UKC

About to head out to try some grit climbing with my buddy so ill be 2nd up....never climbed on grit before so just after any tips/ videos to watch to get my head around the lack of holds i hear about

In reply to littlejon86:
It's not that bad, there are plenty of big holds out there on the grit. Remember that the friction is ridiculous and your feet will stick to the tiniest of ripples in the rock. If you think a hold is out of reach, look at your feet and there will be a way of getting them higher so that the hold comes into reach.

There are face climbs on grit at VS/HVS with plenty of holds. Gritstone awkwardness really kicks in if you are attempting other features such as chimneys, aretes, grooves and cracks for which sometimes the only holds are the feature itself.

Remember that the hand jam is your best friend, read about the technique, learn how to use it, learn to ignore the pain and learn to love using them. Not just in cracks but in horizontal breaks too. Mid-grade grit is fortuitously well laden with cracks and breaks of the perfect width for secure hand jams.

In reply to littlejon86:

It's not all like this you know:

youtube.com/watch?v=Bwu144guQyo&

No need to over-think it. Depends totally what route you're doing whether it'll have good holds or not. Grit doesn't tend to have many routes that are real jug-ladders, but it's not all technical smearing and palming on slopey nothings (unless you're on an E6 slab or something).

The major tip would be: sometimes, there isn't a good handhold to pull on, you need put your foot on something and stand up, using your hands on poor holds to keep you in balance.

In reply to littlejon86:

Just back from my first unsupervised Trad lead and it was on Peak grit. It's a real confidence boost to climb on; my feet never slipped, hands were surprisingly grippy, and I've reduced my fingerprints a little.

In reply to littlejon86:


It's really not as different to other rock types as others would have you believe. Just do the same thing you would anywhere new - drop your grade a bit and enjoy, escpecially if you're seconding!