thanks for the link. Very cool site!!!

Protect your elbows too...a neoprene elbow brace works great. I ground crystals into my elbow chickenwinging at Vedauwoo and it became infected.

Neoprene knee sleeves are great also. Padded knee and elbow pads move out of position too easily.

The ultimate how-to for offwidth tape gloves and bad ass pictures
monsteroffwidth.com/climbin…

The only way to get better at offwidths is to climb offwidths, preferably on a regular basis. There are many subtleties, but probably the most important is this - DO NOT RUSH. Most people freak out in chimneys and offwidths, wasting vast amounts of energy. You need to learn to be satisfied with an inch of progress, or less, per move. Often times offwidths require a more or less constant body position to maintain proper friction and stay in the crack. Writhing like a fish really messes with this equilibrium.
So relax, breathe deeply, and milk the rests because they are definitely there, especially if the offwidth is 5.10 or under. You are trying to be the tortoise, not the hare. Really focus on the outside foot, it is that foot in a heel-toe position that will move you up in the crack. Your outside foot should be pointing almost straight down to get the most effective heel-toe. The inside foot and knee allow you to move the outside foot up just an inch or so between moves. Upper Slot on the Nautilus is a good practice crack for this. Just be disciplined and climb it in heel-toe style - there are not going to be "cheater" face holds on hard offwidths!

Great stuff fella's...thanks!

Handjacker is also worth getting on. Its the obvious offwidth over by Lower Progressive. Horticulture is also pretty good, the second pitch is pretty sustained too-big-to-stack offwidth, at only 5.6. Satterfield's Crack might be worth checking out, if its dry. There's still a lot of snow up there, warm weather spell not withstanding. Easy Jam will also help dial your wide technique. You won't fall unless you really screw things up, but holding on is not the hard part. Also, Lower Slot (that is the correct start to slot, the wide crack on the right) is really good for figuring out wide technique. The first 10 feet are bigger than an old style #5 camalot, but too small to get inside. The crux is straight up thuggy though, so be warned.

I second the suggestion to tape your ankles, otherwise they tend to leak.

What I found to be useful in climbing O/W is wearing pants, I wear jeans without holes at the knees. A thick long sleeve work shirt and socks, you can tape up the ankle to help prevent gobies. It really helps with your ability to climb O/W. And of course having the technique heel toe, arm bars chicken wings, hand stacks, fist stacks all that fun stuff and most important breathing staying focused and calm, the process may be slow but the more O/W you do the better you get! Have fun... Armando