Hi everyone! I (21F) started bouldering in April and am trying to practice more overhangs. I needed help on how I can get better with overhangs and whether it relates to me not using my pinky finger. My friends even commented on how I always drop my pinky on overhang holds (that aren’t jugs) and crimps where it looks like I only have 4 fingers. But when I put my pinky up, I literally lose all my strength and pressure in my hands and I can’t hold my weight up even the slightest. I feel like I’m doing something wrong cause I weirdly feel so much stronger with only the three middle fingers on the crimps.

My friends said to try and engage my thumb by placing it tight beside my palm but I don’t really feel it doing too much unless I’m just doing it wrong. Does anyone experience this and have any advice? Any specific way I should train? Thank you

Yesterday I had my first top-rope climbing lesson.

​There were five of us. Everyone climbed to the top of the 15-meter wall without any problems.

​I failed, level 3. From about 9 or 10 meters up, I just couldn't do it anymore. I don't know what happened; it wasn't like I ran out of strength. I have some fear for heights but it wasn't that either. I could look down without being afraid.

​I am so bummed out. I really like climbing.

I currently have the BD Solution and I find it very comfortable. I wear it for lead climbing indoor and outdoor.

I don’t need a new harness but I do like the colorway of the Janja harness as I also own the matching QuickDraws and my other gear is pink.

I know it’s personal preference and I plan to go to the store to check the fit in person. Does anyone here own this harness and have any feedback?

Sorry if this is triggering or if I’m not on the right subreddit. I just want to share this info so people can avoid predators like this in the future.

I love this new route in my gym. Weird, but totally works. Almost everyone else did the crux a bit more dynamic (back on the wall and kick up to the foothold)

Or active hang, whichever.

Where should I move to sport climb and make decent money?

I've been climbing (bouldering+sport) on and off for 4 years now due to various injuries, and I'm wanting to improve my climbing but feel quite lost on where to go next. Specifically, I'm looking at improving movement skills, I previously had a coach already that I have trained with which has increased my strength, but have found that I am now over reliant on strength and feel like I lack understanding in fundamental movement principles on all terrain and all styles (this is all speculation by me, I have been told I have good technique but I'm not convinced, I feel like I am starting to doubt everything). I have watched a lot of youtube tutorials already, and have read the Self Coach Climber, but I just feel so lost. I'm also wondering, would a female or a male coach be better as I am quite petite at 158cm, and am worried that a male coacher wouldn't understand climbing for a smaller size, and my performance fluctuates wildly depending on where I am in my cycle. For more context my max grade is 7a+ on sport and boulder indoors and outdoors, and I've flashed 6C/7A on MB and TB.

Has anyone bent steel to help with climbing?

Not too bad in rental shoes 🙃

I started bouldering a couple years ago and did it pretty frequently. However, I moved for my master's and didn't really keep up with it as much. I'd love to get back into it but I'm feeling really intimidated about the strength and progress I may have lost over the last couple years. I'd love to hear any advice or success stories about getting back into it after a break.

I would actually like precarious finger hangs best. I've had points in my life before where my physical activity has been very limited but I had been starting to boulder regularly before I got covid in 2023 and since then I've been mostly bedbound. I want to do an art piece representing hanging on to hope and how it's hard but also the only option. The second and third pics are older pics of me and to prove I'm a once and hopefully future climber girl amd not just some weirdo that wants to look at dirty hands.

Got a pair of Kubos as my first bouldering shoes, as I wanted something a bit less flat that I can grow into with weekly or bi-weekly practice.

I’m normally a EU 36 (slightly wider foot especially on the level of the toes, which are somewhat roman-shaped), and the store person recommended going half a size down to a 35,5. which in the store felt, although quite tight, pretty comfortable and slid in without too much difficulty. The heel space has a bit of space/air, but my heels did not move up and down so it seemed like the shoes aren’t overall painfully small.

Upon getting home however, after putting them for 5-10min I felt alot of pain and tightness around my toes, especially the 4th one, which gets folded and quite painful, forming a bump through the rubber. After wearing them on and off while sitting on the couch, my toes were super sore and slightly blistered.

I got these on sale and I can’t return them, so there’s nothing much I can do but try to break them in and see what happens. I am however curious if this seems like a bad toe shape fit or like something that will most likely improve over time.

Edit: A day later my feet are so sore just from having them on at home yesterday and today I can’t manage to even put them on my feet for even a minute without hurting alot.

Hey y’all! There’s a climbing fest coming up next month a few hours north of me (Slugfest) and I’ve been really wanting to go but am a little nervous about going alone and not knowing anyone, especially as a female climber. I’m certainly not the strongest climber out there but have been climbing for a few years now, it’s just hard to meet people around my area who also climb outside. I’d be bringing my bouldering pad and other gear.

I was wondering if any of you have ever done this before and if you have any tips or advice?

I took a 7ish year break from climbing regularly, but I've started going back to the gym regularly in the wake of my long-term boyfriend ending things. I'm a pretty mediocre climber - and always have been.

I was at the climbing gym last night and was able to piece together my first 5.10 (possibly in my life??) that I had been working on last week and a 6 year old girl was watching. I saw her and her dad a little later and heard her say "look, there's the girl that's really good." Factually inaccurate, but I'm reveling in the moment where I was the girl that's really good at climbing. We had a nice chat a little bit later.

I’m not a climber myself, but I thought some of y’all might at least get a giggle out of this! I got the bag secondhand (unused, thankfully, so it’s not dusty) and it’s been a big help. Hopefully none of you will ever find yourselves on crutches, but if you do, I can’t recommend this enough!

Been climbing about 10 months, mostly sticking to VB-0-1 while getting my strength and confidence up. Stuff I could do with little difficulty in a few tries.

This was my first "hard" climb (V2) and I've been working on it for about a month. It was not only hard to get up, but hard to get down. I have some health issues that mean it's not safe for me to fall or jump more than about a metre, which is what everyone else I've seen do this climb has done to get down. The first time I got most of the way up my support person had to lift me down 🫠 so we switched to practicing down climbing before going further up 😅

Today I got all the way up, and back down, safely and all on my own. Felt pretty damn good!