Tape Your Hands for Crack Climbing

Beginner climbers or climbers who put their hands in a lot of rough, rocky cracks often find the rock surface less than kind to their bare hands. While you can purchase climbing gloves at outdoor stores, it's cheaper and sometimes more practical to make your own protective gloves using tape.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step 1

Tear off 4 strips of cloth tape, each about 6-inches long.

Step 2

Tape one strip vertically beneath your first finger. Wrap the strip around the finger and stick the end in an "X" on top of the other end.

Step 3

Repeat for each finger until all fingers have a loop of tape around them.

Step 4

Tear off a slightly longer strip, tape it horizontally across the back of the hand starting at the pinky, looping around the thumb, and returning to cover more of the back of the hand.

Step 5

Tear off a strip about 9 inches long for your wrist. Tape the strip horizontally on the back of the hand, wrap around the wrist and tape the excess on top of the tape that is already on the wrist in an "X" pattern.

Step 6

Remove the glove by cutting the wristband on the palm side of the glove. At this point, you may reinforce the glove by sticking small pieces of tape onto the sticky surface so that the glove no longer sticks to your hand. Simply create a new wristband to go on top of the old one to wear the glove.

Tips & Warnings

Don't wrap the loops around the fingers and thumb too tightly. Give yourself room to flex the fingers.

Article Written By Lesley Graybeal

Lesley Graybeal is a life-long nature and travel lover who spends her free time hiking and climbing in the Appalachians and the Rockies, and has also enjoyed mountain hikes in New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, South Korea, and Tibet.

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