Big Crimpin'

Oh, strenuous sloper; bane of my existence!

When I first started gym climbing, knowing nothing of the world of real rock, I wondered frustratingly why someone would design a piece of plastic akin to a bowling ball to hang on to. They were awful! They'd pump me out before I could even say "take!". 

Oh, crappy crimper; how I loathed you for so long!

Possibly the lesser of two evils in terms of ability to utilize, but possibly the most evil in their ability to injure. When I first came across these in my early gym days, I was stunned that a setter would expect me to hold onto a shitty foot chip to move myself up the wall. Gah!! 

I can't say exactly when, but at some point these things began to change. While I still despise some slopers, and some crimps are just ri-god-damn-diculous, I have come to appreciate both of these holds and their dynamic relationship with each other. More often than not, now a days, I prefer a crimp over a sloper. In fact, many crimps that used to be seemingly impossible are now almost jug-like. What really blew my mind after some light informational reading, and testing of my own, is that slopers actually make you better at crimping! WTF?!

This realization has caused me to embrace the sloper. They may not not feel good at the time but they will pay off later when you find yourself actually RESTING on that once godawful crimp!

Disclaimer: Crimps will actually not make you better at slopers! So, keep a steady stream of slopers in your climbing repertoire, and you'll be sending like a crimpanzee!!