The hardest route in the world has its crux in a crack (Silence 9c, Flatanger). The crack even decided the winner of the Bouldering World Cup (Meiringen, 2019). In bouldering! Before this happened, there were few who would have believed it was even possible. Knowing how to crack climb simply pays off. This is no fringe technique for a few masochistic wackos. It’s a regular part of an all-round climber’s equipment.
Wearing gloves = climbing more cracks
Learning to climb cracks and focusing on them over the long term is much better with gloves than without. You’ll save yourself a lot of punctured skin, and you won’t be slowed down by injuries or pain. “I only climb with my gloves, since I consider them a practical protection,” says Jirka “Prcas” Slavík, a well-known Czech climber and crack climber. In addition to several crack lines on his home turf, he’s also climbed Yosemite’s classic The Phoenix 5.13a, which was the first line of this level of difficulty in the world.
The production of crack gloves has enjoyed a long tradition in Ocún. A number of renowned crack climbers, including Jirka Slavík, has participated in their development. When he returned from a climbing trip in America in 1990, he and Pavel Hendrych, the founder of Ocún, invented the first prototype of crack gloves. Over the years, they’ve been continuously improving and testing it, and today it serves as the basis for the the latest model of Ocún gloves.
Crack Gloves Lite
Crack Gloves Lite are hand sewn from high quality microfiber and rubberized with thin, high grip CAT 1.5 rubber developed at Ocún. The use of the thin rubber provides them with sufficient sensitivity – even in the gloves, you can feel the surface of the crack you’re putting your hands into. The grip of the rubber also increases the friction of your hands in the joint. The finger loops have an optimized shape that makes wearing the gloves comfortable. A functional detail of the gloves is the reinforced Velcro closure that’s covered with rubber when the glove is worn. This means that the glove can’t unzip or get caught anywhere when climbing, and its shape is perfectly compact. The most exposed areas of the glove are designed to be more durable and resist abrasion longer.
Gloves vs. tape
The advantages of using gloves instead of climbing tape are clear. They’ll last you a long time. You won’t be constantly creating waste from used tape, saving both nature and money. Compared to tape, gloves offer more friction. The gloves go on and off your hands in mere seconds, so you can put them on and take them off in multi-pitches as often as you need.
As proof that Ocún gloves hold well in cracks, just look at the fact that they’ve been climbed in by such crack masters as Steph Davis, Tommy Caldwell, and Adam Ondra.
Crack Gloves Lite
- Rubberized with our most adhesive CAT 1.5 compound
- High sensitivity thanks to a thin layer of rubber
- Long life thanks to a special design of the most exposed parts
- Protects your hands → allows you to climb many more cracks
- Perfect fit for maximum comfort during crack climbing
- Completely vegan
