Crack

By Steph Davis (from Climbing Magazine, Issue #177, June 1998)

The crack above you runs forever. You reach and sink your hand up to the wrist, again and again, plugging cams at will. You're a hero. You're laughing. You couldn't fall if you tried. Suddenly the crack gets tighter. You can't get a hand jam; your feet won't go in. You grope desperately, losing skin. Two hours later you've dogged to the anchors, almost as exhausted as your belayer. The scars are mostly emotional, but there is a lot of blood.

Unfortunately, offwidth doesn't only mean wide cracks. Several brutal sizes lurk from thin hands down. But wait- don't sell your cams to buy more quickdraws. Offwidth thin cracks don't have to be awful. In fact, they're fun, once you acquire the know-how. And technical jams can save you from strenuously laybacking or tenuously face climbing around awkward crack sections almost anywhere.

Here is the link to a very detailed article about climbing off width cracks. I have never experienced an epic crack such as those descibed here but a girl can dream....