Foot Jams
Steph,
I’m an avid follower of your adventures and a ginormous fan. I just started to climb in late August of this year. I have fallen in love with crack climbing. I have a problem, however. My foot jam technique sucks. I live literally on the east coast of Virginia and it is FLAT here. The closest real cracks here are 3 hours away. The only place I have to train is in a rock gym which has totally parallel synthetic cracks with no deviation or features from fist to rattly finger size.
I understand the concept of foot jamming (foot in sideways, big toe up, pinky down, you don’t have to have your entire foot in, just enough to rotate and cam to gain some purchase and friction), my problem is that it really is painful. From what I can gather, I should be able to support all my body weight on a foot jam, it just hurts like hell when I attempt. Is there a portion of the foot that works better than others? Am I doing something wrong, or do I just need to get stiffer soled shoes (I own a pair of Evolv Defy, super soft), or do I just need to muster some fortitude and keep at it? I understand you use 5.10s, specifically the Moccasym & Anasazi as you have a thin, low volume foot. I have the same type of foot. I figured because you make difficult cracks look like preschool, you would be the best person to give me some direction in this arena. Any advice you could give would be appreciated and adhered to strictly.
Thanks, and keep doing what you do.
Jake
Dear Jake,
I like the part about my advice being adhered to strictly! 🙂
Here is the only thing you need to know about crack climbing:
Get Five Ten Moccasyms. Immediately, if not sooner.
Your feet will hurt 85% less and you will crack climb 95% better. Approximately 🙂
Make sure you size them a half size down from your hiking shoe size if you have very narrow feet, or the same as your hiking shoe size if you have normal or wide feet.
Keep in mind too, that it’s normal for feet to hurt some when wedging them into cracks. I have always noticed that mine hurt the first day or so when I have resumed crack climbing, and then it stops. But it truly is all about the shoes.
Happy New Year!!
Steph
Ah, yes. A definitive answer!! You wouldn’t believe (or perhaps you would) the range of answers I’ve received on this question. People have told me that I’m jamming the wrong spot of my foot, that I need to have more solid hand jams and blah blah blah. It runs the gamut. Anywho, I’m in the process of saving the dinero needed for my first pair of Moccasyms. Thanks for the response and advice within it. Strictly adhered to! Happy New Year as well.
Great!! 🙂
Make sure you have a toes-flat fit in your shoes.
If your toes are curled, it will hurt like hell.
Moccasyms are good because they will stretch to fit your foot. Your current synthetic Evolvs won’t.
Velcro straps can be painful as well. When I jam with Moccasyms or other non-velcro shoes, I turn my foot completely sideways and stick it in as far as it will go. I think of it like playing hacky sack. Velcro shoes prevent me form doing this and can dig into the top and sides of my foot.
Great adventure is fun! 🙂