Straight Arm Climbing

Learn it

Demonstrate a climb with straight arms. Say what you are doing while you do it: the legs get you into a stable position, then one arm lets go, then you twist or push with the legs to reach.

A bent arm is an arm holding you up. A straight arm is a skeleton holding you up, and it does not get tired.

Stick to pink or easy white tags on vertical or overhanging terrain, not slab, and keep encouraging falls.

Apply it

Cliffhangers. Find a stable position between every single move.

• Make one move, then find three points of contact, or flag.
• Sink down, hang on one straight arm, hips over feet, and shake out the arm that just moved.
• Shuffling the feet around to find that position is allowed and expected.
• Make the next move and repeat.

Everybody climbs at once, half the group to each coach on its own area of wall. Nothing here queues, so the split is not about turns: a cliffhanger nobody is watching for is an ordinary climb with pauses in it, and telling the two apart is what you are there to do.

For younger kids, swap the shake-out for touching the back of their own head. Same pause, easier to picture.

Demonstrate understanding

• They can hang on one arm, straight, long enough to shake the other out.
• Hips come over the feet before the shake, not after.
• They stop mid-route to find a rest without being prompted.

If the concept isn't sticking

Arms stay bent the whole climb. The route is too hard. Drop a tag and try again.

They cannot find the rest. Stand underneath and name the foot to move. Most of the time the position is one foot placement away.