Metolius Finger Tape

Gear Review: Climbing Tape

Company: Metolius

Product: Finger Tape

We all know the pain of loosing skin on rock. Maybe a crimp was too sharp, or maybe you were climbing for hours upon hours like me at 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell (24HHH). What can you trust to replace your skin on the proj? You can trust Metolius Finger Tape.

Since it is finger tape and not normal athletic tape, it is the perfect width for your fingers, and it won’t cover your joints. Even more, it has a nice stretch to it so it doesn’t just slide off when you bend your fingers (which is a lot, given that you are rock climbing). Of course the colors rock as well (pun intended).

Now, on to what you all want to know: stickiness. It’s not as sticky as you’d think, but that actually is a plus. It doesn’t hurt at all to pull off and it doesn’t feel too heavy or warm on the hands. You can rearrange it a bit once it’s on, but it will lose a bit of stick. Unlike other tapes, you need a lot of layers for it to stay on and work. In other words, you can’t just tape a loop around your finger and crush. It will fall off almost immediately. Instead, you have to wrap it around until it feels secure, and then you can crush.

24HHH is 24 hours straight of outdoor climbing, and so pretty much everyone starts with taped hands. There’s just no way your skin can possibly last, especially on the sharp rock. No one wants blood all over the rock either. So, before the starting gunshot, I used Metolius Finger Tape on all of my fingers. It worked for the entire 24 hours of climbing. My skin still suffered greatly, but I can’t imagine what would have happened without the tape, and I’m really glad I didn’t have to waste time re-taping during the competition.

If this isn’t a rigorous enough test, I don’t know what is. If your hands need help on rock, Metolius Finger Tape won’t let you down.

Recommendation: All skill levels

Specs: 13mm width; cotton polyester blend

MSRP: $4.95

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