Mountaineering

3 Types of Rock Faces for Climbing - Slab, Vertical, and Overhanging Faces

You will find three basic types of rock faces when you’re climbing:

Keeping your weight over your feet is important when you're slab climbing.

Slab
Vertical
Overhanging
Slabs are Less than 90 Degrees
Slabs are rock faces that are angled at less than 90 degrees or less than vertical. Climbing a slab requires a good sense of your feet and how to use them as well as balance and rock shoes with lots of friction. When you climb a slab, the general rule is that you keep your weight on your feet. You usually smear your feet on tiny holds on the rock or simply rely on the shoe rubber to hold against smooth rock. This foot technique is called smearing and the holds you use are usually called friction holds or smears. Usually your hands and arms are used for balance rather than pulling because it’s your feet that keep you on the rock and moving upward.

America’s Best Slab Climbing Areas
Here are some of the best slab climbing areas and cliffs in the United States:
- Tuolumne Meadows, California
- Joshua Tree National Park, California
- South Platte Area, Colorado
- Whitehorse Ledge, New Hampshire
- Looking Glass Mountain, North Carolina
Vertical Faces are 90 Degrees
Vertical faces are exactly that—rock faces that are angled at 90 degrees, which is more or less straight up. Usually climbers will consider faces that are slightly less than 90 degrees to be vertical since they are climbed by the same techniques. Like climbing slabs, footwork is very important when you climb vertical cliffs. You keep your weight over your feet as much as possible, which avoids taxing your arms too much, and getting pumped and falling off. Foot techniques include inside edging, outside edging, and smearing. You also need to find your center of gravity and sense of equilibrium, keep an upright body position, and use your hands and arms for pulling.

America’s Best Vertical Climbing Areas
Here are some of the many excellent climbing areas that offer vertical climbing:
- Shelf Road, Colorado
- Smith Rock, Oregon
- Red River Gorge, Kentucky
- New River Gorge, West Virginia
- Shawngunks, New York
Overhanging Faces are More than 90 Degrees
Overhanging faces are those rock faces that are overhung or angled more than 90 degrees. Climbing overhanging faces requires, of course, lots of upper body strength, an apelike attitude, and excellent technique. If you don’t have a combination of these three factors, you might get off the ground but you’re not going to climb too high. Surprisingly, climbing overhanging faces also requires exacting footwork where the climber uses his feet in specialized techniques like heel hooks and toe cams, which help take the climber’s weight off his arms.

America’s Best Overhanging Climbing Areas
Lots of great American climbing areas offer overhanging climbing:
- Rifle Mountain Park, Colorado
- American Fork, Utah
- Red River Gorge, Kentucky
- Kaymoor at New River Gorge, West Virginia
- Rumney, New Hampshire

10 Lightning Tips for Climbers - Stay Safe from Lightning While Climbing

If you’re out climbing on the rocks or in the mountains and a thunderstorm sweeps in, you're in a dangerous situation since you're probably in an open exposed place like a ridge, cliff-top, or summit. Follow these 10 tips for climbers to minimize your risk and stay safe from lightning when you're caught in the storm.

Quickly descend to a lower elevation.
Descend and find a less exposed place. It’s best if
you’re away from the direction of the approaching
thunderstorm.
Don’t be the tallest object around.
Don’t stand in open areas. Instead take shelter in a thick forest and avoid taking cover beneath isolated trees or a tree that is taller than nearby trees. If there are no trees around, hunker down in a depression and squat. Don’t lay down on the ground.
Keep away from objects that conduct electricity.
These include water, metal objects like climbing equipment, metal fences, and power lines. Take off any pack with an internal or external metal frame and hang all metal climbing gear well away from you.
Wet ropes can carry current.
A wet rope also makes a perfect electrical conductor. In a bad storm, consider untying any wet rope from you. If lightning strikes above, the current can pass down the rope and zap you.
Squat or kneel down.
It’s best if you use a sleeping pad, empty pack, climbing rope, or anything else that will insulate you from the ground. Put your feet close together so you will have less contact with the ground and reduce danger from ground currents. Do not lie flat on the ground because strike currents can easily travel through your vital organs.
Spread your group out.
Spread your group out (a minimum of 15 feet) so that if there is a strike there will be team members available to give first aid assistance.
Don’t hide in small caves or under overhangs.
Sitting under an overhang or in a small cave is asking for trouble since lightning will jump the gap from top to bottom by passing through you. I had a friend killed by lightning on Pikes Peak when he sat under a boulder overhang above timberline to wait out a storm.
Move to either side of cracks.
If you’re climbing and a lightning storm comes, move away from vertical crack systems whenever possible. Lightning currents travel down cracks.
Avoid rappelling in lightning storms.
Rappelling in lightning storms should be avoided if at all possible. Currents from a cliff-top strike can travel down your wet rope, zapping you. Sometimes, however, rappelling might be the fastest way to reach safety so you might need to take a calculated risk by rappelling…and keeping your fingers crossed!
Don’t lie down on ledges
If you’re on a cliff in a lightning storm, don’t lie down on a ledge or sit with your back against the vertical wall since current can pass through you. Instead try to sit or crouch, preferably on insulation like a rope, on the outside edge of the ledge. Also tie in crosswise so you don’t fall off if struck and keep the rope from under your armpits.