Comments on: Rock climbing hacks! (now with added speculation)

By: tom

tom — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:10:39 +0000

That’s so true about the chalk — it’s mostly just a way of signalling to yourself that you’re serious about it this time!

By: breflection

breflection — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:50:23 +0000

I definitely have the same experience on the wall. I help the problem by taking advantage of all that cool research into motor imagery before I go up. If you stare at the wall for five minutes and imagine yourself on each hold it will improve your performance.
As an aside, I’ve found that chalk is essentially a placebo in 95% of cases. Magic confidence powder that makes you feel like you can grip better but is actually totally unnecessary.

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:03:55 +0000

That’s an interesting idea. The situation is certainly familiar to me, but I wouldn’t want to discount the fact that reaching a new foothold usually causes your torso and head to move as well, which of course allows you to see holds that really weren’t visible before.
Sometimes, I think that’s really all there is to it. But of course, neuroscience is hardly ever intuitive like that, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this affordance idea contributes the way you suggest. Definitely something to keep in mind the next time I go climbing.