Hey, I thought it would be nice if I made a guide that covered a few of the things I have learned in my relatively short time speedrunning The Climb 2 so here are a few tips that hopefully help you out:

• Half Grip This is obvious, but if you're going to be speedrunning an area on professional mode, it's important to have good half grip. Half grip is a technique where holding the trigger just the right amount allows you avoid losing stamina, even while holding on with only one hand. At first it can be intimidating to learn, but I would be lying if I said that I had to spend days and weeks practicing before I was half-decent at half grip, it really isn't too hard and you just need to get the hang of it. Regardless, being able to constantly jump from hold to hold is definitely the fastest way to get around, making this essential for speedrunning the game.

• Sidestepping Sidestepping, as I have now decided to call it, is simply where you sidestep something. Makes sense, right? Basically, if you're hanging from a horizontal ladder, or maybe posts sticking out of the side of the mountain, it's important to keep in mind that even though you might not be able to jump from one hold to the next because you'll bonk your head or your feet, you can often just go to the left or right of the object and jump from the side without hitting any of the level geometry. This might seem obvious but it is amazingly easy to forget.

• Routing Sometimes it can be tricky to figure out the fastest way through a level. Luckily, there's a pretty easy way to figure it out. Racing against someone in the top 10 (preferably the fastest you can keep up with enough to see) will give you a pretty good idea of the fastest route through the level, although you should make sure to continue to keep an eye out, because sometimes even some of the top 10 scores aren't taking the fastest route.

• Rattlesnakes The rattlesnakes in the Canyon levels can be very annoying, so you might think its best to avoid them at all costs. However, with a couple of quick jumps you can often pass by them so fast that even though they strike at you, they actually miss. I make good use of this during my speedruns of Face To Face.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL

• Learn from others and be creative Given that these leaderboards are still in their infancy as of writing this, I haven't exactly had much to go off of in terms of help from other users. Luckily, we don't need a leaderboard on speedrun.com or youtube videos to get help from others, because of the in game race feature. Copying off of others is truly a beautiful thing. I have learned a lot from simply racing against the best players on the leaderboards in game. I genuinely did not realize that if I had to get across some posts as quickly as possible, I could simply go around the side of them so I am free to jump without bonking. I got into the top 5 in-game for Face To Face before deciding to race the #1 score, and I instantly realized that I was completely missing a much faster (and easier) route the whole time. However, even though it is easy to learn a lot from others, it is also important to be creative yourself. When the game tells you that if you near a rattlesnake it will attack you and you will fall, simply go past the rattlesnake so fast that it misses. Don't take everything the game tells you for granted, think outside the box. Climbing a real mountain is precise and calculated, but to discover new strategies in this game you have to be creative and daring.