Smear: you smear when you do not have a foothold, and rely on the friction of the wall and your shoe. If you feel unstable with your foot, put more pressure and weight on it to increase friction. The general rule stands - the more surface and force, the better friction. And most importantly, trust your feet. If you truly believe that the foot will stay in place, it will. Promise.

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Backstep: would you like to reach just a little bit higher? Maybe standing on footholds like you are climbing a ladder is not good enough. What you need to do is get 1 foot just to the center of your body (balance point), kick the other foot sideways and twist in your hip. This will get you balanced and you can fully straighten leg in the center. The other foot can just smear or use any hold but it is pushing from the back and helping to move up. Try imagining doing a one-leg stand-up. That extra push from the back is important when you need an extra inch of reach. It can also be used as when taking a rest because when you backstep, you twist your hips making it closer to the wall.

 

Flag: you might have seen climbers doing this move (which can look fairly graceful). Flagging is done by swinging a limb out in order to balance your weight. In this case, you use only left hand & leg (or right) and you have only two points of contact with the wall. When the holds you’re using are on one side, flagging can help you shift the weight to the other side and prevent you from opening up. This is not an easy technique to get well as the coordination of the core and shoulders has to be good, as it has to be tight and flexible at the same time.

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Stemming: stemming is when you utilize two opposing planes to climb. This is mostly used while climbing in corners. You counter the pressure to stay in balance by using your leg muscles, so it can be used when your arms are already pumped and you want to take a rest. You can also counter pressure one straight arm and the opposing leg. This technique enables you to climb seemingly impossible climbs with almost no holds. All you have to do is push to the sides of a corner and use a lot of smearing. It will eventually work well.

 

Edging: Edging is literally what it sounds like: you use the edges of your shoe when using a foothold. The right way to this technique is to utilize the toe’s edges. It is only used when you can not stand properly on your toes. A type of climb that requires this technique is most often an arête.

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Dyno: when you dyno (jump), you’re completely off the wall for a brief moment. You can jump surprisingly far if you know how to work with your balance and momentum. The more momentum you get, the futher you can jump. So if the holds are far away, start swinging your hips before jumping. This will make you able to get further once you coordinate it well enough. We differentiate:
a) dyno - you jump with one hand. The other hand can keep the previous hold or not.
b) double dyno - you jump with both hands at the same time trying to catch one big hold or two different ones. This type is harder for coordination.

 

Drop knee: the concept of the drop knee is similar to a backstep but it’s more extreme, in the sense that you actually drop your knee down until the outside of your shoe rests on the hold and your knee points down.

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Remember that if you drop the right knee, the right-hand goes for the next hold! And the other way around.

 

Bump: a bump is done when you hold and intermediate hold in order to get to another hold. Bumping is done when you can’t reach the good hold right away, so you first you get something in between to help you reach far enough and then you “bump” to the preferred hold.

 

Deadpoint, just like a dyno move, relies on creating a momentum. Unlike in a dyno, you don't jump but "only" reach for the far away hold very fast. This is often used in situations where you can't do the move slowly (statically). Deadpoint means pointing for hold and going for it, if you don't manage to hold it, you fall (dead...not literally of course).

 

Match: you match when you place more than one limb on one the same hold. Typically it's either both your hands or feet. Matching with your hands makes you able to change your hands on that hold or gain extra stability when there are no other holds around. It can also help you to prepare as you reach for another hold. Matching your feet on a foothold enables you to switch your feet and keep on climbing in a smooth way. Remember, if you want to switch or match, keep enough space for both hands/feet!

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Jam: jamming is often used in outdoor climbing. Instead of using normal holds, you insert your fingers, hand, feet, sometimes even your whole limb into a crack and use them as a hold. The hand is then "jammed" in the tight space and only friction between your hand and the crack is enough to hold you. This is quite a complicated technique to learn but once you get it, you will be so happy. This is most often used at crack climbing during a trad climb.

 

Mantle: Mantle is the opposite of the usual climbing orientation (where you pull down on a hold) since this technique involves pushing down the hold with your arm. Your arm is usually straight and you push with your palm down. This technique is often used in technical boulders or climbing in corners.

 

Toe hook: use your toe (the top of the foot) as a hook just the same way as you use hands. This will not help you to advance higher but it will give you additional balance and hold you closer to the wall. This is most often used in bouldering, where this gets essential to use in big overhangs and roofs as the "typical" footholds disappear. 

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Heel hook: use your heel as a hook. This can provide lot of additional support if the foothold is facing the "wrong" way and you can not step on top of it. Use the side instead, get the heel and push with the heel towards your body. You will be amazed by how much weight you can put on it.