Do I really need to prepare my hands and fingers before crack climbing? Is it at all necessary? Think of taping hands and fingers for a crack climb as equally important as any other piece of gear, such as climbing shoes, chalks, rope etc. Preparing your hands for a longer crack climbing session or a multi-pitch route makes sense. Solely for crack climbing, prophylactic taping of the hands and fingers will help in reducing the risk of injury to the skin at stress points, especially when it gets down to wide fists or off-width climbing. When it comes to an easy crack climb or a tight-fist crack climb, then taping is more of an inconvenience, you’ll have a hard time feeling the crack or it simply won’t feel “real” wearing the tape.

Prophylactic taping when climbing should be done with good reason. Our bodily locomotor system is a dynamic function and responds to stimuli with a stimulus-response. That is, the system requires a certain amount of stress on the capsule and ligaments, will adapt and reinforce the signal in order to cope better with overloaded stress. If a stimulus is suppressed, then the necessary adaptation process remains shut off. With the exception of injury or stress on ligaments or capsules where taping can protect, it’s not wise to tape a healthy movement apparatus that requires stimuli to develop healthily.

Three basic principles are recommended for beginners starting out with crack climbing: Lots of practice, a slow cautious approach to the discipline and the importance of placing friends and cams!

Instructions for taping the hand when crack climbing

Step 1: Place three broad strips across the back of the hand. It is important that the strips cover the knuckles.

Step 2: Start here on the front of the wrist. Draw a broad strip of tape around your finger and repeat again at the little finger. Here it is important that the tape is positioned under the finger and gathered up. The four strips should cover the first three so that there is no more space remaining on the back of the hand.

 Step 3: The tape has now been fixed and protection for the inside of the wrist given. Simply wrap the tape around the wrist a few times. Now everything can be pinched into place!

 Step 4: To remove the tape glove simply cut the tape at the wrist side and open the taping.

 Step 5: To conserve nature and to save a penny or two, it definitely makes sense to reuse the tape dressing. Simply slip the index finger and little finger back into the tape glove and fix the whole thing neatly on the wrist again!