UKC

Hey all. 

Only recently got into bouldering but have always been a bit of a crazy climbing kid. Unfortunately from what ive seen il be at a major disadvantage if i try my hand at higher Vlevels as despite my grip strength etc im only 5ft with little arm span. What would people suggest i focus on? Possibly explosive leaps?

If the setting at your gym is any good, then you shouldn't find your height too much of a problem in terms of climbing harder grades. You'll need to move more dynamically at times, but you've got less mass to shift around so swings and roundabouts really.

Some of the best climbers of all time have been pretty short. Lynn Hill is 5ft, but was first person to free climb The Nose.

They'll definitely be problems, routes etc that are easier for the tall, but being short has its own advantages in weight, power to weight ratio, less finger strength needed, etc.

And yes, climbing dynamically will help a lot. 

Hello fellow midget! As someone who just reaches the dizzying heights of 5'2" in shoes I feel your anguish. But there is good news - being a shortarse isn't a major disadvantage! Good climbing technique, dynamism, flexibility and core strength can help you climb past a lot of long reaches. I've lost count of the number of times I've watched taller people than me dismiss a problem as reachy, only to then flash it through the application of one or more of the above. And being short means you have to develop these skills at an earlier point in your climbing rather than relying on being able to reach past hard moves.  So it's actually good for your climbing development.

Yes, it can be frustrating and a disadvantage on some problems but short levers, smaller fingers and being lighter mean you may find some problems easier than tall people - e.g. I did a couple of sit start V5s this spring that my lanky boyfriend utterly failed on because he just couldn't get his legs out from under the low roof at the start. It can be hard to appreciate that sort of thing initially because not being able to reach a hold is such a clear and obvious problem whereas you may not notice the times you could get three fingers into a pocket instead of two, or that a first joint edge is proportionally bigger for you than for your 6ft mate.

The main thing I find is that grades are a bit more haywire than for taller folks as stuff is graded for the average climber. So you often get anomalies where a problem of grade Vx will feel much harder than Vx+2 because it's got a long move. But if you have a training and progression mindset and focus on trying hard rather than merely ticking a number then you can take getting spanked on an 'easy' problem much better.