So do you come back with all sorts of abrasions / scrapes on your forearms / hands and fingers? Gloves, anyone?
— Margaret Hovell
Good question. Surprisingly, when jams are done right you don't get scraped up at all, as your body part(s) are in solid, tight contact with the rock and don't move and thus don't get scraped. In practice however, scrapes do tend to be inevitable especially when climbing something at or above your ability level. Thus the desire for long pants, long sleeves, and in Monica's case climbing shoes that cover the ankles. For those body parts that still aren't covered, a popular solution is just common athletic tape for ankles, hands, etc. For hands, many ways exist to build removable, reusable "tape gloves". As tempting as they sound, gloves come with several disadvantages beyond having to buy lots of athletic tape. Like with the case of the finger locks, a lot of jams and moves in rock climbing in general require being very precise, which is hard to do with tape stuck to the back of your hand, or gloves of any sort for that matter. You lose a lot of feeling through the tape, and also, the tape can move or wrinkle if it's not sticky enough creating a less secure feeling overall. So, it's a tradeoff. Somewhere I have a picture of our knuckle scrapes... I think I haven't posted it yet.
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So do you come back with all sorts of abrasions / scrapes on your forearms / hands and fingers? Gloves, anyone?
— Margaret Hovell
Good question. Surprisingly, when jams are done right you don't get scraped up at all, as your body part(s) are in solid, tight contact with the rock and don't move and thus don't get scraped. In practice however, scrapes do tend to be inevitable especially when climbing something at or above your ability level. Thus the desire for long pants, long sleeves, and in Monica's case climbing shoes that cover the ankles. For those body parts that still aren't covered, a popular solution is just common athletic tape for ankles, hands, etc. For hands, many ways exist to build removable, reusable "tape gloves". As tempting as they sound, gloves come with several disadvantages beyond having to buy lots of athletic tape. Like with the case of the finger locks, a lot of jams and moves in rock climbing in general require being very precise, which is hard to do with tape stuck to the back of your hand, or gloves of any sort for that matter. You lose a lot of feeling through the tape, and also, the tape can move or wrinkle if it's not sticky enough creating a less secure feeling overall. So, it's a tradeoff. Somewhere I have a picture of our knuckle scrapes... I think I haven't posted it yet.
— John Hovell