How Do You Deal With Climbing Flappers? Prevention and Care

When I first started climbing, my hands took a beating and I’d tear a flapper climbing indoors or out almost every week. Back then I figured flappers were just the price of climbing, so I did some research to see if that was actually true. If you keep splitting your skin the same way, you’re not alone, and the good news is that most of it is preventable. 

The best way to deal with climbing flappers is to prevent them, but prevention isn’t always possible, so what do you do once you’ve already got one? The short version: right after you tear it, clean it with hand soap, lay the flap of skin back into place if you can, and tape it down. You don’t want the tape stuck straight to the flapper, so put something between the sticky side of the tape and the raw skin. 

These days my hands are more conditioned and I don’t get flappers very often, but it wasn’t just time that toughened them up. It was research and asking other climbers what they’d figured out. I’ve learned a lot about preventing and caring for rock climbing flappers, from what causes them to how to look after one and how to cut down your odds of getting another.

What is a rock climbing flapper?

A rock climbing flapper is a piece of skin that’s partially torn off your hand and is only hanging on by an edge. On climbers it’s usually near the top of the palm, below the fingers, or in between the knuckles on the inside of the hand. Flappers come in all sizes and pain levels, but none of them are fun, and a bad one can wreck your session or get in the way of the rest of your week. 

What causes a rock climbing flapper?

The most common cause is a climbing callous that’s grown too thick, catches on part of a hold as you move, and tears the skin. It happens most when you’re climbing dynamically or throwing dynos, and especially at the end of a long day when your skin is worn out but you talk yourself into one more climb anyway. 

The other common cause is a climbing blister that pops or tears mid-climb. Those tend to be less of a surprise because you can usually spot a blister before you pull on, and most climbers tape or care for it first. Still, they pop by accident more often than you’d like.

How do you care for a rock climbing flapper?

Caring for a flapper is less involved than you’d think. Skin is constantly replacing itself and it’s genuinely fast at repairs. All you’re really doing is giving it a good environment to grow a healthy layer where you tore. 

1. If you can, keep the flapper, don’t clip it off. Keeping it moist makes this easier because the skin stays soft and pliable. Once it dries out it gets stiff and can jab the raw skin underneath. If it’s stiff and poking you, hold it under semi-cold water until it softens again. Don’t use freezing cold water, since that’s uncomfortable and there’s no reason to shock the skin while it’s healing.
2. Use climbing tape to hold the piece of skin in place and off the open air so it can stay moist. Try not to put the sticky side of the tape straight onto the flapper. If you do, pulling the tape off later will grab the skin and tear it right back off. Either add something soft like pre-wrap or gauze between the tape and the flapper, or fold the tape onto itself so there’s no sticky side where the flapper sits. 

If your flapper came from a climbing blister, there’s a good chance the skin underneath has already started healing and you can touch it without pain or sensitivity. If that’s the case, remove the flapper instead of taping it back into place.

1. Once your skin has healed enough that you can touch the skin under the flapper without pain, remove the flapper with clean medical scissors.
2. While the skin keeps healing, use a climbing balm or salve like Climbskin or Climb On!, or a hand cream made for climbers, to help the rest of the process along.

If a flapper opens up while you’re out and you’re patching yourself up on the fly, it’s worth keeping a small kit in your bag. Our climber’s guide to a first aid kit covers the tape, scissors, and skin-care bits that make cleaning up a flapper a lot less annoying.

How to prevent a flapper climbing indoors or out

Ideally you head a flapper off before it happens, and there are a few ways to do that. The biggest one I’ve learned is to actually pay attention to your hands while you climb. Don’t wait for the pain to look down, check them often. Along the way I picked up a couple of other tricks too, which I’ve laid out below.

Maintain healthy climbing callouses

It sounds backwards to look after callouses when callouses cause flappers, but managed well they actually help prevent them. The ones that tear are the overgrown callouses that stick up past the smooth surface of the rest of your skin. To keep them level, use a nail file or some soft sandpaper to bring them down flush with the skin around them. 

If you’ve been climbing a while and keep tearing the same callouses, a callus builder might help. Products like antihydral cream dry the skin and build a tougher callous-like surface. Use it only on the tips of your fingers, and sometimes near the top of your palms below the fingers as needed, not across your whole hand. And while you use a callus builder, keep sanding down any overgrowth so it doesn’t catch on a hold and tear.

Tape your fingers for rock climbing 

Taping is a common move when your hands are getting worn or you see the early signs of a tear. Most climbers keep taping to a minimum because it cuts into the sensitivity and grip you get on the wall, but if you can tell a flapper is coming, tape it. If you’re not sure how to wrap a finger cleanly, our guide on taping fingers for climbing walks through the why and the how. 

Taping fingers is pretty easy, just don’t tape over a joint so you keep full movement. Hands are trickier, since the palm connects to the fingers and it isn’t a straight surface to wrap. Depending on where you need it, try a few different wraps. Taping my palm like a gymnast on the high bar has worked best for the spots right under my middle and ring fingers. 

Manage how long you climb

When I first started, I could climb for about 30 to 45 minutes before my skin started giving me trouble. Past that mark I’d at least get residual sensitivity, where my hands hurt too much to use, or I’d tear a flapper shortly after 45 minutes.

Once I saw the pattern, I started wrapping up sessions at the 45 minute mark. That let me use my hands afterward without extra sensitivity, and it let me climb more often because I wasn’t stuck babying a flapper. Over time my hands got more conditioned, and I slowly stretched my sessions out while paying close attention to my skin so I’d know when to stop.

These days my hands are conditioned enough that I can climb for over 2 hours before anything starts up, depending on how hard the session is. That kind of skin conditioning is the same idea behind smart training in general, and if you want to build durable hands without overcooking a session, treating hands as something you train and rest is a big part of it. The app Grip & Grind is where I actually work on that side of things. 

Conclusion

Flappers from overgrown callouses or popped blisters can wreck a session and hurt for days, but you can care for the skin when it happens and cut down on it happening again. 

The thing that’s worked best for me is simply paying attention to my hands while I climb. If I catch an overgrown callous, I sand it down right there so I can keep going. If I feel extra sensitivity, I call the session.

Building and conditioning my hands beats doing one more climb and risking a tear that takes a hand out of action for a week or more. On top of that, keep the callouses healthy with a nail file, sandpaper, or an antihydral-style callus builder, and tape your fingers and hands when you see a tear coming. Skin injuries aren’t the only thing to watch either, and if you want the bigger picture our roundup of the 5 common injuries in climbing and how to prevent them is a good next read. 

If you do get a climbing flapper, follow the steps above and experiment with Climbskin, climbing salves, balms, or other hand creams for climbers to figure out what works best for you while it heals. 

If you’ve got experience with climbing flappers or your own tips for care or prevention, share them in the comments below.

Frequently asked questions

Should I cut off a climbing flapper?

Not right away. If the skin under the flapper is still raw and sensitive, keep the flap on, lay it back in place, and tape it down so the tender skin stays covered and moist. Only remove the flapper once the skin underneath has healed enough to touch without pain, and use clean medical scissors when you do.

Can I keep climbing with a flapper?

Sometimes, if it’s small and you tape it well with something soft between the tape and the raw skin. But a fresh flapper is an open wound, so pushing through often makes it bigger and slows healing. Most of the time you’re better off ending the session, cleaning it up, and letting your skin recover.

How long does a climbing flapper take to heal?

It depends on the size and how well you look after it, but a flapper commonly keeps you off hard hand-intensive climbing for about a week. Keeping the skin covered and moist and using a climbing balm or salve can help it along. If it stays red, swollen, or painful, get it looked at by a medical professional.

How do I stop getting flappers when climbing?

Keep your callouses filed flush with the rest of your skin, tape spots that look like they’re about to tear, and pay attention to your hands as you climb instead of waiting for pain. Managing session length while your hands are still conditioning helps a lot too, especially early on.

What should I put on a climbing flapper?

Once the wound is closing up, a climbing-specific balm or salve like Climbskin or Climb On!, or a hand cream made for climbers, helps the skin finish healing. For prevention, an antihydral-style callus builder used only on the fingertips and upper palm can toughen the skin over time.

Sara Climbing Coach, Climbing Trainer, Writer

Sara is the founder of Send Edition, author of '77 Drills to Help You Climb Better,' the creator of 'Elevate Your Climbing: Training Planner and Tracker,' and climbing coach.

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