ilanarama: me in Escalante (yatta!)
Ilana ([personal profile] ilanarama) wrote in [community profile] disobey_gravity 2010-06-02 06:44 pm (UTC)

Trad outdoor climbing actually depends a lot less on finger strength than on body positioning and balance. Indoor climbing tends to be face climbing, in which hand/finger strength is important, although the better you get the LESS you actually use your arms, as you learn how to use your whole body (for example, flagging a foot to one side to counterbalance your arm on the other makes it easier to hold on without hand/arm strength).

On the other hand, technique-y climbing does depend a lot on your knees, as you need to be able to (for example) place a foot high and then shift your weight over it and straighten your leg to stand.

Being fat will make climbing more work for you. I have climbing friends who are not sylph-thin, though, who are plenty decent climbers.

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