Climbing Notes
Drills

Silent feet

Climb easy terrain placing every foot without a sound.

1 min read 5 sections

Goal

Precise feet, so more weight goes onto them and less onto the fingers.

How

  1. Choose a route or traverse well below your limit.
  2. Look at each foothold until the foot is on it.
  3. Place the foot so it makes no sound; if it does, step down and redo the move.
  4. Stand up through the leg, arms straight.

What to measure

  • Number of noisy foot placements per route.
  • Number of foot re-adjustments.

Write it down on the log sheet.

Dose

2–4 easy routes or 5–10 minutes of traversing, as a warm-up.

The evidence

  • Coaching practice This drill and its dose are common coaching practice; no study in the research pack tested them.
  • See Footwork, flagging, twisting for the background and the measured numbers behind it.
Important

Climb within your experience, with a qualified instructor or experienced partner for anything roped. Young climbers: no campus board or added-weight versions of any drill, and stop at any finger pain.