Join A Punter In His Wide Climbing Journey (Or Don't, Whatever)

Thought some people might be interested to see what it takes to turn a weakness in climbing into a strength. I've done it with multiple styles of climbing before, and it always feels impossible and hopeless at the beginning, but I find that after beating my head against the rock enough I eventually get to a breakthrough and then slowly build up mastery of technique from there.

So I set myself the goal to work on my biggest weakness in climbing: wide cracks.

Consumnes River Gorge is an amazing little crack school that you can setup TRs on most anything. I'm going to be spending a lot of time there this Winter, and then hopefully attempt many 5.8 and 5.9 OWs and TR some 10s up the Sonora Pass in late Spring and Summer. Everything at CRG is very short, so my goal for this Winter is to lead 6 OWs from 5.8 to 5.9+ and get to the point I can lead them all in one day; I figure if I can lead 6 mini off widths that's like one real one. The routes on my list are Mangler, Awful Width, Training Pants, Rhoids and Cream, Surprise, and Struggler.

So here's my trip report from day 1:

I met up with a rando from a climbing instragram group thingy; he was great company and a phenomenal belayer. Two thumbs up for my Instagram supplied climbing partner, he's great.

• I onsighted a sick ass dihedral hand crack thingy that's a 5.8 and called Test Piece for some reason? My health has been garbage this year and is just now starting to do better, so getting confirmation I can onsight 5.8 trad still (even if it was more desperado than I'd hoped) is very valuable information. Now, notably, this is not an OW. But did I mention that it's a sick ass hand crack dihedral?

• We went over to the Great Flake area and started on Dan's Delight. Great route, OW at the top is too easy and low angle and doesn't require much wide technique, so it definitely doesn't make it onto the OW circuit. Also strangely featherbagged route, pretty sure this would be 5.7 in the Valley and many other places I climb at.
• Then we moved over to Training Pants, where I couldn't even pull off the ground. The Proj states it has a hard start and holy shit are they right. Features OW upper body and chimney lower body. Fucking blows. Climbing partner figured it out in short order but claimed it was very challenging. I tried super hard and didn't get off the ground.
• Then we hit up Awful Width. Same story different verse. Tried super hard. Tried lots of beta. There were power screams on butteryfly jams. Be grateful you weren't there to witness it, it was not good. Partner hiked this one even faster than the previous one while claiming it was very hard.
• Then we hit up Mangler and I tried harder on any route I've tried on in a very long time and made a 30 minute ascent of a 30' route. MP describes it as both a chimney and a "chimney/OW." I wasn't sure how off widthy it was going to be. Very, it turns out. Perfect-- this route is deserving of being on my OW circuit. Had lots of chimney and squeeze chimney moves also though, which makes it extra interesting. I was glad I was able to do something, even if it was a horrifically terrible TR ascent.
• Then my climbing partner led Live and Learn, a fantastic little thin hands to finger crack. I found it surprisingly challenging on follow, especially for the low grade, but I really struggle with thin hands and ring locks, mostly because I can't find the right routes for them, so this thing is really a gem for those enrolled in crack school. Unfortunately it's one of the few routes you can't easily set up a TR on it. I could lead aid LRS to set up a rope another day, but I prefer my current plan, which is to bribe my GF (who has a significant distaste for dinky crags that I cannot comprehend)  with caramel brownies to lead it and put up a TR on it for me to practice.  
• We then tried to set up a TR on Surprise, a 5.8 described as good for learning wide technique, but we accidentally set it up on Struggler (5.9) instead. My new climbing buddy made pretty quick work of it, said it was hard, and then I decided that I was ridiculously worked and should probably stop for the day.
• Will start the day on Surprise next time, also a fun looking hand crack between those two routes is called Splitter and starts with an OW. Maybe it can join the club? We'll have to give it a whirl and see. 

Overall my body is incredibly worked, and I tried really hard and didn't even get off the ground on two 5.8 OWs, and my skin is raw and chafed all over. Stoke is incredibly high, gonna flail again very soon. Bad weather rolling in, though, so we'll see when I can get out next. I'm guesstimating that it will take me around 10 days of work at CRG to be able to lead all six, maybe more. I once projected a 5.9 wide hands crack for four years and this goal is even tougher, but I'll try to make it out at least a few times a month. So this is the new Permagumby Megaproj-- stay tuned if you're curious what a punter turning a weakness into a strength looks like. Hit me up if you would like to join me in this endeavor. 

Following along because I believe in you and your virtuous pursuit (I also suck at wide climbing)

30' 5.8's....Story of my life!

Sounds like a great way to get in good shape, on some nice granite too. A couple weeks of working your plan and I bet you will be charging up these OW boulders. 

Cosumnes is great for those TRS days. On that one rock a climber can tie one big anchor and then use redirects for each crack, work em all in short (or long, hehe) order. I know that hard start one you're talking about. A younger me in end of summer form, bouldered that thing on-sight and felt the rating was spot on. Later, some years later, I couldn't get off the ground on TR, hahahahahaha!

Headspace and fitness, were the primary differences. Cosumnes has some great if not short routes. Some of them will work you to the last move. They all look easier from below!

Enjoyed reading this! keep us posted! Good luck! 

Subscribed!

And thanks for the trip down memory lane. I lived in Sacramento when I started climbing and had many fun outings to Bucks Bar with the homies getting scraped up. I remember being sooooo pumped on Test Piece, leading it seemed impossible.

Big gains come from tiny boulders, it's a zen thing. Down here we have Mount Woodson. For these wide cracks, it's all about hooking your inside foot for stability, and pushing up with the outside foot heel-toe. There is a lot of nuance to getting the heel-toes to stick just right. You want to get your body fully stuck to rest, and then barely unstuck to move up.

Maybe a "final exam" could be the 2nd pitch of Travelers at the Leap.

Good luck !!

There was once a time ... but these days, the only chicken wings in my life are the ones doused in sriracha. Gotespeed, merry gentleman, and may you always be able to extricate your knee with minimal invectives.

I was there myself once a long time ago.  Next step: Get yourself up to the Pie Shop and run the circuit.

Mad Wife

Desiderata (P2)

Shelob's Lair (best as TR?)

and quite a few others which escape my memory.  Let me know when you are ready for a part 2!

I’ll be happy to join you/belay slave some wide cracks here on Sonora Pass when you’re ready, Ricky. And it may be a bonus that I’ve got a ton of wide crack gear. 

Hit me if your ever out here again Ricky! I'm 15-20 away.
I'm happy to spend a day thrashing some wide at CRG. 

Thanks for all the great comments, y'all, I'm glad my silly endeavor is of interest.

Brad Young wrote:

I’ll be happy to join you/belay slave some wide cracks here on Sonora Pass when you’re ready, Ricky. And it may be a bonus that I’ve got a ton of wide crack gear.

Well I certainly won't pass up an opportunity to climb with one of my most favorite cantankerous old timers! =) 

I appreciate your recommendations for easy wide climbs on the Sonora Pass forums. Looking at them in the book they do see rather bold for my taste being a committed coward and all that, but it looks like many of them I can TR after leading an adjacent route, so I reckon I'll do that as soon as they become accessible next year. And I'm definitely keen to try and onsight Inferiority Complex and Scratchin The Itch after completion of the Permagumby Megaproj at CRG. And maybe Heavy Mettle depending on how those ones go.

Mr Rogers wrote:

Hit me if your ever out here again Ricky! I'm 15-20 away.
I'm happy to spend a day thrashing some wide at CRG.

Hell yeah, brother! I definitely will. Expect an email when the weather starts clearing up.

Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

... get the carhartts. ...

Better yet: Get. Knee. Pads. Not the  rubber coated knee-bar pads , but some ordinary foam pads (similar to wetsuit/drysuit material). I have found they are most useful to  protect the sides when knee jamming (mostly #5 camalot for me), but are occasionally useful in chimneys as well.

Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

Oh if nobody showed you, tie your figure eight long so the knot is above your belly button or longer depending on the masochistic horror in front of you 

Plus Iv heard being an OW climbing makes one better in bed. 

This kinda depends on whether you are leading or following. A swami belt definitely can be helpful. You don't want all those monster cams anchored to your hip bones anyway.

I have all kinds of possibly useful tips, if you would like to hear Ricky?

Although you do appear to have some nice invites. That's very cool. 

Eric Craigwrote:

I have all kinds of possibly useful tips, if you would like to hear Ricky?

Hit me with em, my good man. 

Although you do appear to have some nice invites. That's very cool. 

Hard agree!

Despite the shit that will come, here goes: offwidth climbing is NOT any more physical than any other type of crack climbing. Some OWs are less physical than neighbouring pitches of similar grade, but different type. If it is always more physical than all other climbing of the same grade, then there's more to learn. I am TRYING  TO ADDRESS MINDSET here. A bunch of laps doesn't do much good if they aren't GOOD  laps. Technique!!!!!

A useful thought for some has been the bumper jack analogy. Of course lots of people will have no idea what a mechanical bumper jack is,............ The old fashioned car bumper jack works like this: lift the handle up,  the jack mechanically positions itself for the upward push, push the handle down,  the jack pushes the car up, lift handle up,  jack repositions itself for the move up, and so on. This form of locomotion applies directly to wide cracks, starting with fists and moving up through squeeze chimneys, and especially to the OWs.

Well this is a start, hopefully. Questions?

Eric Craigwrote:

A bunch of laps doesn't do much good if they aren't GOOD  laps. Technique!!!!!

Good luck on your quest Ricky. I do not agree with the first part of Eric's statement but I'm on board with the technique part. As one who has made the wide crack quest, I know your first laps are likely to be not pretty, so I would say that initially any wide laps are good laps cuz that's the best way to come upon technique.
Top rope solo is the best way to get er done (unless of course you have some equally sick and motivated pal lyin around).
Try to work on things 5.9 or harder because usually on ones easier than that ow technique not always necessary.

Try to find a variety of sizes in the ow range to work on, since as they get wider they require different techniques to get you up the thing.

Focus on resting, because over time you'll be surprised how many you find on an offwidth pitch.

happy hunting

Fossil mentions "resting". This is key, and where the bumper jack analogy fits in. And the total physical effort. The effort of upward  movement would be, on average,  greater than other types of crack climbing.   But, the effort required to maintain elevation or position, with good technique,  is on average LESS. Cultivation of these "resting " positions, is like the at rest and ready to go "reset" position of the bumper jack. So patience is also a key factor.

I think it would be more useful to climb 10 feet of OW crack cultivating both the short controlled upward moves and the in between resetting/resting positions, than to thrash your way up 30 feet. 

Getting better at rattley first jamming and tight and flared chimneys will also have benefits. Many cruxes are the transition from one to the other. 

It just occurred to me that 4wd/off roader kind of people carry and use " high jacks", ?, which operate the same or similar? to the old fashioned bumper jack 

Ricky, I didn't intend to kill your thread. I hope you will keep us, (or me, as in you could DM if you like) informed. I am interested. Eric. 

Eric Craigwrote:

Ricky, I didn't intend to kill your thread. I hope you will keep us, (or me, as in you could DM if you like) informed. I am interested. Eric. 

I'm going out to crg on the first, it's just been very rainy. I'll keep y'all updated for sure. Thanks for your tips Eric, I appreciate ya. 

Hairshirt at snowshed is also a really good learning OW, or maybe it's hair lip? Whatever the 5.8 is. 

Oh, it is Hair Shirt. You are right, it is a good very basic OW. It's probably a mixed climb for the next few months. Dry tooling OW anyone?