Rock-climbing is the fundamental skill of the alpinist. Whether on scrabbly third-class terrain or a hideous, unrated overhang at altitude, the alpinist must be as confident and efficient on rock as on ice. While much alpine rock is climbed in crampons, and more and more alpinists are taking rock shoes up high (to produce stunning routes such as Divine Providence on Mont Blanc's Grand Pilier d'Angle), most alpinists eventually find themselves climbing rock in their plastic boots. Because of the properties of modern alpine boots, this can be dangerous for the uninitiated. Mastery of the technique, naturally, requires time and effort. The rewards -- being able to lead no-falls 5.hard in big boots -- are worth the effort to those interested in redefining the limits of the possible.

This article introduces the basic methods of rock-climbing in alpine (generally, plastic) boots. As critical as this skill is, it must be supplemented with skill in rock-climbing while wearing crampons.. This is a separate skill which requires different methods and diligent practice. Don't neglect to practice both techniques!

One note: if you're just starting out in alpine climbing, keep in mind that if you can dog 5.12 at your local crag, on a sunny day, clipping bolts and using chalk, that's great; but unfortunately it means precious little in the mountains, where pro is often poor and infrequent, the environment is not controllable and the old saying -- the leader must not fall -- is Rule Number One. There's no messing about in the alpine realm. Learn to place your own protection, on hard routes, crank some sport routes, and then go out redefine the alpine free-climbing 'limits'!

FIVE THINGS YOU'LL NOTICE WEARING PLASTIC BOOTS ON ROCK

€ Less Sensitivity

In general, your ability feel small rock features is greatly reduced when wearing stiff plastic boots with half-inch-thick soles. To counter this you have to develop a keen eye for footholds and become expert at assessing just how good a hold is once you've decided to use it. The lack of sensitivity here often means that you can't feel your boot rotating off a hold, such that there is no warning before your boot pops off -- this can be extremely frustrating, not to mention dangerous. Keep this in mind particularly when making long reaches that reduce the pressure you're exerting on a foothold.

€ Less Friction

This may change in years to come, with the introduction of new rubber for plastic boot soles, but for the moment, 'sticky' rubbers are simply too delicate for use as alpine boot soles. Also, since alpine boots' soles are so stiff, smearing just isn't the same as in rock shoes, which bend at the toe, giving you a nice fat slab of rubber to plant on a windowpane. Rather than traditional smearing, what you need to do here is utilize the corrugations on the sole of the boot to hook or edge the tiniest crystals and edges. See Figure XX. When descending, facing outward, you may find it possible to use the toe of your boot to 'point' small features. Again, Figure XX illustrates some of these methods.

€ Less Ankle Mobility

Although you'll be amazed at just how much you can twist and rotate your ankle in you plastic boots, you'll also note that the range of motion here is pretty limited compared to rock shoes. To compensate, you need to work on delicate weight-transfer moves, such as the rock-on, which require less ankle mobility but makes for good weight-transfer and can maximize your advance up the rock.

€ Extra Weight

Plastic boots are far heavier than your rock shoes, and at first you may feel that the whole enterprise is hopeless, as your legs are swung around as slaves to gravity. To counter this you need to develop both muscular power and coordination to control your legs.

€ Excellent Edging

If it weren't for this property of plastic boots, you might not be able to use them for much at all -- thus, edging is the key technique to work on in alpine boots. You can edge with the inside and outside edges of your soles, or with the heel. Figure XX illustrates a number of edging moves.

DOING IT: THE BASICS OF ALPINE ROCK-CLIMBING

First, be sure that you have a good inner-boot/shell boot fit. Some inner boots are better constructed and fit more securely in their shells than others (generally, the higher-priced ones!). If your inners are compressing and loosening with age, consider dropping in a sole insert to pad out the fit, or replacing the inners. Whatever you do, don't mess around with an ill-fitting pair of boots -- you'll regret it!

Second, adjust your inner-boot lacing so that the inner molds nicely to your foot. Compensate for the lack of sensitivity of alpine boots with a snug fit. Of course, too snug means reduced blood circulation and frostbite -- find the balance which suits you best.

Now, go out and log some bouldering time in your waffle-stompers. Work your way into roped climbs. While you may have gone straight into roped rock-climbing without having done much bouldering in your sticky shoes, this is not a good idea in plastic boots. Imagine -- you're stunning everyone with your newfound skill when your three-pound Koflack pops off a hold and you drop off and jerk to a halt (momentarily) on your favorite mono-doigt, even before you toprope takes the slack. Big no-no. Practice, practice, practice...

CRACK CLIMBING

Many alpine rock routes follow crack systems. Open fissures can provide direct lines of ascent, offering better protection than the flanking blank faces which are protectable only with bolts. Bolts take precious time (and precious calories) to place and are arguably -- in many cases -- inappropriate in alpine regions. For these reasons, the alpinist will do well to become a proficient crack leader.

Cracks, as far as your alpine boots are concerned, come in two sizes: wide (large enough to accept your boots) and narrow (too small to accept your boots).

Wide Cracks

In the wide-crack realm, consider that offwidth cracks can often be climbed (sometimes even tamed) in plastic boots, particularly if you're wearing a gaiter with a rubber rand which can provide a very solid jam. Alternately, some plastic boots have a rubber rand (e.g. the Lowa Denali), and some have 'friction-generating' patterns raised on the surface of the boot, ostensibly to help in crack-climbing. Rubber rands, however, are the best bet, as the raised surfaces tend to wear down in time and don't really work that well in the first place.

The main technique for using plastic boots in big cracks is pretty simple -- slot the boot above a constriction, press downward to test the hold, and carry on upward. If your boot gets stuck toe-first in the crack, try a heel-to-toe rocking action to lever it out, rather than pulling straight up, which can compound the problem and is more strenuous. A jammed boot can sometimes be freed by loosening your gaiter if it makes the boot just a little too fat for the crack, though if you end up fiddling with this kind of stuff you're in big trouble and will have to sort it out depending on the situation.

If there is no constriction in the crack, it may be possible to cam the toe-box portion of the boot in a crack as you would with rock shoes. Twist your ankle away from the crack, slot the toe-box, and then torque down and into the fissure. This makes big demands on ankle mobility, but can be very secure. Naturally, boots with narrower toe-boxes have the advantage here when dealing with narrower cracks.

Another rock-shoe technique for very wide cracks, bridging, is also possible in plastic boots. Do as you would in rock shoes, but note that, because of the very high cuff of a plastic boot, you may be able to rock your heel down to bridge even wider cracks (see Figure XX).

If you need to layback a crack in your plastic boots, you won't need to be reminded of their rather poor smearing qualities -- it will soon be evident that you've got a real job on your hands. Adapt. Try using your arms for more support in the really nasty sections. Your bugged-out eyes should be scanning the rock for potential edging holds which can be heel-hooked if you're really desperate. As in any strenuous lieback, keep in mind the possibility of resting with one foot crooked up under your rear end, smearing or edging some feature on the face opposite the crack (see Figure XX). This provides stability and can prevent the dreaded 'barn-door'. It all sounds nuts -- and maybe it is. But it can work!

Narrow Cracks

Climbing thin cracks, of course, is a different matter. Big boots just don't fit, so you end up looking for face holds and improvising. Luckily, crack climbing often involves repetitive moves and decent handholds, and can be somewhat predictable. Assess the pitch before you cast off, and climb with controlled power. Carry aiders and small wires, and be ready to switch to aid rather than take a whipper up on some remote wall.

FACE CLIMBING

Traversing

As when traversing in rock shoes, long stretches between footholds requires flexibility and controlled strength. In plastic boots, you need extra strength to compenate for the extra weight, so you can stretch out towards a hold and not lose control of your leg -- alas, in plastic boots you can't just slap a foot onto a hold (except in desperation, when anything is possible...). You need to carefully seat the boot on an edge, test it, and then consider your next move. Your movements must become very precise.

Long stretches between footholds normally require you to shift weight from one foot to the other, both during your reach and when you weight the new hold. In these cases, the 'trailing' foot can pop off a hold unexpectedly when there's not enough pressure on the hold to keep the boot in place. Very horrible and very sudden. Even if you're not switching loads fom one foot to the next, this can happen because the trailing boot has shifted position and your slight margin of contact has changed for the worse. To control for this, try to keep pressure on the trailing hold by consciously pressing down and in, towards the rock, using the leading foothold and your arms for most support during the maneuver. Then, ever so carefully, draw the trailing leg away from the previous hold and make your next placement. During high-speed lunges, this requires -- again -- muscular control to keep your leg from swinging wildly.

The Rock-On

High-stepping rock-ons are important. Because they require little ankle flexibility and are a good way to quickly transfer a lot of weight from one foothold to another, you should spend a good amount of time practicing this move. When making your high-step rock-on move, again, be very careful to keep the trailing boot in contact with the rock.

Once your leading boot is on a high rock-on hold, try to get a good look at the placement, or at least jimmy your foot around and find the best position -- in a moment you will be putting a great deal of pressure on that single hold as you both pull with your arms and stand on the rock-on.

As you pressure the rock-on, use your arms as much as possible to pull up, minimizing the initial load on the foothold as it settles into a solid position. Once you're up, you shouldn't be pressuring the hold so much and you can perhaps relax your arms a bit. Whatever happens, once you're up, get to work immediately to find a new foothold for the trailing boot: distribute that body weight!

Switching

With decent handholds you may find it possible to simultaneously shoot the leading boot off a hold, swing the trailing boot to that hold, and land the leading boot onto the next hold. Particularly in plastic boots, this sort of switching requires -- again -- controlled power. It also requires decent handholds because for some split-second your're likely to be hanging from arms alone. Practice keeping your momentum up as you swing your legs; don't let them drop off the holds -- swing them across, thus using inertia to pendulum your feet rather than letting them drop down and yank you off the rock.

FACE CLIMBING

Face climbing generally boils down to either friction or edging. Since friction is reduced in plastic boots, edging is the key here.

Edging

Small edges, points, chickenheads, nubbins, wrinkles, crystals -- all can be edged in plastic boots. The main thing you'll notice is that edging in plastic boots is very much like front-pointing on ice in that you must keep the boot steady once you've landed it on a hold. For a number of reasons, the slightest motion can rotate your boot off the hold, which is very unpleasant to say the least.

In many cases, what has happened is that the upper of your boot, which probably flares out and is wider than the sole (see Fig. XX), has rolled against the rock and this has levered the sole off the hold (see Fig. XX). To control from this, consider canting your boot slightly away from the wall so that the flaring upper does not interfere (see Fig.XX).

Boots also pop off of decent edges when the sole is heavily rounded from use. Ideally, a 90o angle would be maintained for the best edging. Best advice? Drop $60.00 for a re-sole with the toughtest rubber you can get.

OTHER ASPECTS OF ALPINE ROCK CLIMBING

Remember that you will often be climbing alpine rock while wearing a pack, a helmet and lugging a hardware rack, as well as a rope or two -- in a biting wind and at altitude. Basically, this means that you need to be able to lead (not just climb) hard rock, while encumbered, and do it without falls. You can practice for this sort of climbing by wearing a pack as you boulder, or even on roped climbs. Not too heavy, though, because [a] alpine packs aren't usuall that heavy and [b] you can over-stress yourself by hauling around too much weight. If you don't do this regularly, at least do it occasionally to become familiar with the adjustments you need to make while wearing a pack.

Perhaps the most important thing for the novice alpinist to remember is that you don't just don't fall in alpine climbing. Dropping onto bolts while you're sport-climbing can get you into a bad habit -- that of bailing when the going gets too tough, or just going for broke, knowing that you're unlikely to rip a string of bolts. When alpine climbers retreat, they do it by downclimbing. This is a skill which also requires a good deal of practice if you're to do it with control, and control is essential. When bouldering, increase the difficulty by downclimbing hard sequences. As usual, remember to keep you weight on your legs, and don't fall into the common downclimbing error of getting too stretched out, hanging from the arms and unable to place the feet. Work up to the point where you can downclimb at a grade comparable with the grade you can lead. This will go a long way to keeping you -- and your partner -- alive.

A final note. Much alpine rock climbing is done not just in double boots, but also while wearing crampons. This is a topic for another article, but keep in mind that this is also an essential skill, and start practicing by bouldering easy problems in crampons.

Combine all the techniques and you'll soon be able to get yourself into all sorts of crazed situations.

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