can you down climb 5.9 or harder, and not only in the gym? just because you can usually see your feet better.

I think slab and face are probably the hardest and steep jugs and cracks the easiest.  bulges or transitions are usually hard too.  what do you think?

 I believe it is harder to see footholds when you downclimb, not easier.

Down climbing, I can almost casually stretch myself to full length hanging from a hand hold.  

just wondering if it's a skill people practice much anymore, I find it pretty useful but I don't like to just try to punch it to the top.  I would rather downclimb regroup and try again.

It's a useful skill and I have practiced a bit at times because I've needed to down climb to bail off high boulder problems I couldn't finish a couple times. 

Downclimbing the route should be the second half of a successful redpoint. We have been cheating forever with this business about lowering off of the anchors instead of downclimbing. 

Are you trying to say down climbing is easier on a 5.9+, presuming it is more vertical? If your question is if we can down climb 5.9+ routes, well, no, in my case, because it requires that "up" bit, lol!

I do down climb, indoors and out. Out, because it was prudent to do so, inside because it works the muscles differently. It's also nice hanging the old body full length!

Two tricky downclimbs last year. One, on a mere 5.4, but on a vertical, slightly bulgy bit....with the slab to land on. Had a sprained ankle at the time. The other, was traversing across the top, then topping out. Had to down climb to get below the anchors to lower. Again, an easy climb, but interesting to work out the rope parts!

Best, Helen

This is obviously the new cutting edge of climbing.  Sure, Adam Ondra can UPclimb 15.d, but what’s his max downclimb onsight?

i used to like doing slightly roddey (5.10...supposedly harder after a hold broke) in the trapps... i guess i had done it so many times it was a little boring, so i started downclimbing it after id go up.....its a 3 or 4 move horizontal roof with a couple small tiers to pull at the end. one move on the horizontal part is pretty much a push feet on the wall pull hand on a knob tension move. i actually surprised myself that  i was able to do it backwards.....

When I was in my freesoloing phase, I made it a point to get good at down climbing. That was before things got all next level and shit.

I love downclimbing. I practice it more indoors, but outdoors a bit too. I think it's especially useful for trad & alpine stuff. Preferably, one gets confident in one's downclimbing skills before actually needed them (due to going off course or bitting off bigger than you can chew or whatever).

I downclimbed trad a little, but need to do it more. My goal would be to clean up easier routes on the downclimb. What I've realized is that you want to sew it up a little more than you might otherwise when downclimbing - maybe it's just me, but I just don't feel as confident removing a piece of protection on the downclimb (and suddenly going from totally safe to runout territory on the downclimb). Which is in a way ridiculous since at the end of the runout going up and before placing it you'd be in exactly the same spot. I guess I just don't feel as confident downclimbing.

At the moment I downclimb all bouldering problems that I can (I boulder ~V5/6 at my gym and can usually downclimb ~V4) and fairly regularly routes, too.

ANother benefit of downclimb is that it probably helps keeping your muscles balanced - you work opposite of what you do going up in a lot of cases, so it probably counts as a slightly antagonistic exercise.

The first free downclimb of el cap is waiting...

First ascent is to down climbing as drafting an MP post is to hitting cancel.

I have, once, downclimbed almost the entire 5.11 sport route. I was at the last bolt when it started pouring. The route slabs out at the top, so the top section turned into a waterfall. But below the last bolt, it was juggy and overhanging. I figured it was safe enough to unclip/downlead. It was fine.

But under normal circumstances I have only ever down-climbed just a couple of moves at a time.

In the gym, I do up/down/up as one of the endurance workouts. 

Didn' Honnold downclimb Dream of Wild Turkeys?

It's a good skill to have if you want to get adventurous. 

Franck Vee wrote: 
ANother benefit of downclimb is that it probably helps keeping your muscles balanced - you work opposite of what you do going up in a lot of cases, so it probably counts as a slightly antagonistic exercise.

Really? If you use your biceps to pull up on a hold, you still use your biceps (and not your triceps, which would be antagonistic) to lower yourself down from that hold (if you hang from it) during downclimbing. It does change from concentric to eccentric muscle contractions.

Elisa R wrote:

Really? If you use your biceps to pull up on a hold, you still use your biceps (and not your triceps, which would be antagonistic) to lower yourself down from that hold (if you hang from it) during downclimbing. It does change from concentric to eccentric muscle contractions.

You are correct.

Ross D wrote: Didn' Honnold downclimb Dream of Wild Turkeys?

It's a good skill to have if you want to get adventurous. 

I know he uses Crimson Chrysalis as his decent route a lot.

Ted Pinson wrote:

I know he uses Crimson Chrysalis as his decent route a lot.

You're right. I think Crimson is overrated, but still decent. 

FrankPS wrote:

You're right. I think Crimson is overrated, but still decent. 

It would be a lot better as a free solo since the belays suck. 

I practice down climbing often and can downclimb a couple letters below my upclimb limit. Assessing your down climb ability on TR can be a bit deceiving since you often have rope drag making the moves easier on the way down. But down climbing comes in handy if you like red pointing. Has saved my bacon plenty, too