8.2 V1 (Font 5)

What problems look like

Walls are mostly vertical or slightly overhanging. Jugs give way to incut edges, whose lip curls back towards you. You also meet your first holds to pull sideways. Footholds are smaller and sometimes off to the side, so more moves depend on a weight shift before the reach. Moves are still static: you could stop at any point. Problems have five to eight moves.

Techniques that start to matter

Use edging on the outside of the shoe as well as the inside. Use smearing where there is no foothold. Pull a sidepull towards you. A high step needs a rockover to finish it: move your hips across the high foot, then stand up. Many V1s ask you to bring both hands onto one hold (Matching hands). Others ask you to turn both knees out so your hips come in (Frog position). In a corner or between two volumes (big bolted-on shapes), push your feet out against both sides (Stemming).

Focus

• Before each reach, shift your hips sideways over the foot you will push from. Then reach.
• Use the inside edge of the shoe when you face the wall. Switch to the outside edge when your hip turns in.
• Grip no harder than you need. On easy problems, relax your fingers until they start to slip. Then add a little.

Reading problems at this grade

• Read which way each handhold faces. A hold that faces left puts your body to its right (Chapter 1).
• Look for footholds that bring your hips under the next handhold.

Physical side

Nothing specific.

Why people stall here

• Square-on climbing. You keep your chest to the wall and stand on both toe tips for every move. Sideways reaches then fall short. Fix: square on suits most vertical walls, so on easy problems that lean towards you, practise turning one hip into the wall (Turning the hip in).
• Over-gripping. Fix: the loose-grip habit above.