Does Height Matter in Rock Climbing?

It’s common to hear a climbing buddy holding forth about their diminutive stature and how it’s putting them at a disadvantage.

All too often a route they’ve been struggling with for the past half an hour is a walk in the park for their 6’ 2” mate, which is often followed by a lot of cursing and claims of an unfair advantage.

But does being tall really offer that much advantage and vice versa, does being short really hold peoples climbing back?

The long and short of it is (ba dum tss), that height just doesn't have anything like as much of an impact on climbing ability as weight and technique do.

It's power to weight ratio and technique that really makes the difference. When we look at the data, it's actually the case that the majority of the top climbers are little below average height. So, quit moaning and get climbing!

Ok, so let’s break it down a bit more and look at this from both side.

Being Taller Means A Longer Reach

This is an unassailable truth, there is no getting away from the fact that taller people are able to reach further, which means for a given body position, there are more options open to them.

It’s also worth pointing out that this applies to arms and legs, the latter often being overlooked. This compounds the benefit, as longer legs provide a larger base, from which those lengthier arms can then be leveraged.

Of course, the Ape Index is a consideration here. This is the ratio of your height/reach (index finger to index finger). Whilst the norm is an index of 1, the same as your height.

It’s entirely possible for it to vary either way, potentially causing someone of a greater height to have a shorter reach, or it can also go the other way, which can be a genuine advantage.

It’s not all sunshine and roses!

Compact or scrunched up moves are just plain harder.

Imagine a situation where you need to get really high feet, in order to make the next move, it’s clearly going to be harder when your knees are around your ears.

It’s also worth pointing out that longer limbs are going to be harder to keep on the wall on steep ground. That extra leverage is going to require greater core strength to stop the feet cutting free.

So, reach is a definite advantage, but those extra-long limbs are not without their down sides.

Bigger Climbers are Stronger

In absolute terms, yes, for the most part.

A larger frame, is going to be equipped with larger muscles and so greater absolute strength, particularly in an untrained climber.

Again, this is not without its challenges, the most obvious one being all that extra weight.

More mass = more weight and whilst strength generally grows with size, it does so at a slower rate than weight. That is to say, as you get bigger, your weight grows faster than your relative strength.

This hits those tall guys and gals where it really hurts, power to weight ratio.

The top climbers, as we’ll see in a bit, vary in size a fair bit, but the most glaring metric that stands out is their weight. For the most part, all of them are light, really bloody light, particularly for their height.

So Are There Any Benefits of Being A Smaller Climber

We’ve already touched on the inverse of this, bigger people are generally heavier, so smaller people are generally lighter.

This is a big advantage, particularly as climbers mature into the intermediate levels and beyond.

People with a smaller skeletal structure are able to achieve a lower overall body weight. With the right training over time, they’re able to get light and strong, which is where we all want to be.

This is perhaps why many of the top-flight climbers are slightly below the average height. Once technique and minimum weight are achieved, the smaller frames can get a lighter lowest weight, hence edging up the power to weight.

It’s Easier to Position a Smaller Frame

This is also worth bearing in mind, that a smaller frame is able to be positioned in more cramped and contorted positions.

This is certainly a benefit when thrutching up some horrendous narrow chimney. Having less limbs to co-ordinate and a generally smaller frame are likely to be of benefit.

So far, it’s certainly not quite as clear cut as you may have thought.

What does the data tell us?

Elite Level Climbers Are Below Average Height

I took an extract of data from the top 100 climbers over the past 12 months from 8a.nu, and looked at their vital statistics. Whilst I can’t make any assessment as to the veracity of the data, it ought to be fine for our purposes.

I did this for both males and females and then removed any entries that didn’t have their height or weight available, which was a fair few unfortunately.

It’s worth noting, that the UK and USA average height for males is 175 cm and 177 cm respectively. When compared to the average for the top flight male climbers we have data for, they’re slightly under average, at 173 cm.

The women’s national average is 161 cm for the UK and 162 cm for the USA, which is pretty much bang on for the sample of female climbers.

Both groups showed a significant variance around these averages, with the males ranging from 146 cm to 189 cm and the females ranging from 139 cm to 178 cm.

Here’s the data tables I pulled together.

Elite Male Climbers Height and Weight Statistics

Rank	Name	CM	KG
1	Adam Ondra	185	68
2	Piotr Schab	173	58
3	Jonathan Siegrist	167	58
4	Daniel Fuertes	169	58
5	Mathieu Bouyoud	180	63
6	Jorge Diaz-Rullo	169	58
8	Luis Rodriguez Martin	170	58
9	Rafa Fanega	163	58
10	Stefan Scarperi	170	53
12	Lukasz Dudek	176	63
13	Mateusz Haladaj	174	58
14	Luca Bana	170	58
15	Alexander Rohr	180	63
16	Moritz Welt	176	63
17	Matteo Menardi	170	63
18	Joe Kinder	173	68
19	KYMY DE LA PEÑA	167	63
20	Jernej Kruder	180	68
21	Philipp Gaßner	176	68
22	Andrea Zanone	180	63
23	Jakub Kováčik	174	68
25	Moritz Perwitzschky	182	78
26	Hugo Parmentier	167	58
27	Guillaume Lebret	170	63
28	Manu Lopez	165	58
29	Jose Agustí	174	63
30	Nico Ferlitsch	181	68
31	Thomas Blaabjerg	185	68
34	Thomas Dauser	171	63
35	Thibault Lair	169	63
36	Dalton Bunker	175	68
37	Jim Pope	146	43
38	Urs Moosmüller	175	63
39	Alberto Gotta	170	63
41	Jakob Bizjak	183	73
42	Alberto Gines Lopez	169	58
43	Hernan Garcia	168	48
44	Laurent Hogan	177	73
45	André Neres	172	63
46	Alex Garriga	172	53
47	Lucas De Jesus Martin	167	53
50	Filip Schenk	170	63
51	Iris Matamoros Quero	180	68
52	David Martinez Lorden	176	63
53	Matteo Gambaro	170	58
55	Luke Dawson	168	68
56	Christian Münch	172	58
57	Wojtek Pełka	166	53
58	Pietro Biagini	175	68
59	Alessandro Larcher	178	68
60	Dan Beland	165	53
62	Vonarburg Nicola	167	58
64	Stefan Madej	185	68
65	Paul Steinig	167	53
66	Kieran Forrest	163	48
67	Denis Pail	162	58
68	Mumin Karabas	178	63
69	Matthias Schiestl	166	63
70	Iuri Reusa	179	68
72	Michael Schreiber	182	73
75	Thomas P. O’Halloran	180	68
76	Rapha Fernandez	178	68
79	Rafal Porebski	185	68
81	Clemens Berger	170	58
83	Ricardo Vara	175	68
84	Alejandro Bada	174	63
85	Konstantin Savelyev	175	68
86	Julien BM	180	73
87	Poli Olivares	168	63
89	Roland Wagner	167	58
90	Jonas Häring	189	73
91	Jaka Šprah	175	63
93	Maciej Dobrzański	170	63
95	Octavio Hernandez	175	63
97	Walker Emerson	189	83
98	Kajtek Pawelec	171	53

Elite Female Climbers Height and Weight Statistics

Ranking	Name	CM	KG
122	Manon Hily	155	48
132	Martina Harnisch	166	58
137	Angelina (Angie ) Scarth-Johnson	139	40
197	Iva Vejmolová	156	53
209	Jessica Pilz	163	53
242	Daria Brylova	160	53
247	Hannah Schubert	158	48
274	Alex Totkova	140	40
276	Aleksandra Taistra	159	48
291	Martina Cufar Potard	168	58
309	Tanja Emsperger	163	53
338	Agata Wisniewska	165	48
345	Taylor Vanessa	158	48
357	Raffaella Cottalorda	151	43
412	Francesca Medici	164	48
418	Frederike Förster	160	48
419	Audrey Sniezek	157	48
422	Marine Girardet	162	48
426	Oriane Bertone	140	40
432	Solène Amoros	172	58
437	Jillian Sompel	158	53
439	Teresa Troya	167	53
465	Maja Rudka	165	48
477	Céline Fergeau	159	48
482	Maria Sperl	153	48
494	Alex Gonzalez	170	58
499	Heather Weidner	170	48
513	Ana Ogrinc	176	58
515	Chaehyeon Seo	160	48
519	Karolina Ośka	178	58
532	Ana Senegacnik Kurnik	170	58
533	Anja ŠErbinek	162	48
539	Ema Seliškar	155	43
543	Michaela Drlikova	173	53
548	María López	167	53
565	Stasa Gejo	175	58
566	Marketa Janosova	152	43
576	Roxane Durand	162	53
604	Joanna Niechwiedowicz	163	53
610	Belén Villalón	168	53
696	Sylvie Moya	163	53
703	Jasna Hodžić	164	53
768	Olga Fedyuk	169	53
825	Julia Pfanzelt	178	58
839	Céline Le Dily	170	58
854	Michaela Smetanová	156	43
858	Lucija Tarkuš	156	43
877	Anna Gallyamova	170	53
895	Katie Lambert	152	43
896	La Claudietta	160	48
934	Amanda Berezowski	163	48
965	Petra Zupan	172	58
984	Martyna Szymańska	145	40
985	Tereza Širůčková	150	43
1020	Frances Bensley	165	53
1025	Anna Manzoni	155	43
1035	Jennifer Wood	167	53
1036	Larissa Arce	167	48

What Does This Tell Us?

Well, it seems clear that in order to be a top-flight climber, height just isn’t that much of a factor. It’s entirely possible to climb at mind bendingly strong grades, irrespective of your height.

If any thing, being slightly shorter than average is of benefit, as it doesn’t effect reach too significantly, but does have a positive impact on weight.

What is clear, when looking at the data is that most of the climbers in these groups are light…and I mean, really light!

For example, the legend Adam Ondra is a tall guy at 185 cm, taller than me, but weighs only 68 kg. I’m erm…a little heavier than that, (cough 20 kg).

A stiff breeze and he’d be airborne.

Power to Weight Is Critical

Something that did stand out from the data was the relationship between rank and height. There was a correlation between an increase in height and an increase in rank (rank getting worse).

This is the same for height and weight, which could lead one to argue that as you get taller, it’s harder to get lighter and so on average, this has an impact on your ability to climb at the very highest grade.

Why Do Taller People Seem Like They Have an Advantage?

My suspicion is that in the early years of ones climbing career, the inherent strength and reach advantage of taller people, coupled with the more vertical routes that are typically climbed means that taller people are generally at an advantage.

But as they progress into the intermediate grades and beyond, their smaller, lighter counterparts adapt their techniques, developer their strength and are then able to capitalise on their naturally smaller frames.

Of course, this all depends on what route you’re on. Some routes will naturally be easier for someone of a smaller stature, whilst others will be easier for our tall friends.

Where Should a Shorter Climber Focus Their Training

So, if you are in the more vertically challenged category, you’re not at an inherent disadvantage, you just need to adapt your style and keep on training.

Here’s a few areas to focus on that may help.

1. Flexibility - Working on your flexibility will ensure that you maximise you reach as much as possible. Practising yoga or something similar is a great way to improve this. It can also help with balance and core stability, key skills for improving your climbing.
2. Dynamic Moves - As a smaller climber, you’re going to have to make more dynamic moves than someone who can statically reach for a hold. Practising dead-points and explosive dynamic moves on easier ground will help you learn the movement and body awareness needed to latch those dynos when it counts.
3. Improved Footwork - Work on spotting those intermediate foot holds, sneaky smears, hidden heel hooks or elusive egyptians maybe the missing move holding you back from glory. Plus, you’ll look awesome doing them.

In all truth, many of us climb so far below our genetic limit that we need to realise that it’s not our height that’s holding us back.

Focusing on getting stronger, fitter and technically better are going to have a much bigger impact on our climbing.

So, keep cranking and don’t let your height hold you back.