An arête is an outside edge of the wall. Climb it by laybacking: your hands pull the edge one way and your feet push the other. Or mix the edge with holds on the face. Keep your body at an angle to the edge so it doesn’t swing you open [50, 134].
Grade Arêtes appear on easy problems. Controlling the swing they cause matters from about V3 (judgement).
How to do it
For each section, decide: the arête only, or the arête plus holds on the face. On harder problems the mix is usually best [50].
Where the face is blank, layback. Both hands pull the edge. Your feet push on the side face. Walk hands and feet up in turn [50].
Keep your arms straight so your feet do the work [133].
Hold your body at about 45° to the arête, halfway between the two faces. Too close to the wall and smeared feet slip. Too far round and the edge feels worse. You also swing open [50].
Hook a heel round the arête. It stops the swing and rests your arms [50]. See Heel hook.
If you start to swing, tense your core (the muscles around your trunk) at once [50]. Better still, set the body angle so the swing never starts. See Barn door.
Figure 91 (a) Layback. The hands pull the edge to the left. The feet push on the side face to the right. (b) A heel hooked round the arête stops the body swinging open.
Common mistakes
No backup plan. Work out the other possible sequences before you leave the ground [50].
Tall climbers. Your span lets you hold a face hold and the arête at once, which makes the opposition stronger. A long body also swings further, so set the heel hook early.
