I want to force a heelhook into a route, and I want there to be no other option but to use a heelhook at a particular point. Any ideas on how to do this?
I realize that you'd have to see the wall itself, etc... in order to give be the best advice you could, but I figure asking for advice is still worth a shot.
To force a heel hook I usually do the following (for a heel hook out right):
A right-facing hold for the left hand just above head height, with a small foot hold in line below it. The hook hold is way out right at waist height or higher, with the target hold in line above that.
The key is to make sure the target hold is out of reach in both directions (up and to the right), otherwise climbers may be able to just put a toe on the right foot hold instead. By making the climber move their body to the right, the heel hook is more likely to be used.
The key to forcing heel hooks and toe hooks is thinking about what they do fundamentally different than placing your foot. Toe Hooks and Heel Hooks are PULLING forces. Whereas, typically, a foot placement is a PUSHING force. The exception is a rock over on a foot where you are pulling in with your calf, although your toe is on the foot hold and you are pulling with it.
Force heelhooks easily by using them to create compression against an opposite facing edge, or sloper. Without the compression afforded by the hook move, the handhold should be useless, at the grade intended.
This is just one idea, play around with it, see what the heel hook is doing to make the line work. And play around with it on different angles. Forcing techy hooks on vertical wall can be difficult, but really fun as a lot of people don't expect it!
I have attached an image to explain the concept, but remember, setting isn't about "setting by numbers", use your creativity to take this and run with it!
Wow, such high-quality responses! Thank you amjylkka787 and Boz3030. I've successfully applied your contributions to the wall and I'm very pleased with the results.
I'm so pleased with the responses in this thread that I now wish we had threads like this for other climbing moves, such as side-pulls, flags, rock-overs, etc... in which the point is to force the move. So, I've started threads for each of these other moves. I would greatly appreciate any responses you could give me in those as well. This is quite interesting to me, I'm sure other setters feel the same way, and it could help the many setters that will read it in the future.
If you've got any ideas for other climbing moves we could start similar threads on, feel free to mention them and/or start the thread! Maybe we can compile a number of different methods for forcing particular moves into routes.
You must log in to post.