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An overhang is a rock face or artificial
climbing wall A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used i ...
with a slope of more than 90°, i.e. it slopes beyond the vertical. Particularly severe overhangs that reach, or nearly reach, the horizontal, are referred to as a roof. In
climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done ...
, overhangs and especially roofs place special demands both in terms of technique and equipment as well as the constitution of the climber. With increasing steepness the loading on arm and hand muscles increases, because the feet can support less and less of the body weight. Rest points where the muscles can be relaxed, especially no-hands rests, are rarely found in overhangs. Climbing techniques to tackle overhangs include placing the body's centre of mass as close as possible to the rock and striving for the highest possible body tension. Many climbing techniques such as the foothook are almost exclusively used in overhangs and roofs. For a long time in
Alpine climbing {{unreferenced, date=March 2019 Alpine climbing (german: Alpinklettern) is a branch of climbing in which the primary aim is very often to reach the summit of a mountain. In order to do this high rock faces or pinnacles requiring several lengths of ...
, roofs were almost always tacked using climbing aids. By contrast, in modern sport climbing, severely overhanging terrain is no longer a rarity, because climbing halls frequently include overhangs and roofs. A well-known natural example of severely overhanging terrain is the rook in the north face of the Western Zinne, whose upper end is about 40 metres horizontally from the foot of the rock face. Severe
climbing route A climbing route is a path by which a climber reaches the top of a mountain, rock, or ice wall. Routes can vary dramatically in difficulty and grade; once committed to that ascent, it can sometimes be difficult to stop or return. Choice of rou ...
s that feature overhangs and roofs include Separate Reality in the USA and La Rambla in Spain.


See also

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Rock shelter A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alwa ...
* Abri *
Mount Thor Mount Thor, officially gazetted as Thor Peak ( iu, ᙯᕐᓱᐊᓗᒃ ''Qaisualuk'' "huge bedrock" or iu, ᑭᒍᑎᙳᐊᖅ ''Kigutinnguaq'' "tooth-like"), is a mountain with an elevation of located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Islan ...
, the world's highest overhang


References

{{Climbing navbox Geomorphology Climbing techniques