Ape Index

Remember this one of me?  Prompted by a Facebook comment by a climbing friend about her daughter's arm reach I've been reading about the Ape Index measurement, and I decided to check mine out of curiosity.  

So my armspan is 2.5 inches more than my height, some of which will be due to long fingers, but the rest is down to long arms.  I can remember at the age of about 11 my ballet teacher instructing me to bend my arms a little more to make them appear shorter, and as a teenager I certainly had trouble with jumper sleeves being too short, so the proof that I've got long arms shouldn't be a surprise.

My friend's Facebook comment related to her daughter's climbing ability because there are some studies that suggest that a positive Ape Index helps because you can reach further.  Of course that doesn't take into account other, much more relevant factors such as balance, technique and strength, and I certainly don't think my ape arms have helped me at all.  Looking back to when I was climbing with S I don't remember being unable to reach the gear that he'd placed - he was about 6'2" - but that was probably more about him thinking before putting gear in rather than my being able to reach high.

In conclusion I reckon your Ape Index measurement is more or less irrelevant as far as climbing goes although you'd think it would be easy for me to touch my toes... but it's not!