Foot Jams: How to Put Your Feet in a Crack, How Deep, and Why to Drop Your Heel

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Most of your weight in a crack should be on your feet. However good your hand jams are, if your feet keep slipping and hurting, your arms will be done fast. The good news: a crack that takes hand jams usually takes your feet too, and a good foot jam is secure enough to rest on and place gear from.

This is post 2 of the Crack Climbing Technique series, after Hand Cracks. The crack-climbing primer covered the basic foot jam briefly; this post picks up from there. First the standard foot jam in a hand crack: how deep to go, why to drop your heel and how to keep it from hurting. Then one step narrower and one step wider. Finally, how to get your foot out, when it can get stuck, and shoes.

By the end you should be able to stand securely on your feet on a gym crack wall or a hand crack at Long Dong, and keep standing for a whole pitch without the pain driving you off.

In a hand crack: turn, insert, twist, stand

The steps are nearly identical everywhere. This version follows REI's crack-climbing basics and Tom Randall's UKC crack school:

1. Drop the knee outward to make the foot thin. Turn the foot little-toe down, big-toe side up; that's its thinnest orientation. The top of the shoe touches one wall and the sole the other.
2. Slide the toes into the crack. Randall says to get the foot snug, as with a hand, before you think about weighting it.
3. Bring the knee back in line with the crack. That turn twists the foot tight.
4. Stand on it. As your weight comes down, the rubber grips the walls.

US instructional channel VIDEORACLES boils it down to "externally rotate, toe in, twist to lock." He also says outright that this is why people think crack climbing hurts: the toe is uncomfortably torqued in the crack, but really secure. Flag the other foot out to the side for balance and your weight centres over the jammed foot.

The most common mistake is not turning the foot far enough. Many beginners put the foot in at a 45-degree angle, so only the tips of the toes go in. In Geek Climber's learning log, mentioned in the last post, British crack climber Pete Whittaker says to turn the foot all the way onto its side so it slots in, tipping the knee out and turning at the ankle as you do.

Japanese and Korean lessons teach the same move. In a hand crack, stand the foot on edge, slide it in, then twist the knee until it's parallel to the crack: that's how mountain guide 新名健太郎 puts it in the "foot jam basics" chapter of Arc'teryx Japan's video.

Kim Jong-sik of K Climbing Company says: stand the blade of the foot up, slide it in, then raise the knee, locking with the hollow of the midfoot and the top of the foot (12 jamming techniques, from 8:56). That video has embedding disabled, so watch it on YouTube.

Japanese YouTuber TAKEMOVIE's beginner video from 5:47 says the same: little-toe side down, then let the knee fall back inward (that's step 3), and the twist locks the foot.

Something you can do tonight: sit on a chair, let one knee fall outward so the foot stands on its outside edge, little toe down. Then slowly bring the knee back to point forward and feel how the ankle and foot turn with it. Ten times each side; that's the foot-jam twist.

How deep: three views

This is where sources disagree most. Side by side:

Whittaker's is the most detailed because he covers both too shallow and too deep. Too shallow, and only the toe knuckles engage: a weak jam with huge pressure on a tiny area. Too deep, and if you have a slim foot the crack edge can land across the thin, bony top of your foot; fine for a couple of jams, very painful after a whole pitch. At the sweet spot the foot has plenty of surface area, the edge hits a softer section, and the shoe's rubber takes the load. On long cracks he shifts the depth a millimetre either way by feel, so no single spot takes all the abuse.

Too shallow is the usual beginner problem. When sport climber Stefano Ghisolfi took on the cracks in Tom Randall's cellar, Pete said many people get their hand technique good but put only the ends of their toes in. Try hanging off just the ends of your toes and you'd fall out too.

Deep has a cost as well. In the Mountain Project thread Foot Jam Agony, one climber says that when learning, sticking the foot in as far as it would go was most comfortable and needed hardly any torque, but it got stuck sometimes. Stuck feet come up in the section on getting out.

Something you can do tonight: make a practice crack first. Two boards stood against a wall, or two stacks of thick books on the floor, with a hand-width gap between them; put on your climbing shoes and slide a foot in. This is for the movement only: keep a hand on the wall and don't put your full body weight on it. Every later drill in this post can use this gap. Tonight, jam the same spot three times: toes only, at the sweet spot, as deep as it goes. Press down gently for five seconds each time and note where it hurts and which felt snuggest. If your gym has a crack wall, do the same three and actually stand on them.

Drop your heel

If you remember one pain fix, make it this one. In the same newsletter Whittaker says that once the foot is in and twisted, don't keep the heel level with the toes; as you weight it, gently drop the heel so it sits lower. That does three things:

• More of the foot is in the crack, spreading the load.
• Direct pressure comes off the toe knuckles.
• The shoe's lowest-profile edge, the little-toe side, goes in further, so the jam gets more secure.

There's also an audio version; this part starts at 2:42.

Geek Climber is a good example. From 5:00 he says that in his feet-only sessions his feet hurt at least twice as much as his hands, so much that he deliberately put weight back on his hands. Pete's advice was to drop his heel; next session the pain was still there but manageable. In the Mountain Project thread Foot jamming pain, someone else says the most important beginner tip they got was to really drop the heel. When you stand on it, pressure goes through the rand into the heel instead of crushing your toes.

How low isn't fixed. In Foot Jam Agony, one climber moves the heel up or down a little to avoid pain points; for them, heel down a little works best.

Something you can do tonight: jam one foot in your practice crack or on a crack wall. First keep heel and toes level and press for five seconds; then drop the heel a little and press five more. Compare the pressure on your toe knuckles.

The key to no pain: don't over-twist, and build up slowly

Is foot pain normal? The answer has shifted. In 2012 Tom Randall wrote on UKC that foot jams feel painful at first, and pain doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. In 2026 Whittaker's newsletter says that if foot jamming hurts, you're usually doing something wrong. The replies in Foot jamming pain lean the same way: unless it's a low-angle podded crack or the person has no ankle flexibility, it's a technique issue.

The usual technique issue is twisting too hard. In that thread, one climber says beginners who don't feel secure yet over-torque, like over-gripping a jug. At first they were trying to twist their own foot off, and later learned that a well-placed foot needs little pressure. Another climber in Foot Jam Agony has a useful image: think of the foot jam as smearing one side of the crack rather than torquing the foot so hard it fuses to both sides. Just enough force to make the rubber stick.

Even with good technique, tolerance has to be built from scratch. Whittaker says that even if you've climbed for five or ten years, your crack tolerance starts back at zero. Stop before it hurts and give your body time. In Foot Jam Agony someone suggested taking painkillers before practising, and was immediately told it was the worst advice in a while: you're learning a skill, so keep working on technique. Another reply says the foot and ankle ligaments are being stretched in ways they never have been, and it gets better with mileage.

When you twist just enough but the foot won't go deep, your feet get tired. Japanese mountain doctor Chippe (the chippeco channel) tried Ikasamashi at Nabari. Chippe first notes that the spots that look like footholds are barely there, then says the crack's width never lets the feet go in properly, so you have to twist them in to keep from slipping, and the feet get tired.

Something you can do tonight: jam a foot in your practice crack, twist it as hard as feels "secure," then slowly relax until it's about to slip, and remember that force. On a crack wall you can do the full drill someone suggests in Foot Jam Agony: get both hands and both feet jammed, loosen one or two at a time, then try two hands and one foot, one hand and two feet, to feel how much torque you actually need.

Finger and fist cracks: toe jams and straight-in feet

As the crack gets narrower or wider than a hand, the feet change too. Only the basics here.

Finger cracks: only the front of the foot fits. The main technique is the toe jam: big toe in first as a pivot, then roll the little-toe edge of the shoe into the crack. When the crack is very thin, line the point of the shoe up with the crack and smear front-on over the edges. Those two plus the frogged position are covered step by step in the "Feet in finger cracks" section of Finger Cracks.

A bit wider than hands: VIDEORACLES shows from 2:06 that when the crack is a little wider and the right size for your foot, you can put the whole toe of the shoe straight in, foot and leg neutral, no twist. A stiff shoe helps here because the crack pinches the stiff rubber at the base of the toes. 新名健太郎 says that in cracks wider than a hand you can also put the foot in flat and twist it inside (from 8:08).

Fist cracks: REI says the width of a fist crack often lets you insert your foot straight in and stand up without worrying about it getting stuck; you can also insert it and torque it as in a hand crack. TAKEMOVIE adds from 9:50 that once the foot is fully in, you lock it by shifting the toe's sideways angle.

Feet in fist cracks want a stiff sole. REI says stiff shoes work well for fist cracks. In his shoe video from 5:34, Whittaker says you jam across the width of the foot in a fist crack: "Plank of wood, not candy floss."

Wider than a fist is offwidth territory, where heel and toe press opposite walls; that's the offwidth post (in progress). Fist jams themselves are in the fist-crack post (in progress).

Something you can do tonight: narrow your practice crack until only the toe fits and try big toe first, little-toe edge rolled in. Then widen it until the whole foot fits and step straight in. Notice which one needs a twist and which doesn't.

Footholds outside the crack, and a resting stance

A foot jam isn't the only option. VIDEORACLES's first choice for a foot is actually a good hold or smear outside the crack, and REI reminds you to look at the face around it.

When you do need to rest on a foot jam, VIDEORACLES shows a stance from 2:39:

1. One foot firmly jammed.
2. The opposite hand jammed.
3. The free foot flagged out for balance, so your centre of gravity sits right over the crack.

Holds outside the crack can also distract you. Sasha DiGiulian, learning cracks at Indian Creek with friends, calls herself a terrible crack climber in the video. She learns to match the foot to the crack, put it in and twist. After her first route she says there were cheat holds outside the crack, and next time she wants a pure splitter where she can't put her hands or feet anywhere else. Even a tiny crimp makes her feel more confident than a bomber hand jam.

Korean climber Choi Ji-ho demonstrates foot and knee jams on Goldgil, a 5.9 crack. Early on he says how you use your feet decides how much arm strength you spend; in the embedded part he jams a foot and stands up, saying it's comfortable because the jam is in.

Something you can do tonight: stand at your practice crack with the right foot jammed and the left foot flagged out, a hand on the wall, until your weight sits steadily over the right foot. Switch sides. On a crack wall, do VIDEORACLES's full three steps: right foot jammed, left hand jammed, left foot flagged, then let go with the right hand and shake it out.

Getting your foot out, and when it gets stuck

To get out, reverse the process: knee out to the side, relax the ankle, pull the foot out (REI). The deeper and tighter the jam, the more important it is to drop the knee first instead of yanking straight up.

REI also warns about one way to get stuck: in a hand crack it's tempting to put the foot in horizontally and step down, but the crack can be too narrow for a sideways foot and it can get stuck.

The most serious risk is falling with your foot still in the crack. In a Mountain Project post, a climber about 8 feet up a small hand/finger crack had their left foot slip and fell, but the right foot stayed locked in a secure foot jam. All their weight went onto that foot and knee; the ACL and PCL tore away part of the tibia, meaning surgery and eight weeks on crutches.

A reply says it's easy in hindsight to say push off the wall, don't tense up, release the jam by turning the knee out, but a random foot slip may be over in milliseconds. Another says they saw a similar accident at Vedauwoo, and someone else calls it a freak occurrence. Rare or not, take extra care on the moves close to the ground with a foot jammed deep.

Something you can do tonight: jam a foot in your practice crack or on a crack wall and practise "knee out, relax the ankle, pull out" ten times until you don't have to think about it. Next time you're on a foot jam close to the ground outdoors, decide in advance how that foot comes out if the other one slips.

Shoes: check whether your toes lie flat

The full shoe comparison is in the tape, gloves and crack shoes post (in progress). For foot jams, Whittaker's newsletter lists three basics:

• A flat shoe, and a flat foot inside it: no aggressive downturn, no curled toes.
• A wide toe box, so the sides of your foot don't get squeezed together and thicker.
• A low profile on the sides, especially the little-toe side.

He has sometimes seen climbers turn up in flat shoes sized down three sizes, toes bunched up inside. For choosing climbing shoes in general and how tight is right, see Choosing your first climbing shoes; for what tight shoes do to your feet, see Feet and climbing shoes.

Laces or Velcro is a matter of opinion. REI prefers lace-ups because they're slimmer than Velcro; in his shoe video Whittaker says he often likes Velcro for hand cracks, since there are no laces down the top of the foot and the rubber can reach the rock. Stiffness too: in Foot Jam Agony one climber prefers soft slippers for hand cracks because they stick, and says the stiff TC Pro takes more torque.

The often-recommended TC Pro is an example of the high-ankle, wide toe box, stiff-sole formula, and those are the same three things Gwen Lancashire from Australia's Blue Mountains values in a Mountain Equipment review. Model comparisons are left for the gear post.

Something you can do tonight: stand in your climbing shoes and press down on the toes through the upper. Are they curled against the toe box, or flat? If they're curled, keep that pair for sport and find a pair for cracks where your toes can lie flat.

Big feet and small feet

Foot size and shape change the answer for the same crack too, though sources say less about it than about hands.

• Slim feet: Whittaker's "too deep" warning is mostly about you. A slim, low-profile foot goes in too far easily and the edge lands on the bony top of the foot.
• Shallow jams: in the Stefano video Pete says not getting the foot deep enough can be down to your shoes or your foot size.
• Two pairs: Gwen Lancashire has two pairs of TC Pros. The tighter EU36 is for finger cracks, corners and technical faces; a pair a full size bigger is for long days and wide cracks, with socks. Her toes are flat in both.

Upside down in a roof, foot size matters even more. In Wide Boyz's Feet first VS hands first, from 2:45 Pete says that when a crack is narrow for your foot size, heel-first is hard and toe-first works better. Mari Salvesen, who has smaller feet, goes straight into the heel-first position. The roof-crack post (in progress) comes back to this.

Something you can do tonight: widen your practice crack bit by bit, find the width where your foot fits snuggest, measure it and note it on your phone next to your hand size. Next chance you get, slide a friend's cam into a gap that wide to see which size it is. After that, when you see "#2 hands," ask whether that crack is tight, right or loose for your feet.

Start in the gym: practise hands and feet separately

Jamming hands and feet together hurts fast. From 5:59 Geek Climber says that after practising hands-only and feet-only, his first go with both in the crack ended after barely two moves because of the pain.

Timtam, a mountaineering school that uses the mountains around Tokyo as its classroom, filmed at a gym in Shinmachi, Gunma, with an adjustable-width crack. It splits practice into three stages (video description): hands only with feet on holds; feet only with hands on jugs; then both. The description says the most important thing in jamming is that the feet are firmly set. The embed starts at the feet-only stage.

When you're ready for real rock, the Long Dong section of the crack-climbing primer introduces Noodle Line (5.8) in First Cave: fists and hands up a dihedral with your feet on both walls and sharp rock. Get someone to rig a top rope before you practise on it.

Something you can do tonight: no crack wall? Do Timtam's second stage in your practice crack: a hand on the wall, jam each foot in turn, settle it, pull it out, twenty times each, until you don't need to look at your feet. With a crack wall, hold the jugs beside it and climb three laps using only foot jams. Afterward, check where your feet hurt and adjust using the depth and heel sections above.

Practice questions: five scenarios

Answers are under each question. Think first, then look.

1. You jam your foot in a hand crack, and as soon as you stand on it your toe knuckles hurt and the foot keeps sliding out.

2. You have slim feet. The jam goes deep and feels secure, but after a full pitch the top of your foot is killing you.

3. One friend says foot jams just hurt and you push through; another says if it hurts, you're doing it wrong.

4. You're two metres off the ground with your right foot jammed deep and your left foot on a small hold outside the crack.

5. The crack is fist-sized, but you're still jamming your foot sideways and twisting hard like in a hand crack, and the foot keeps rotating.

Next

With hands and feet both jamming, the next step is narrower: Finger Cracks covers finger jams and three ways to use your feet in finger cracks: the toe jam, front-on smearing and the frogged position. The series overview shows where the other sizes fit; for hand-jam details, go back to Hand Cracks.

References

• The crack size map | Crack Climbing Technique
• Hand Cracks | Crack Climbing Technique
• Finger Cracks | Crack Climbing Technique
• The crack-climbing primer
• Getting Started Crack Climbing (REI Expert Advice)
• Wild Country Crack School Part 2 – Jamming (Tom Randall, UKC, 2012)
• 4 easy fixes to solve foot pain in cracks (Pete Whittaker, Wide Boyz newsletter, 2026)
• 3 Secret Weapons for Finger Cracks (Pete Whittaker, Wide Boyz newsletter, 2025)
• Foot Jam Agony (Mountain Project forum, 2021)
• Foot jamming pain (Mountain Project forum, 2024)
• Type 4 Tibial Eminence Fracture caused by foot jam (Mountain Project forum, 2021)
• La Sportiva TC Pro II review (Gwen Lancashire, Mountain Equipment Australia, 2024)
• Crack Climbing: Jamming Feet (VIDEORACLES, 2021)
• Pro Climber Coaches Gym Climber to Learn Crack Climbing in 35 Days (Geek Climber, 2022)
• 【外岩クライミング#1】外岩クライミングの魅力とは? (Arc'teryx Japan, 2022, Japanese)
• 재밍 기술 12가지: 크랙 등반 잘하는 법 2부 (K Climbing Company, Kim Jong-sik, 2023, Korean)
• 【基本】クラッククライミングの技術をご紹介！Part1 (TAKEMOVIE, 2021, Japanese)
• Who's the STRONGEST crack climber? Challenging the legendary cellar (Stefano Ghisolfi, 2023)
• 4 Easy fixes to solve foot pain in cracks (The Wide Boyz Show, 2026, audio)
• 【クラッククライミング】2024年3月名張の岩場で「イカサマ師」にトライ！ (Mountain doctor chippeco, 2024, Japanese)
• Sasha DiGiulian crack climbing tutorial in Indian Creek (Sasha DiGiulian, 2020)
• 암벽등반 초급 중급자 크랙등반 발기술 (Choi Ji-ho, 2020, Korean)
• What are the BEST climbing shoes for crack climbing? (Wide Boyz, 2020)
• Feet first VS hands first (Wide Boyz, 2020)
• ボルダリングジムでジャミングを学ぼう (Timtam mountaineering school, 2025, Japanese)
• Nabari | Japan crags
• Choosing your first climbing shoes
• Feet and climbing shoes