I remember clearly a situation that happened in my first month of climbing. I had finally become hooked by the idea of trying boulder problems, but I wasn’t experienced enough to be able to decipher which climbs were too hard for me. I would would often spend thirty to forty-five minutes falling off the start hold of various problems, and it was almost always because the climb featured just one foot hold and gravity would cause my hips to swing away from the wall in a “barn door” type fashion before I could lift my other foot off the mat and post it against the wall.

Eventually, I became more coordinated and was able to flex my core, legs, and arms at the appropriate time.. This would often create enough tension to keep me on the wall, but was a bit sloppy and often resulted in a loud bang as my foot hit the wall. It also required a lot of precision and was not 100% reliable, which caused me some issues at a high level competition I once entered.

As I approached the low down, one-footed start of a reasonable looking climb, I noticed that my body was not quite in the right position to jump my foot cleanly onto the wall. I “hopped” my foot closer to the wall twice before fully committing to the strenuous starting position. When my attempt had ended, the judge informed me that he had given me “three tries” because my foot had left the ground three times before finally sticking to the wall. I wasn’t too upset, but I was highly motivated to perfect my low starts to avoid such an unnecessary mistake from happening in the future.

The method I developed was to shift most of my weight on my supporting (back) foot on the hold first. Then, I could carefully slide my unweighted flagging (front) foot across the mat until just my heel was resting on the floor and the inside of my toe was pressed against the wall. From here I would prepare myself to start the climb and then squeeze the inside of my front flagging foot against the wall hard, while I rotated my heel away from the wall and off the mat. I was now in a stable starting position without any fear of mistiming my smear or losing an attempt for leaving the mat.

After developing and perfecting this method, not only did I find it more practical for competition purposes, it also turned out to be more efficient for any type of climbing situation. I could now choose the exact time I wanted to tense up all of my muscles in a synchronized fashion while already being in an optimally balanced position.

In conclusion, this trick has revolutionized my climbing. It has given me confidence that I will never be stopped at the start of a problem because I couldn’t figure out how to pick my foot off the ground and have it stick to the wall. This allows me to try more climbs and improve faster, simply because I can establish on the starting holds and move towards the second hold more often than most other climbers I see who are not using this method.

If you want to never barn door off the starting holds ever again, give this trick a shot and see if it works for you. You can find more explanation by checking out the Hangout Tips YouTube video we made to go with this blog, below. Please like the video and consider subscribing to our channel if you found the content valuable and would like to see more of my secrets explained.

About The Author

David Murray has been coaching climbing for more than 17 years. He has helped over 5000 new and experienced climbers become more efficient and have more fun. David is currently a co-owner of The Hangout Climbing Centre in Duncan, Canada.