A couple of years ago I was reading a story about professional climber, Jerry Moffatt, who was only able to stick a long move to sloping hold, by imagining the hold was an incut pocket (a style of hold he liked) as opposed to a sloping crimp rail. Jerry even went so far as to draw chalk lines through the hold to make it look like a “pocket” he knew he could latch, instead of a sloping crimp that intimidated him. As crazy as it sounds, this climber stuck the move and completed what was at that time the hardest boulder problem in the world.

At the time I was reading this story, I also had a project I was working on that was almost entirely made up of the smallest, most painful and difficult holds that I had ever had the displeasure of attempting to grip. After nearly a month of failing to pass the third of twelve holds, I decided to test this new “imaginary hold” tactic and tell myself that every hold was in fact not a miniscule, painful crimp, but rather a positive mini-jug that was easy to grip.

Every time I prepared to move towards the next hold, I said “out loud” in my head, “it’s a jug!” When my fingers made contact with the little edges, I would curl them into the shape of the hold I wished to feel. Incredibly, I didn’t fall off! I also stayed on the next crimp and the next one after that! Within a couple more weeks I was able to finally perfect all of the moves required and complete the climb. The climb damaged my finger tips so badly that I couldn’t climb for more than three weeks afterwards, but I didn’t mind. In fact, to this day I have never been more proud of any send in my entire life.

Now, a younger me would have lost many hours trying to research the exact reason why this mental reimaging trick seems to work. However, these days I find it more fun to keep a little awe and wonder in my life. My best guess would be that the phenomenon exists and works due to a combination of some process within the brain recruiting more muscle fibers within the forearms, and an increase in pressure against the rock due to the changing angle of the finger joints (all of the force being applied through a smaller point, as the middle segments of the fingers lift off the rock and the finger tips curl down and into the rock). If I were you though, I would recommend you not think about it too much and just enjoy the benefits of this real life rock climbing “magic trick.”

To see this trick in action, check out the video below:

About The Author

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