Scrambling tips: movement
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Training and preparation: not normally the most exciting subject, but could be a life saver and can be fun (honest). If you've not done much scrambling or climbing before it may be a good idea to get your self to your local climbing wall. Getting used to using your feet and how to move will prove invaluable later and will really help your confidence. Doing activities that build your core strength and balance such as yoga or slacklining are also great fun! ...see: not all preparation is boring! Fitness is a big issue: the fitter you are the easier your day scrambling will be. Be careful when looking at big mountain routes and make sure you're fit enough to climb and walk all day. Doing some bigger walks are a good test before you hit the rough ground.
Playing games: probably not the best idea on your first scramble or committing ground, but this is a lot less daft than it sounds! "The silent feet game" is one from my childhood at the climbing wall. Getting a kid to train isn't easy so my dad would make it fun. Every time I did a climb the challenge would be to get to the top without him being able to hear my feet. This really focuses you on your footwork and how you move your feet. Improving on foot work and the way you move helps balance and core strength again. An added bonus is that over time you become lighter with your touch, so you put less wear and tear on your body. Another game we played was "molten lava" / "stepping stones" where the aim was not to touch the ground for fear of landing in the imaginary lava / river. Hopping between rocks on hills, footpaths and easier parts of scrambles I fine tuned my balance further but also learned about how to aim my feet, how grippy different rock types are and inevitably how to deal with missing!? Now obviously common sense is needed here! You shouldn't play about in the mountains as they're serious places, these are more training ideas to use while out somewhere you're solid: breaking an ankle 3000 ft up really isn't great!!!
Did you warm up? Like any sport or physical activity scrambling requires you to be warm, limber and ready to go at your best. For most routes the approach will be enough: you'll be doing cardio on the walk-in and as you climb up to the route things will ramp up on you. That'll have you decently warm most of the time. However, if you're staging at the base of a route, a gentle stretch and a shake of the arms is well worth it to get them moving. Take time to do a little warm up routine if you're cold especially on a chilly morning! If you're warm and limber you're going to move better! Try sticking a coat on before you get cold when you stop too: you'll be amazed the difference it makes.
Stand up!!! So this can't be emphasised enough. Picture the scene: you are on this 2 foot wide ledge next to a dangerous drop with hazards all around. The exposure is getting to you. In fact you're getting jelly legged even thinking what could happen... so you go down on all fours. Then someone steps into the road next to you and thinks you're mad: You can stand up safely on a pavement with out falling off and you can do it on a mountain too. Standing up you have your balance the way you're used to having it (unless you do go everywhere on all fours). Your boots have better contact with the rock and they're less likely to slip from under you. By all means use a hand to balance you when there's something at hand height or a step that is to large to make without another point on the rock, but use your feet and keep your balance over them!
Theres a theme developing here and it's to do with using your feet! Trust your feet and focus more on their placement, not that of your hands. There are loads of ways to use your feet: the simplest is to place it on a step. If that step is only shallow then using only the edge of the toe of your boot can provide a great step. We call this edging. Like-wise the gap may not have a ledge at all to place your foot onto, but fear not! you can kick your toes into V-shaped cracks and gain good purchase. This is referred to as wedging by my friends. Smearing is a technique used where there isn't a great hold but there is good grip from the rock. You place as much of the sole of your foot as you can on the rock and apply pressure to it in order to gain as much friction as possible. With your weight on your feet, not your arms, these techniques work really well.
It's not all about you hands, but... use them when you need to. Obviously as the ground gets steeper you will need to. Occasionally you will need the extra balance on easy ground too. There are loads of types of hand holds to look out for. The long and the short of it is this: if it doesn't come away in your hand and you can hold on to it, then you're on to a winner. Crimps are tiny little ledges that you can only get your finger tips behind. They take a lot of power to use, despite being delicate in size. Try to get as many of your fingers working on a crimp as you can: it'll spread the weight over more muscles. Similarly, try locking your thumb over your fingers or in alongside them to help. Jugs (real term) are big holds you can get you hand right around and have that "thank you god" feeling when you get to one if you've just been on something strenuous. Jamming is a technique rarely used on scrambles and more from the land of climbing. It's as painful as it sounds but very effective when used in the right places: place your hand into a crack and then move it to a part where it will physically jam. If the crack is more open then you can either make a fist or bend you palm to take up the room and gain the friction you need. Palming off holds is a classic move to use and it's as simple as it sounds. You place your palm on a grippy surface that you can push off and go for it. Sometimes these holds are behind you: like in a chimney. The mantle shelf is a technique for getting over the lip of an edge (e.g. the top a a wall) where you place your hands flat onto of the object ahead of you and then push down on them so that you pull you body up. The aim is to pull yourself up high enough to have your weight eventually above your hands. Then you just bring your foot up to meet your hands and stand up.
Be smart: be efficient. The key is that you make your legs do the hard work and your arms give you the balance as much as possible. Most of the time you shan't be needing to pull on holds to get yourself up something. If you do need to use you arms try to minimise the energy you're expending by being as efficient as you can. Think about the exaggerated movements of a ballerina that flow gracefully from one to another. Okay that's never going to happen on the side of Snowdon, but the sentiment is there: smooth, considered movement is the goal. Place your hands within reach and don't over-stretch. Try to keep to holds that keep you in balance so your legs can do the heavy work: it's what they're designed for! Think about how quickly you're moving: try to think about your whole day and plan a pace that you can do for the whole route and still have a reserve incase you have to change up your plans. The faster you go the more energy the burn and less efficient you are.
