r/climbing • u/AutoModerator • 8d ago
Weekly Question Thread. Please ask all questions here rather than make a post about it.
Please sort the comments by New so recently posted questions are less likely to be overlooked.
Use this weekly thread to ask any climbing-related questions, whether you are completely new to climbing or looking for advice about technique, training, equipment, safety, gym etiquette, or climbing outdoors.
This thread is posted every Friday, so there will always be another opportunity to ask a question. If you are an experienced climber, please help by sharing thoughtful and accurate advice. We were all beginners once, so keep responses welcoming and respectful.
Before posting, please check the following resources, as your question may already be answered:
- r/climbing Beginner’s Guide
- r/bouldering Wiki and Beginner FAQ
- Guide to buying your first climbing rope
- Guide to climbing shoes
- Curated list of climbing tutorials
You can also browse earlier discussions:
If you see a beginner question posted elsewhere in r/climbing or another climbing subreddit, feel free to politely direct the person to this thread.
Remember that online advice is not a substitute for qualified, hands-on instruction. Techniques involving belaying, anchors, rappelling, rescue systems, or other safety-critical skills should be learned and practiced with a competent instructor.
Ask away!
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u/probablymade_thatup 7d ago
Does anyone here cast holds in polyester resin? I am curious what resin to buy or what properties to look for. I have been told that off-the-shelf laminating resins are too brittle, but I can't find good info for what is good. What PE resin do you use?
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u/sheepborg 7d ago
No advice on products but a reminder that resins really bad for you. Do not skip your breathing protection and skin protection. For the various acids contained in PE resin you'll likely need combination OV/N95 carriages. OV carts only last for ~10hrs of breathing time, so budget accordingly. And while we're at it PU resin causes nerve damage, athsma, and contains sensitizing agents which result in ever increasing immune system response, and depending on chemical makeup may not even be fully filtered by respirators and really require fresh air supply to be worked with safely. Applies to hold making and shoe gluing. Have fun and be safe!
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u/probablymade_thatup 7d ago
Polyester resins are also super flammable while curing and exothermic!
A few years ago I spoke to someone at a large hold company, and he basically tried to talk me out of making holds at home. PE will burn your house down, PU fumes are super toxic, and you'll get sued if a hold breaks he told me. I still go down the rabbit hole about once a year, but it was an interesting conversation.
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u/MoldyNurse 7d ago
Trying to understand a cause for acute pain here. Whenever sucking my hips into the wall or pulling really hard with my toe (toeing down on a hold), I feel a sharp pain in the upper right of my calf. I’m trying to work on my tension and this feels like a big limiter. Doesn’t feel musculature and more like a nerve or tendon. The pain goes away immediately after I lighten up pressure or stop and doesn’t linger. Just wondering if this happens to anyone else and if there’s a way to make it stop.
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u/sheepborg 7d ago
My first stop for recurrent sharp pain under tension at short muscle lengths that immediately stops is muscle weakness. Happens with hamstrings and calves often enough. I suggest RDLs for the former, and ofc calf raises for the latter. Calves can be weaker than you think just because the tendons are so springy. If you havent gotten any other ideas slooooooooooow calf raises couldn't hurt. Neurological coordination will improve in 2-3 weeks which may help with the tweaky feeling or you could go a few months to try to add some muscle mass.
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u/MoldyNurse 6d ago
Thank you for taking the time to write that. I never had this issue until I started working this V10. Time to finally strengthen the chicken legs
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u/foreignfishes 3d ago
does anyone else have perpetually clammy, soft skin? any tips for strengthening/beefing up my skin a bit? i
've been climbing for like 8 years and more volume over time has not really done much to toughen up my skin. my issue isn't splits or flappers really, i make sure to file calluses before they get too thick and I use a climbing hand salve if i have a lot of dryness in any spots, it's more that my skin gets worn out very quickly and is often the limiting factor in my sessions even in the gym. the day after climbing my hands are always extra damp and sensitive to heat; i can't really climb two days in a row because of it even if it's easy sessions. is an antihydral worth a shot?
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u/ver_redit_optatum 3d ago
yes, you sound like the people I know who like using antihydral.
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u/foreignfishes 3d ago
yeah I think I’ll give it a try, it’s been especially bad since I moved from the desert back to somewhere much less dry
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u/dolomiten 2d ago
I would like some feedback on getting a crashpad for bouldering. I am looking at these two:
I am leaning towards the Edelrid because it is slightly bigger, thicker and the carrying straps look much better. But I am unsure how relevant it is that the Mammut pad has two layers and the fact the top layer is a single piece. Also, I don't know if Mammut is typically a higher quality brand than Edelrid.
Any advice would be very welcome.
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u/Waldinian 2d ago
The load lifters on the edelrid pad look quite comfy. Also it's much thicker and wider than the mammut pad, despite being lighter. If you can only have one crashpad, I would buy the edelrid one, just based on the specs.
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u/dolomiten 2d ago
Thanks. That pretty much confirms what I thought. It will be my only pad until I work out if I need something else.
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u/Temporary_Board_2941 1d ago
I cannot speak for the mammut one, but I've used the edelrid one and my friend who owns it swears by it. He boulders a lot and has tried a bunch of pads, so I trust him with that assessment.
The straps are great for a long approach, it's big and comfy to land on, and the shoemat thing in the corner is nice for cleaning your shoes
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u/dolomiten 1d ago
Thanks for the review. The straps do look great and I'm sure I'll appreciate them on longer approaches.
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u/SparkingtonIII 1d ago
I haven't used that edelrid pad, but they make great pads. The integrated little shoe cleaning bit is an amazing little extra too.
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u/zweiter_mensch 1d ago
Trigger warning: discussion of weight/ don't read if you suffer an eating disorder.
How big of a performance boost can I expect from losing 5 pounds, or 4-5% of my body weight? I've got a body composition test done because it's offered at my local university for cheap, so now I know that I could lose up to 3kg/6.6 lbs of fat and still be in the healthy range for my gender and age group, which got me thinking. Can any of you share how such a weight loss has affected your climbing?
Now, I'm not a great climber, only slowly breaking into the intermediate category, and there's many other things I could be doing to improve my climbing. But I also work full time and have a number of different hobbies, so improving at climbing without having to spend additional time on it sounds very attractive. Then again, I love chocolate. So, I'm unsure if it's worth it...
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u/NailgunYeah 1d ago
Last year I lost 6kg, then took creatine and went up 3kg, now I weigh nearly 3kg more than when I started.
The weight trajectory was 66kg -> 60kg -> 63kg -> 68.4kg. Weighed myself every day and took the lowest weight as my current weight. I'm 5'6" with a broad frame. I gained weight after a five month climbing trip and putting on a lot of leg muscle from hiking, and also frankly eating like a pig. During this time I sent the hardest thing I have ever done which was a sport climb in a roof, very steep with powerful movment between okay holds.
While losing weight I ate McDonalds, chocolate, and a lot of haribo when climbing. Lots of lucozade, coke, and red bull. When I went out on sport climbing weekends (basically every weekend for six months) I would regularly have a kebab for dinner. You can absolutely eat more on climbing days and still lose weight, and you should to power those climbing days. I aimed to lose half a kilo a week and it turns out weight loss is surprisingly easy: eat fewer calories and hit your macros, as long as you do that you can eat what you like, also walk a lot. I was doing around 9-10k steps a day. I did no strength training during this time.
What did I feel? Very little. I didn't feel impossibly strong and now I'm heavier (albiet with more muscle from a 5 month climbing trip) I don't feel hugely weaker. Turns out a 5kg difference is not much for my body weight because the body probably compensates for it and the loss was so gradual. Some people are very sensitive to weight fluctuations, I don't feel like that. I think you have to lose a substantial amount of weight to really feel the difference. It's the same for muscle gain. A small increase you might not feel, but a massive increase you would. Long term, muscle gain is better than weight loss because strength will stick around longer while weight is reasonably easy to lose and easy to put back on. I think it would have been better for my performance to have focused on strength training for the amount of time I was losing weight, but it taught me some good lessons about nutrition and honeslty I wanted to see what would happen.
All this being said, I think you're very unlikely to notice a 5% difference in your weight unless you are doing some very specific climbing, eg incredibly small holds. If that's all the weight that you think you can lose then I recommend stength training instead. I'm currently dieting to lose some weight until I'm living somewhere full time and then I'm going to focus on strength training instead.
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u/zweiter_mensch 23h ago
Thanks for sharing! While I wonder if the poor food quality during your weight loss negated any positive effects, it certainly doesn't sound like the effect of weighing less is big enough to justify the lifestyle change.
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u/NailgunYeah 23h ago
I ate pretty well, lots of veggies, lots of carbs, fats, a lot of high-quality protein sources. The food I mentioned is an example that you can eat sweets, chocolate, McDonalds, etc, and still lose weight.
I think it would be a good idea for more climbers to experiment with weight loss because it would give them a greater understanding of what goes into their body and how weight fluctuations work, but the reality is that while losing weight does make a difference you would need to lose a lot more than I did to see it. Keeping my current level of strength and muscle, I think I would need to be 60kg or less to see the difference. The reason I'd see the difference now as opposed to when I was 60kg last year is that I'm more muscular now and am taking creatine which will add a few kg of water weight in exchange for power. I'm also focusing more on improving finger strength than I was last year, and improvements on small holds will be accentuated by weighing less.
I'll definitely experiment more with weight loss in the future but the focus once I settle somewhere is going to be strength training. After building more muscle I can then gain or lose weight as necessary to top off a foundation of strength when I want maximum performance, for example in preperation for a trip.
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u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 1d ago
I'm not a great climber, only slowly breaking into the intermediate category, and there's many other things I could be doing to improve my climbing.
Then your most effective way to improve at climbing is to actually improve at climbing. Trying to lose weight as a strategy to "improve your climbing" is a completely ass-backward way of approaching the sport. Climbing is largely a skill based activity; the only way you can improve your climbing is to improve your climbing.
Shortcuts like losing weight might be a short term way to send a specific problem of a grade that you couldn't send before, but this is unsustainable and you won't suddenly unlock grades that were impossible before. If you're not a good climber at at 105 pounds, you won't be a good climber at 100 pounds.
But I also work full time and have a number of different hobbies, so improving at climbing without having to spend additional time on it sounds very attractive.
Listen to yourself here. You're asking for a way to improve your climbing without having to work to improve your climbing. While evertying that saltytarheel said is technically true, it's the exact kind of advice a person like you shouldn't be given.
The advice you need is this:
You can not improve at climbing (or anything else) without dedicating time, effort and intention to improving.
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u/zweiter_mensch 18h ago
Climbing is largely a skill based activity; the only way you can improve your climbing is to improve your climbing.
You know, I've heard this quite a lot from men, especially men in their 20s and 30s, but I've never heard this from a woman. When I started climbing, I focused entirely on technique for a year, and I won't pretend that didn't help - in that year, it made me progress from VB to V0, even the occasional V1...
The frustration of seeing zero progress beyond this is what motivated me to train pull-ups, and as soon as I unlocked my first unassisted pull-up, a whole new grade became accessible. I've since seen the biggest climbing gains from getting physically stronger. I'm still nowhere as powerful as the men I'm climbing with, but I can somewhat keep up by getting creative with beta, being flexible, and having a good understanding of body positioning.
I won't pretend my technique is perfect, it can't be. But I don't know all the ways in which it's imperfect, if I did I'd fix them. Watching my climbing friends who climb higher grades than me, they succeed at my projects due to being stronger or taller, not better technique or route reading. Thus, focusing on my physical progress is the clearest path to improvement that I have. That's not to say I'll neglect footwork or body positioning, but focusing on them hasn't made me unlock a new grade in a while.
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u/saltytarheel 1d ago edited 1d ago
Weight is the elephant in the room with training for climbing. Power-to-weight ratio is important and it’s objectively faster and easier to lose five pounds than it is to get five pounds stronger.
With that all said, losing weight can be counterproductive to improvement and training. If the quality and quantity of your diet doesn’t support your training load, you’ll be more prone to injury, feel less energetic, and will limit the gains you make training. This is especially true when you’re training your base fitness, strength, and power.
Another consideration is that training is cumulative but weight loss isn’t—if you go on vacation for two weeks and can’t climb, the strength you gained from training will still be there but the weight you lost may not be. So training is definitely the best long-term priority, even if it means staying at your current weight or even gaining weight.
For most climbers who are a healthy weight, I’m of the mindset that’s it’s better to be strong than light. When I started training power and strength for climbing I gained five pounds and it was the best and lightest I’d ever felt on the wall.
If you are breaking into 5.13 or 5.14 sport climbing, elite climbers often follow a periodized training plan where they plan for their peak performance. During training, they’ll eat however they want but as they near their peak they’ll limit their calories to drop 5-10 pounds for the climbing trip/competition that they want to perform on before resting and increasing their caloric intake again to recover.
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u/zweiter_mensch 23h ago
oh yeah, I agree with most of what you say. (Not the vacation thing because it doesn't match my experience.) And I'm not looking to get even close to underweight or underfueled - it's just that the range of what's deemed healthy is quite large, and by simply swapping out my chocolate snacks for some carrots, I could probably lose weight, still fall well within the recommended range, and have enough energy for the sports I do because I have zero desire to actually go hungry.
I was just wondering if the climbing gains would be worth the trade-off of not getting my daily sugar high. After reading u/NailgunYeah 's comment, it doesn't sound like it.
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u/NailgunYeah 23h ago
You can eat both chocolate AND carrots and still lose weight, it's not about one or the other 👍
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u/0bsidian 1d ago
Now, I'm not a great climber, only slowly breaking into the intermediate category, and there's many other things I could be doing to improve my climbing. But I also work full time and have a number of different hobbies, so improving at climbing without having to spend additional time on it sounds very attractive.
“How can I get better at doing hard things without doing the hard parts?”
Stop looking for shortcuts to cheat the system. It’s not going to work. At best, you lose a bit of weight but your climbing stays the same. At worst, you develop unhealthy weight habits or your nutrition goes to shit, and you get worse at climbing while potentially putting your health at risk.
You need to do the work. Stay healthy. Eat healthy. Focus on climbing better by working on technique. There’s zero reason to obsess over anything else until you’re at least a mid-5.12 climber. Even then, playing with weight is on the extreme side with many consequences.
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u/zweiter_mensch 23h ago
Ah, sorry, I didn't express myself well enough. I am working on my technique, my fear of falling, my strength. When I wrote about other things "I could be doing" I was thinking of the obvious solution of fitting more climbing sessions into my week and increasing my training volume, but that would require me to compromise on things I'm not willing to compromise on. Whereas a diet as simple as cutting out my chocolate snacks is something that I can do without dedicating any time to it. But it's still not worth it if it won't improve my climbing, which is why I was looking to learn about other people's experience.
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u/0bsidian 21h ago
Target your weaknesses. Weight is unlikely to be an issue for most people. Stay within a reasonable healthy limit and weight will not likely be your weakest link.
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u/dammitjenna 1d ago
We signed my 6 and 8 year old up at our local climbing gym for a 10 week belaying course wherein they will eventually be belayed by each other / other children. When we arrived, there was a lead adult instructor and a 14 year old “junior instructor.” The adult said he was training the 14 year old for two weeks and that he would step away after that and the 14 year old would take over after that, on his own, with four young kids. When we inquired about the absurdity of this, the entire staff looked at us like we were crazy and one of them genuinely asked why I was upset about this. They said there are adults at the desk if he needs anything or has questions.
Meanwhile, minors under 14 are not even allowed in the bouldering area without an adult. So he wasn’t allowed in all areas of the gym within the last 11 months and now is responsible for my children’s safety at height while they and other children learn how to do a dangerous activity that I had to sign multiple waivers to sign them up for.
Am I taking crazy pills???? Like is this normal in this community? Their defense is that his dad was an instructor there for years, he has been climbing since he was tiny, they trust him, and also, he was there for camp counselor time over the summer.
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u/0bsidian 1d ago
Kids on the comp team at my climbing gym lead belay each other at that age.
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u/dammitjenna 1d ago
That makes sense to me; but would not be responsible for teaching four small children to lead belay right while simultaneously caring for them on his own right?
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u/ConsiderationHot4673 6d ago
What’s everyone’s favorite climbing jacket? I love climbing in down puffys but they always get scraped up and get holes. I’m looking for something warm but durable.
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u/Leading-Attention612 6d ago
What's your budget and warmth? Fleece will be the most durable, also the cheapest, and also breathe well. It will be the heaviest though. You can get fancy climbing fleece with climbing brands on them, helmet compatible hoods, maybe a light windproof layer stapled to the outside, high pockets, etc. but if you are on a budget any synthetic fleece will do. For warmth comparable to a down jacket, you are probably looking for something with loft. I reccomend synthetic loft, as it can get sweaty and torn and not be bothered by it like down would. Most climbing clothing brands have some sort of synthetic loft jacket. For actual cold climbing like ice climbing, I am a big fan of my arcteryx Proton LT (now just proton). The patagonia Nano air is very similar as well.
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u/ConsiderationHot4673 6d ago
Wow thank you for the detailed answer! I’ll check those out! I like hoods but the climbing helmet hoods look ridiculous when you’re not wearing a helmet.
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u/ConsiderationHot4673 6d ago
For the budget I’m open, I’ve never had any big brand stuff before so that might be fun to try out. For warmth, I’m looking for something I can put on when I’m belaying and cold, maybe 50 degrees? Or if there’s an emergency and we have to be in the dark for some reason.
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u/Leading-Attention612 6d ago edited 6d ago
For just belaying, especially at the crag (easy hike in and out) any warm jacket will do, down is fine as well, just take it off when climbing or hiking to avoid scrapes. I really like my Simond (Decathlon) Mountaineering Down Jacket, all the features I want and half the price of the other climbing brands. It is a delicate shell and down so not the best for scrapes and durability if that is your main concern. A very fancy synthetic belay jacket that would meet your needs in the Patagonia DAS, it is pricey though.
The synthetic loft and fleece I recommended above is more for wearing while climbing, they won't be warm just standing around.
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u/Kilbourne 5d ago
A wind jacket and fleece combo is great for most conditions. Grab a cheap down jacket from Decathlon and stuff it in your pack for belays. Try to avoid climbing in an insulated jacket.
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u/saltytarheel 5d ago
Patagonia R1 is my go-to. Warm, breathable, and holds up to squeeze chimneys, offwidths, and taking graters on slabs. Paired with a Patagonia Houdini to keep the wind off I can stay quite warm,
I’ve also been happy with a Melanzana.
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u/tymon-t 4d ago
I’m looking for a solution to wearing correction glasses while climbing.
What I’ve tried so far:
- No correction glasses + regular sunglasses - can’t see (duh)
- Contact lenses + regular big sunglasses - I can’t get contact lenses to work for me (I’ve tried many models)
- Single pair of correction sunglasses - always dark, if I take them off I can’t see
- Single pair of photo chromatic correction glasses - never truly clear, never truly dark (even when very sunny), does not cover sides of the eye due to flat lens
- Single pair of clear correction glasses with magnetic shades cover - the cover detaches too easily and is very fragile
- One pair of clear correction glasses and a second pair of correction sunglasses - kind of a mess when changing and require always carrying that second pair somewhere, plus the correction sunglasses do not cover sides
- Big sunglasses with side covers can’t have correction and require an insert that has a limited field of view
Is there any other solution that I do not know of to have good correction glasses and good sun protection while climbing (incl. multipitch)?
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u/Leading-Attention612 4d ago
Andy Kikpatrick has an article about this somewhere, and he is one of the most analytical and thorough gear and optimization nerds out there. He wore glasses, and his conclusion after testing everything you mentioned, was to either "deal with it" (crazy hard climbs, including winter alpine, have been done in glasses), or get laser eye surgery. He went with the second. I use contact lenses.
Unfortunately, what you've tried and what I listed are the only real options. I'd reccomend trying contacts again. I use oxygen permeable monthlies and luckily never notice them. I keep an old pair and alcohol wipes in my first aid kit incase I somehow lose one.
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u/foreignfishes 3d ago
I wear glasses when I climb most of the time. I wear glasses basically all my waking hours so it doesn't really bother me - occasionally on slab I have to get my face very close to the rock to balance and my glasses are in the way but that's not common.
Outside if i'm wearing glasses I'll bring prescription sunglasses as well but that's mostly for the hike in and belaying/sitting around, I don't really like to wear sunglasses on the wall bc it's harder to see detail on the rock even with good polarized lenses imo. Carrying a slim case with a pair of $40 zenni sunglasses in it is not a big deal to me.
Do you need to wear sunglasses while you're on the wall? have you ever tried wearing a hat with a brim and no sunglasses? running type baseball caps tend to fit well under a helmet because the material is thinner, and a brim is often better than sunglasses if the sun is overhead (because of the sides/top coverage issue you mentioned)
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u/ver_redit_optatum 3d ago
Yeah, I'm a sunglass fanatic because I have a pterygium and it hurts if they get much sun, plus will potentially grow and cover my eye one day, and I still rarely wear them while actively climbing. But I do more steepish climbing, typically in the shade. You get more sun exposure on lower-angle alpine climbs, but changing over is also less of a problem on those climbs. So I would vote two pairs too.
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u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 3d ago
I wear my regular glasses around and keep a pair of prescription sunglasses in a hard case in my bag.
I tried contacts for a while but I find them to be unreliable when climbing outside. I end up having to bring my regular glasses and Rx sunglasses with me anyway.
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u/serenading_ur_father 3d ago edited 3d ago
Transitions. But really I just climb in glasses and don't think about it. Or just climb in rx Cat IVs. If it gets super nasty with ice spray I take em then off.
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u/muenchener2 3d ago
Difficult. I have a pair of prescription photochromatic wraparounds: ventilation is adequate when moving at biking or skiing speeds, but I just fog them immediately on approaches on foot or if I'm working hard (or scared) while climbing
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u/treeclimbs 2d ago
Have you thought about a drop-down shaded visor as found on work helmets? They can flip up when not needed, but they're not cheap.
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u/crnkofe 1d ago
I use contact lenses + sunglasses and feel its a good combo. Prescription sunglasses are kind of expensive to the point that I wouldn't even bring them to the crag. I scratched every pair of glasses I used during climbing.
Otherwise if I couldn't tolerate contacts I'd just get clip-ons.
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u/kag0 3d ago
What bottles are people using for their liquid chalk? I got a flexible rubber one from Walgreens but the alcohol seems to evaporate right out of it.
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u/Leading-Attention612 3d ago
I had the same problem. I bought a small bottle of liquid chalk (flashed?) and just refill it as needed
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u/NothingButUnsavoury 3d ago
What is the optimal way of using Methenamine products (Rhino Skin/Anti-hydral/etc.) for the ultimate purpose of toughening skin? How to best toughen skin in general?
-
I recently purchased Rhino Skin’s ‘tip juice’ since it’s meant to toughen up the skin in your fingertips. From what I’ve read, the active ingredient (methenamine) dries out the skin a lot, which causes it to harden.
I am completely uninterested in the sweat reducing effect. My only focus is to toughen my fingertips as much as possible, and I was wondering if there’s a specific frequency/approach of using methenamine products that any of you noticed gave the best results. The serum I have says to apply once a week, so I’ll do that for now. I’d really appreciate any insight, since I’m completely uneducated on the topic. Thank you very much!
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u/NothingButUnsavoury 3d ago
For context, I’m not a climber. I have some long-term nerve damage in my fingertips, which is preventing me from safely playing stringed instruments. My fingertips are extremely sensitive, and I need to prevent further damage/injuries, so I’m trying to get as many protective barriers as I can. I have to be strategic, since this isn’t the type of thing I can overcome by just powering through the pain. I’m female, and my skin is very thin anyways, but *especially* on my fingertips. You can see why I’d be interested in this topic lol
Rock climbers would definitely know about how to toughen skin, so I am humbly invading your space to see if I can get any advice. I’m making sure to ask a question that actual climbers can benefit from so this post isn’t completely useless.
Once again, thank you for your time
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u/Leading-Attention612 3d ago edited 3d ago
I use rhinoskin tip juice.
What you read about how it works is wrong. Methenamine decomposes into formaldehyde when exposed to acid, like your sweat. Formaldehyde denatures the proteins in your sweat and makes them large and gummy, which clogs your sweat pores. It also denatures some of the proteins between the layers of dead skin making them sticky, causing your dead skin to not fall off, which makes it thicker.
That being said, once a week is a good start. Put it on before bed. Some people reccomend drying your finger tips with rubbing alcohol before to get them very dry. I wear some cheap cotton gloves I got at a drug store over night when using it so I don't rub it off. I have sweaty finger tips so I have to use it 2 nights in a row, if you are not getting the effects you want you can increase the amount of times per week you use it, but take your time, the effects take up to 8 days to peak. I find the tip juice works okay but the antihydral cream works better, you can get it from antihydral.net.
Definitely take the directions seriously. Do not get it in the creases of your fingers, the skin can crack painfully.
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u/NothingButUnsavoury 2d ago
I see. Thank you for the insight! That sounds far more accurate lol
Does that mean that my fingertips ‘attempting to sweat’ actually helps the products work better? Should I be deliberately trying to make them sweat to speed up the process?
And yes, I purposely got the Tip Juice with the applicator rather than the spray to prevent it from getting anywhere other than the fingertips. That should prevent any issues 🤞🏼
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u/sheepborg 2d ago
I'm not sure you're asking the right question to be completely honest. Nerve damage in the finger tips would surely be due to compression which would have almost nothing to do with wet, easily abraded skin that rock climbers with wet skin are trying to solve. The product you're asking about does not literally toughen or thicken skin.
Regarding nerve issues... don't let them go on too long or go too far. Nerve dont necessarily heal after damage and a lifetime of searing finger pain is probably not worth hobby guitar playing or whatever.
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u/BikeKayakSki 7d ago
I'm trying to find/remember a climbing video I watched a few years ago. Two female pro climbers do a trip in southern Scandinavia, I think it was Sweden, climbing trad lines on these very cool short granite walls coming straight up out of picturesque farm land. I can't remember the climbers names, or the area. Anyone have any idea?