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climber_girl
Nov 24, 2001, 5:59 PM
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check the forum "I need ideas for a science fair" its got alot of realy great ideas and u might be able to pick from there.
Brittany
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biff
Nov 24, 2001, 10:00 PM
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perhaps film different climbers of different skill climbing the same routes. Maybe have 2 camera angles one from behind, and one from the side. see how different they use their body to manipulate their center of gravity.
To test ballance perhaps use one of those ankle strenghting/rehab devices that physio people have with a 3inch pipe under a peice of plywood. you stand on it like a skateboard and rock back and forth. See if the experianced climbers can stay on that thing longer without either end of the board touching the gound. you could also give them 10 tries and see how quickly the expert climber improves balance compared to the average climber.
you could try tight rope walking or any other situation that reqires a good sense of balance.
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thumper
Nov 24, 2001, 11:36 PM
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I think taping different climbers is a better idea. Neither the wobble board or the tight rope would be applicable to climbing. The body mechanics are completely different than climbing.
I've always been of the opinion that better climbers don't necesseraly have better balance, but a better sense of body placement and position. And the ability to move smoothly from position to position. I've never felt off balance while climbing, just in awkward positions.
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biff
Nov 25, 2001, 12:21 AM
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I thought it might be interesting to see how experianced rock climbers are aware of thier balance, and how well they control it. Putting them into a banlance situation that isn't climbing is the only way to see if their overall sense of ballance is enhanced from their climbing knoledge, rather than them knowing what to do to make it up a rock face with as little effort as possible.
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jds100
Nov 25, 2001, 1:35 AM
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I don't know if I accurately understand your objective, but as to balance, maybe "walking the slack line" is something you'd find useful.
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cormac
Nov 28, 2001, 1:56 AM
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Registered: Nov 15, 2001
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This balance assessment idea is actually a lot trickier than it may seem.
First off, I think you would need to compare your climbers in a "neutral" setting (like the slack line or balance board). The reason being, by filming climbers on rock, there is a lot more than JUST balance that's being utilized. Toe strength, finger strength, body condition, and perhaps most importantly, confidence all play a part in how a climber moves on rock. So to isolate something like balance will be difficult, if not impossible.
Climbing requires so much, to be able to (quantitatively) compare these aspects between recreational and "elite" climbers may be really tough - it's the whole package that makes the difference.
Of the things one could try to compare, the one that comes to mind would be something like finger strength. You could use a training board and measure how long different climbers could hang on the same hold, for example. But this would only be a pretty small glimpse into the differences between these levels of climbers.
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