I watch how climbers pull their weight on a rope. I wonder if I'm properly gripping my rope. Is there an ergonomic way to use mechanical advantage and preserve the longevity of our ability to hold a rope?

In Cecil Hemp's knot book, "Kno-Knonsense Knots", he describes a technique for using the back of the hand. Clearly it distributes the weight. It creates some mechanical advantage where less gripping force is needed to hold position. The actual grip is illustrated as a pinch between the thumb and adjoining finger. That part isn't very intuitive. The overall merit of this technique is that the hand and fingers are freed from the rope when the grip is released. Should a force suddenly make the rope a straight line, his technique has minimized the probability of becoming hung in the rope.

My pictures are an attempt to emulate Hemp's technique. I explored other possibilities, because using the back of the hand shows benefit.
<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/__xEse-DqPgo/SfSMDpwXMEI/AAAAAAAABaM/Oci_1Z-LomY/s288/IMG_0114.JPG" /><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/__xEse-DqPgo/SfSMH4iZuOI/AAAAAAAABac/GsmExQth8As/s288/IMG_0116.JPG" /><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/__xEse-DqPgo/SfSMG2JX9ZI/AAAAAAAABaU/_xjCI0MaYVo/s288/IMG_0115.JPG" />

Could this grip work with an injured thumb?
<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/__xEse-DqPgo/SfSMKJ4sqfI/AAAAAAAABaw/tBFcSGwaK5s/s288/IMG_0118.JPG" />

Hemp's book does a nice job of minimizing exposure of the hand and fingers to harmful force.

What grip works well for a climber?

That is so cool!! I've never seen that before. When I need to increase the purchase my hand has on a rope, I wrap the rope once around my hand, which works, but really exposes your hand to harm should something bad happen. I'm gonna have to give that a try!

I use the entire lenght of my forearm, while it dosen't aid in pulling it increases friction enough that my somewhat weakened hands dont slide on the rope. I've often worried about getting tangled too, but I don't think I have the hand sensitivity to pull this off. I'll be trying tomorrow for sure.

I was doing a body thrust DRT, and I couldn't gain much purchase with the Hemp method. When I modified it around the elbow, I had a ton of force to lay into it. Mental note: when the hand is weakened use the elbow.

<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/__xEse-DqPgo/SfZt23w3mkI/AAAAAAAABbU/xBY4oiMwrmo/s400/IMG_0129.JPG" />

JimK

YOU HAVE DONE IT AGAIN

Using Smurf Gloves or grippy gloves helps a LOT too.