nabis
New Member
Posts: 11
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Post by nabis on Sept 16, 2015 2:44:11 GMT -7
My theory is that by softening your skin with a moist towl you increase the contact area with the grip, which in turn increases friction. After you have softened them, you want to dry them and chalk up. I don't know if this is specific to the wooden hangboard I am using. My experience after three sessions doing this suggests that it helps. I used to fail on the slopers with anything from -33lbs/-15kg to -22lbs/-10kg because I slipped off before I hit muscle failure. Currently I'm hanging comfortably with -27lbs/-12,5kg. During one bouldering championship www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_AorUUJhig&feature=youtu.be&t=3423 this year Adam Ondra ran around with a cup of water to soften his hands. So, this may help on plastic as well . Let me add that I don't think that this helps with edges or crimps. For this you want hard skin that does not roll around. The same principle as with climbing shoes should apply.
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Post by MarkAnderson on Sept 16, 2015 10:19:42 GMT -7
That's an interesting theory. There is no doubt that really tough, calloused, "glassy" skin is really bad on any sort of artificial sloper. Of course, that type of skin is awesome for sharp or gritty rock (and even sharp-ish plastic). Often when I'm in-season and my skin is "good", I struggle inside on plastic because my skin wants to "slide" off everything.
Clearly the definition of "good" skin depends on the terrain. Personally I'd rather optimize my skin for the rock, and deal with it on plastic/wood. That said, I've noticed while campusing that the (wood) rungs seems to feel sticky-er when your skin is a bit soft. When it's really cold and dry in the winter my campusing tends to suffer (thought my sharp-as-hell limit bouldering goes really well). I've never tried campusing with full-on wet fingers though. Generally when campusing the pads are a bit red and chalk doesn't last long--too worn for sharp bouldering, but ok for smooth wood.
I don't climb enough slopers to have an opinion, other than to reiterate that if your skin is glassy, plastic slopers (and presumably smooth rock slopers like quartz cobbles) are more difficult.
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Post by slimshaky on Sept 16, 2015 13:27:32 GMT -7
i have noticed this before. in particular, on winter weekends when the weather sucks, i usually wake up, take a long hot shower, chill/eat/spray online, and then go to the gym. i have noticed that i generally have a LOT better friction on the holds than normal. its pretty sweet - it feels like my hands are suede velcro or something.
normally, i have pretty hard skin that is better conditioned for climbing outside on abrasive/sharp rock. i get killed at the gym on any type of hold that requires decent friction (ie most of them...). i try to do a lot of sanding to counter against this and that seems to help some - but it sure isn't suede velcro!
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Post by stpatty on Nov 5, 2015 8:54:30 GMT -7
I've always had skin problems, and frequently get ridiculed for having baby skin. So I finally decided to do something about it, ordered some antihydral and got a 120 grit sanding block. I haven't been applying the antihydral for long periods of time, maybe 2 hours or so on rest days after sanding my calluses down. I've noticed my skin is glossier and more tough and hopefully once going outside again I won't have as many problems.
That being said, I felt like I lost some friction on the RP hangboard. So I decided to take a wire brush to it and try and clean it up, and wow - I noticed a huge difference. I was able to feel more friction and thus had better hangs. I really noticed a difference at the end of sets, when really tired, I was able to finish the set instead of greasing off. I even ditched my Metolious brush and just started brushing with the wire brush between hangs. I noticed the biggest difference on the SVDER, 3 finger large slot, 3 finger shallow, and sloper. So take it for what it's worth, I'm sold on using the wire brush on the hang board, also for reference - I've had my RP hangboard for 16 months.
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Post by MarkAnderson on Nov 5, 2015 14:35:19 GMT -7
Keep in mind the metal is harder than polyurethane, so over time you will likely remove some material. Maybe not a big deal, or maybe after a few cycles of wire brushing after every set your hangboard will be hideously deformed
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russ
New Member
Posts: 9
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Post by russ on Nov 6, 2015 14:03:35 GMT -7
I saw someone licking their hands prior to holding the hard sloper on the Beastmaker. Another good reason to wash your hands regularly, especially after touching anything in a public climbing gym Seeing this advice, I'm just gonna leave this right here: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24972665"Microbial sequencing analyses suggest the presence of a fecal veneer on indoor climbing wall holds" Curr Microbiol. 2014 Nov;69(5):681-9. doi: 10.1007/s00284-014-0643-3 The money line is "Enterobacteriaceae were present on 100% of holds surveyed, and the members detected are commonly associated with fecal matter." However, they only tested the start holds, so the presence of a "fecal veneer" 2/3 up a hard route on a lead wall is still untested. But now I can't help but think of the term "fecal veneer" whenever I'm ARCing in the easier/gumby areas of the gym!
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Post by MarkAnderson on Nov 7, 2015 7:38:48 GMT -7
Wow! I always wondered about that. With my own gym I'm maniacal about not letting anyone touch anything without washing their hands first. I think public gyms should do the same thing for obvious reasons...but that will never happen. I guess the lesson is, wash your hands AFTER climbing (and avoid touching yourself during a session).
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Post by Chris W on Nov 18, 2015 20:31:49 GMT -7
Interesting and disgusting discussion on this thread. Still contemplating cutting the sloper out of my hangboard routine. Decisions..... But at least now I know I'm not the only one about making people wash their hands prior to using my wall. My main reason was to keep the holds crisp, but I'm not sure it would win any friends to tell people I simply wanted to avoid their "fecal veneer". Is it any wonder I had trouble finding belayers this fall?
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