Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green
Every rock face that you climb offers a variety of handholds or grips. Handholds are usually used for pulling yourself up the rock,
rather than pushing, which is what you do with your legs; although you push yourself upward if you use a palming move. The use of
handholds is somewhat intuitive; your hands and arms usually know what to do when you grab a handhold to stay in balance and to
pull.
Learn and Practice Using Different Handholds
While handholds are key to rock climbing movement, how you use those handholds ranks below your footwork and body position
for successful climbing. Still, you need to learn how to grip various kinds of handholds that you will encounter in the vertical world.
Most indoor climbing gyms set routes with a wide variety of manmade handholds, which allow you to learn and practice the
different grips. Practice using every type of handhold to gain the best hand techniques and to build hand and forearm strength.
Read Six Basic Finger Grips to learn how to grab handholds.
3 Basic Ways to Use Handholds
When you encounter and then choose a handhold to use on a cliff, you have to decide how you are going to use that hold. There are
three basic ways to grab handholds: pull down, pull sideways, and pull up. Most handholds that you use require pulling down. You
grab an edgeand pull down like you are climbing a ladder. For the other holds, you will learn how to use them through practice.
Here are the basic types of handholds and how to use each one with specific hand positions:
1. Edges
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
Edges are the most common type of handholds that you encounter on rock surfaces. An edge is usually a horizontal hold with a
somewhat positive outside edge, although it can also be rounded. Edges are often flat but sometimes have a lip so that you can also
pull out on it. Edges can be as thin as a quarter or as wide as your whole hand. A big edge is sometimes called a bucket or a jug. Most
edges are between an 1/8-inch and 1½ inches in width.
There are two basic ways to use your hands on an edge—crimp gripand open hand grip. Crimping is grabbing the edge with your
fingertips flat on it and your fingers arched above the tips. This hand position is usually solid but there is the danger of possible
damage to your finger tendons if you crimp too hard. The open hand grip, while not a power hand move like the crimp, works best
on sloping edges where you get lots of skin-to-rock friction. The open grip is often used on sloping holds. Use chalk on your fingers to
increase friction and practice open hand grips to get stronger.
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Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green
2. Slopers
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
Slopers are simply that—sloping handholds. Slopers are handholds that are usually rounded and without a positive edge or lip for
your fingers to grip. You will often encounter slopers on slab climbs. Slopers are used with the open hand grip, requiring the friction
of your skin against the rock surface. It takes practice to effectively use sloper handholds. Slopers are easiest to use if they are above
you rather than to the side so that you can keep your arms straight for maximum leverage when gripping them. Slopers are easiest
to use in cool dry conditions, rather than in hot sweaty weather when you can grease off them. Remember to chalk up good.
If you’re climbing and encounter a sloper, feel around with your fingers to find the best part of the hold. Sometimes you will find a
slight ridge or bump that allows a better grip. Now warp your hand onto the hold with your fingers close together. Feel around with
your thumb to see if there is a bump that you can press it against.
3. Pinches
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
A pinch is a handhold that is gripped by pinching it with your fingers on one side and your thumb opposed on the other. Pinches are
usuallyedges that protrude from the rock surface like a book, although sometimes pinches are small knobs and crystals or two sideby-sidepockets, which are gripped as you would the finger holes in a bowling ball. Pinches are often small, requiring your fingers and
thumb to be close together. These small pinches are usually strenuous. Pinch these small holds with your thumb opposed to either
your index finger or your index and middle fingers, which when stacked on each other are much stronger than just the index finger.
Wide pinches that are the width of your hand are usually the easiest to grip and hold onto. On these big pinches, oppose your thumb
with all your fingers.
4. Pockets
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
Pockets are literally various-sized holes in the rock surface, which a climber uses as a handhold by putting anywhere from one finger
to all four fingers inside the hole. Pockets come in all shapes from ovals to oblongs and in various depths. Shallow pockets are more
difficult to use than deep pockets. Pockets are commonly found on limestone cliffs like Ceuse in France and Shelf Road in Colorado.
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Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green
Usually you will insert as many fingers as you can comfortably fit into a pocket. Feel inside the pocket’s floor with your finger tips to
find dimples and lips that your fingers can pull against. Some pockets, especially ones that have a sloped floor, are also utilized as
sidepulls, with the fingers pulling against the side of the pocket rather than the bottom. The best pockets to use are either threefinger pockets or two-finger pockets, while the hardest and most strenuous pockets are one-finger or monodoigt pockets. Be careful
using one-finger pockets since you can severely stress and injure your finger tendons if you pull our whole weight on the hold.
Whenever you use one- and two-finger pockets, always use your strongest fingers—the middle finger for monodoigts and the
middle and ring fingers for two finger pockets.
Types of Pockets
Climbers refer to pockets by the number of fingers required to use them. The sweetest and best pockets are two-finger pockets and
three-finger pockets. Usually you can get good pulling leverage with these pockets. Pockets that accommodate all four fingers are
sometimes called slots or letterboxes; these big pockets offer fun climbing moves. The hardest and most strenuous pockets are onefinger or mono-doight pockets. For these pockets, you plug your middle finger into the hole and crank, hoping that you don't strain
or tear atendon.
How to Find the Right Pocket
If you are climbing a cliff covered with pockets like those at Buoux, a pocket-riddled cliff in southern France, it can be difficult to find
the right pocket. As you look up to find the next pocket hold, it's best to first scan the rock. Your body usually knows where you need
to grab to stay in balance, but often the best pocket is not there. It's best to feel around quickly and stick your fingers in several
pockets until you find the right one for the move.
Chalked Pockets Might be Decoys
Don't just grab a chalked pocket. Whoever grabbed it last might be leading you astray and you might be missing the best pocket for
the move. The key is to find which pocket feels the most positive and then move up. Don't spend a lot of energy worrying about
finding the best pocket. Look, evaluate, test, grab, and go. If you get pumped, usually you'll find a big pocket somewhere higher
where you can get a rest.
Figure Out the Best Way to Grab It
When you find a pocket on a route, first inspect it visually. Look for the best direction to grab it. Next grab the pocket but feel
around inside the pocket to discover the best grip to use-usually anopen hand grip or a half crimp grip. Also feel around to make
sure there are no sharp edges that can cut you. Limestone pockets often have painful bumps and thorns inside that can be very
painful when you fully weight you hand on them.
The Best Finger Combinations
Next figure out what is the best finger combination to use to make the pocket an effective handhold.
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For one-finger pockets, use your middle finger, the strongest finger.
For two-finger pockets, use your middle and ring fingers for the strongest combination or use the index and middle finger, but be
sure to stack your middle finger on top of the index finger to increase your pulling power.
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Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green

For full-hand slots, it goes without saying that you use all your fingers! Sometimes, however, the bottom of a big pocket may be
flat or dirty. In that case, feel the edges of the pocket and you will often find a sidepull or pinch.
How to Grab a Pocket
Every pocket has an ideal way to grab it. A lot of pocket pulling is intuitive. You grab the pocket and go, but with some pockets, if you
grab them wrong then you really have to crank hard or you fall off. When you reach into a pocket, move your fingers around and
find the best way to use it. Sometimes you might find a small lip inside the bottom where you fingers can find purchase or
sometimes you might need to grab the pocket's side as a layback or a gaston move. Look too for thumb catches on the rock outside
the pocket so you can use it as a pinch hold. As you move above a pocket, don't forget that you can often use it as an undercling.
Pockets Can Injure Fingers
Since pocket pulling is mandatory on many sport climbs, how to effectively use pockets is an essential skill learned by every serious
rock climber. Along with learning how to use a pocket as a handhold, however, the climber must also be aware of the dangers of
pocket climbing and how to avoid finger injuries. Because of the extreme torque exerted on a climber's fingers, pocket pulling can
easily cause finger pulls, commonly injuring the tendons, which take a long time to heal. When you're learning to climb pockets, go
slow and build finger strength and learn to use pockets before getting on a hard route with small pockets. It's usually best to avoid
small finger pockets in your indoor gym since they are a recipe for tweaking your fingers.
5. Sidepulls
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
A sidepull handhold is usually an edge that is vertically or diagonally oriented and is located to your side rather than above you when
you’re climbing. Sidepulls are holds that you pull sideways on instead of straight down. Sidepulls, sometimes called layaways, work
because you oppose the pulling force that your hand and arm exert on the hold with your feet or opposite hand.
Usually you will pull outward on the sidepull hold, while pushing a foot in the opposite direction with the opposing forces keeping
you in place. For example, if the sidepull is to your left, then lean right to maximize the opposition with your body’s weight. Use a
sidepull with your fingers and palm facing toward the hold and your thumb facing upward. Sidepulls also work great by turning your
hip toward the wall and standing on the outside edge of your climbing shoe. This position often allows you to make a high reach with
your free hand.
6. Gastons
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
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Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green
A Gaston (pronounced gas-tone), named for the stylish French climberGaston Rebuffat, is a handhold that is similar to a sidepull.
Like a sidepull, a Gaston is a hold that is oriented either vertically or diagonally and is usually in front of your torso or face. To use a
Gaston, grab the hold with your fingers and palm facing into the rock and your thumb pointing downward. Bend your elbow at a
sharp angle and point it away from your body. Now crimp your fingers on the edge and pull outward like you’re trying to open a
sliding door. Again, like a sidepull, a Gaston requires opposition with your feet to make it work best. Gastons can be strenuous but
it’s worth practicing the move because you will find it on lots of routes.
7. Undercling
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
An undercling is exactly that—a hold that is gripped on its underside with your fingers clinging to the outside edge of it. Underclings
come in all shapes and sizes, including diagonal and horizontal cracks, inverted edges, pockets, and flakes. Underclings, like sidepulls
and Gastons, require body tension and opposition to work best.
To make an undercling move, grip the upside-down hold with your palm facing up and your thumb pointing outward. Now move up
on the hold by pulling out on the undercling and pasting your feet against the wall below in opposition. Sometimes you can make an
undercling move with only your thumb beneath the hold and your fingers pinching above. Underclings work best if the hold is near
your mid-section. The higher the undercling move, the more off-balance you will feel until you move up on the hold. Underclings can
be strenuous, so use straight arms whenever possible to lessen muscle fatigue in your arms.
8. Palming
Photograph © Stewart M. Green
If no handhold exists, then you have to palm the rock surface with an open hand, relying on hand-to-rock friction and pushing into
the rock with the heel of your palm to keep your hand in place. Palming works great on slab climbs where no clearly defined
handholds exist and they also help save lots of arm strength because you push with your palm rather than pull with your hand and
arm.
To use a palming handhold, find a dimple in the rock surface and turn your hand so your palm faces toward the rock. Next, press
down on the rock with the heel of your hand below your wrist. Palming allows you to move a foot up to another foothold while your
body weight is concentrated on the palm. Sometimes you can also use a palm on the vertical walls of a corner or dihedral, pressing
your palms against the walls and opposing your arms and legs on either side of the sidewalls.
Using your hands and feet, making four points of contact with the rock surface, is the basis of all climbing movement. How you use
your fingers, hands, and feet to attach yourself to the rock is fundamental to climbing effectively and efficiently.
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Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green
Keep Your Weight Over Your Feet
One of the basics of climbing technique is to rely on your feet and legs to propel you up a vertical face. Your legs are stronger than
your arms so if you keep most of your body weight over your feet, your arms are less likely to tire and you’re less likely to fall.
Read Use Your Feet to Climb Better for more about good footwork and tips that help you climb better.
Learn Use Your Hands
But as you advance as a climber, you need to use your hands to progress. On steep rock you can’t always rely on your feet to support
most of your weight. You have to use your hands and arms. You just can’t reach up and grab big holds every time.
Many handholds just aren’t that good or big so you have to learn specialized hand positions to effectively use those holds.
Different Types of Handholds
If you don’t know how to grip various kinds ofhandholds with your fingers and hands, you’re not going to have a lot of success as a
climber. Every rock face offers a variety of different handholds or grips. There are flat edges, rounded slopers, pockets that fit one
finger or your whole hand, vertical flake edges, upside-down holds, and projecting blocks. How you use these holds is key to your
climbing success.
Six Basic Finger Grips
Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
Six Basic Hand and Finger Grips
Here are the six basic finger and hand grips used on handholds:
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Full crimp grip
The full crimp grip is one of the best grips and hand positions for holding onto small, narrow handholds when you're face
climbing. It's an aggressive and powerful hand position that usually feels secure on thin edges. The power, however, comes at a
price since it places the highest force loads on your finger joints and tendons, giving it a high injury potential.
Full Crimps Stress Your Fingers
If you use the full crimp a lot you risk developing chronic finger injuries that may never completely heal. It's best to limit the use
of the full crimp to situations when no other hand position will work. Also use extreme care when training on artificial walls so
you don't stress your fingers on crimp holds.
Use Full Crimps on Narrow Edges
The full crimp grip is best used on fingertip holds that are squarely cut and have a slight recess or incut that allows you to dig
your fingertips into the hold. You'll often find these holds on granite and limestone cliffs.
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Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green
How to Do a Full Crimp Grip
To do the full crimp, place the pads of your fingertips on a handhold's edge and curl your fingers so that the second joint is
sharply flexed. Secure the crimp by pressing your thumb on top of the index finger's fingernail and locking it in place. Using the
thumb lock helps your pulling power and makes the crimp more powerful. If you don't use your thumb in this position and let it
press against the side of your index finger, you are using the half crimp grip position.
Avoid Long-Term Finger Injuries
Avoid long-term nagging injuries to the joints, tendons, and muscles in your fingers by using the full crimp grip only when
absolutely necessary. Sustained crimping can and will damage not only your fingers but also your climbing career. If you tweak a
finger while crimping, rest for however many days it takes for the finger to feel better. Also avoid using full crimps at your local
gym. Many gym routes use small handholds to make a route more difficult rather than using creative route-setting. These
routes set you up for debilitating finger injuries.
Don't Mask Finger Pain with Ibuprofen
If you do injure a finger while crimping, don't mask the pain the next day by popping a handful of ibuprofen or other pain
relieving medications and then go climbing. The medication masks the pain that should be telling you "Stop!" If you don't stop,
you risk permanently damaging your fingers and never climbing hard routes again
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Half crimp grip
The half crimp grip, also called an open hand crimp, is the same hand and finger grip for using small handholds when you climb
as the full crimp, except that your thumb doesn't lock on top of your index finger after your hand is placed on an edge handhold.
Half Crimp is Weaker Than Full Crimp
The half crimp grip is more comfortable, ergonomic, and less stressful on your finger joints than the full crimp grip. It is,
however, a weaker grip than the full crimp since your thumb isn't pressing downward and it is less secure for moving upwards.
The half crimp, like the full crimp, is best used on narrow edges where you can place the pads of all four on your fingertips.
Use Half Crimps to Avoid Injury
Use the half crimp grip whenever possible instead of the full crimp and your fingers will thank you. The full crimp grip places
extreme forces on the tendons and joints of your fingers, leading to long-term damage if you use it regularly on the rocks. The
half crimp, however, builds hand and forearm strength as well as contact strength for hanging onto sloping handholds. Train the
half crimp in gym workouts such as bouldering to increase your crimp strength-just don't overdo the training and injure your
fingers
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Open-hand grip
Pocket grip
Pinch grip
Friction grip
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Nine Basic Types of Climbing Handholds Learn How to Use Climbing Handholds
By Stewart Green
Learn Grips in a Gym
If you’re new to climbing, practice all these grips in an indoor gym. Many of the artificialhandholds are ideal for each of the different
grips. Learn and practice them inside then take those skills outside.
Edge
An edge is a handhold or foothold on a climbing route that is a small, sharp ledge on a rock face. This narrow ledge or shelf ranges in
thickness from the width of a dime to three or so inches wide. The bigger and wider an edge is, the easier it is to use as a hold.
A climber uses an edge on a rock face as a foothold when he stands on it with his rock shoes. This foot technique is called edging; it
usually requires a stiff rock shoe to support the climber's weight, depending on the width and size of the edge.
A climber can also use an edge as a handhold by using crimping techniques or grabbing the hold with an open hand grip. Edges form
most of the handholds found on climbing routes.
Bucket
A bucket is a large handhold that fills a climber’s hand like he’s grabbing the edge of a bucket. Also called a Jug and a Thank God
Hold.
Jugs
Large handholds that are big enough to wrap you hands around. Or Juggy, which is a section of a route with large handholds, which
makes the climbing easy.
Usage: “I was pulling down on those humungous jugs on Sea of Holes. They made the climbing super easy!”
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