| Width | Too wide to jam, too narrow for the body |
| Techniques | Arm bars, chicken-wings, stacking |
| Reputation | Awkward, strenuous, hard to protect |
| Difficulty | Advanced |
An offwidth is a crack too wide to hand-jam but too narrow to fit your whole body, making it one of the most awkward and strenuous features to climb. Offwidth technique uses arm bars, chicken-wings, and stacked hands and feet wedged inside the crack, and it is notorious for being physical and hard to protect.
Why it’s so hard
The in-between width defeats normal jamming, so you rely on insecure arm bars and chicken-wings while inching up.
Offwidth vs chimney
Wider and you can climb inside — a chimney. See chimney vs offwidth.
Protection
Needs big cams or specialised wide gear — another reason offwidths are feared.
Frequently asked questions
What is an offwidth?
An offwidth is a crack in the awkward middle size range — too wide for hand or fist jams, but too narrow to climb inside like a chimney. This in-between width is why offwidths are infamous: standard jamming doesn't work, so they require their own bag of strenuous tricks.
Why are offwidths so hard?
Because the crack is the wrong size for secure jams, you rely on insecure, energy-sapping techniques — arm bars, chicken-wings, and stacking hands or feet — while inching upward. They're physically exhausting, awkward to rest on, and famously difficult to protect.
How do you protect an offwidth?
With large protection — big cams or specialised wide gear like Big Bros — which is bulky, expensive, and must be moved up with you on sustained sections. The difficulty of protecting offwidths adds to their fearsome reputation.
Sources
- Wide crack technique — American Alpine Club