If you look at a climbing wall, you’ll see that each hold is different from the last. Each one has a slightly different shape, size, or placement on the wall. Yet each of these differences serves a purpose in the climbing experience.
Each hold shape is designed to do one thing: to determine the amount of force that you have to apply against gravity, friction, and any levers to hold onto the climb. The jug hold, with its large hand hold that beginners typically use for climbing, allows for your fingers to fit around the hold and to distribute the weight of your body across a wide area. Due to friction between the hold and your fingers, however, strength is of little importance when attempting to climb with this hold.
Smaller holds turn that equation on its head. The crimp requires your fingers to contact a smaller area of the hold, which means you have to apply more force to maintain your body weight in a given area. Even someone who found it easy to climb on the jugs will find difficulty with these smaller holds. For a Climbing Wall Near Me, visit https://www.270climbing.com/climbing/
Angles matter just as much as size. A sloped hold depends fully on friction between the rock and the climber’s body. An incut hold, however, has a slight angle downwards which allows for the fingers to push against it – a ledge that works in favour of the climber rather than against it.
Route-setters understand this instinctively, utilising the angles and shapes in the same way that composers use musical notes to create routes of varying difficulties. This is why even two holds that may appear to be similar can have different difficulties due to the shape and angle of those holds.
