UKC

Hi guys and Dolls,
I suffer from split tips quite badly after climbing outdoors for extended periods. I treat with Germolene New Skin but is there anything out there that can toughen my fingers to prevent this?

In reply to PhilMW:

Surgical spirit.
Some would say moisturising is better than hardening to avoid flappers.

In reply to Ffion Blethyn:

Flappers?

In reply to PhilMW:

Do you have soft fingers that split or highly keratinised fingers that split?

Soft fingers might respond to surgical spirit
Moisturising cream would be better in the second case

In reply to PhilMW:

Use less chalk and the chalk you do use, make sure it doesn't have drying agents in it. Metolius use these in some of their chalk products. Moisture on the hands can help with friction on certain rock types.

In reply to PhilMW:

No one's mentioned Climb On yet? Great stuff for repairing skin and keeping it supply to avoid splitting. Expensive, but it works.

In reply to Jon Stewart:

I've seen it advertised but never really stopped to see what it does.

In reply to SouthernSteve:

My fingers dry quite quickly so I moisturise quite a lot when i'm not climbing.

In reply to PhilMW:

As an alternative to looking for products, have you given thought to your tactics? i.e. are your hands sweaty? (keep them chalked and cool) are they splitting on specific sharp edges? (tape helps). Some people seem to just get unlucky with split tips but for the most part you can see them coming if you watch out for sharp/rough rock and watch the condition of your tips carefully.

In reply to PhilMW:

Use a balm like ClimbOn... worth the money.

In reply to PhilMW:
This is a bit left field, but playing a string instrument - recommend mandolin cos of string tension - will help ... But you'd need to stick at it! And learn to play r & l handed if your probs are with both hands.

In reply to PhilMW:

You could try a little bit of superglue to stick the splits together.

In reply to kingieman:

I never thought that preventing split tips could be as easy as leaning to play a mandolin ambidextrously