Heel hooks: when to use them and how

A third hand on steep ground

A heel hook turns your leg into something close to an extra arm. Instead of standing on a foot, you hook the heel over or onto a hold and pull with it, using your hamstring and the back of your leg to keep tension and stop your body swinging away from the wall. On overhangs and lips it is one of the most useful tools you have, because it lets you take weight off your hands at exactly the angles where your hands are struggling most.

The classic place you meet it is the topout of a boulder, where you throw a heel over the lip and rock up onto it to stand. But heel hooks earn their keep all over steep terrain: keeping your hips in on a roof, stopping a swing after a big move, or simply giving you a point to pull against so a reach goes static.

When a heel hook is the answer

Reach for a heel hook when staying on the wall is the hard part, not when standing up is. That means steep ground, lips, and anywhere your body wants to peel away from the rock. The signs are familiar: your feet keep cutting loose, your hips sag, or you have a hold up at waist height or higher that you could hook rather than step on.

A few specific cases:

• Topouts and lips, where a heel over the edge lets you rock up instead of mantling blind.
• After a big move, where a pre-placed heel stops you barn-dooring off.
• On a roof, where a heel keeps your hips pressed up and your core engaged.
• Reaches off undercuts, where pulling with the heel frees a hand.

How to place and weight it

Placement matters more than strength. Put the back or the inside of your heel onto the hold, not the bony point, and aim for as much rubber in contact as you can get. Then think about the direction of pull. A heel hook only works if you pull against it, so set it so that you can drag your hips towards it and load the hamstring.

Once it is on, engage it actively. Pull your heel in towards your body and squeeze, drawing your hips up and in. A passive heel that just rests on the hold does nothing. You want to feel the hamstring switch on and your weight transfer off your hands and onto that leg. Keep your toes pointed and your ankle firm so the heel does not roll off the hold.

The single most common error is placing the heel and then forgetting to pull with it. The second is placing it too far away, so you cannot actually load it without overextending. Get it close enough that you can drive your hips towards it.

Trust it, and look after the hamstring

Heel hooks fail when you do not commit. Half-trusting the heel and keeping your weight on your arms gives you the worst of both, so once it is set, properly transfer your weight onto it and let your hands relax. The first time you do this on a roof and feel the pump drain out of your forearms, it sells itself.

One word of caution. A hard heel hook loads the hamstring at a stretched position, and yanking into a maximal heel cold is a good way to tweak it. Warm up, ease into the big ones, and back off if you feel a sharp pull behind the knee or in the hamstring.

Like most technique, this gets automatic with reps on easy terrain. Spend a few sessions hunting for heels on steep problems below your limit, and you will start seeing them in the read before you pull on. Logging which problems finally went once you found the heel is a satisfying way to watch the skill come good over a season.