It is interesting how untrainable characteristics, such as body mass, height, body fat, and arm span, influence climbing performance. It is logical that high body mass is a disadvantage. Analyses of climbers’ anthropometric data confirm this (Fig 5). Unfortunately, body mass reduction is normally limited to getting rid of the excess body fat. On the one hand, the low percentage of body fat is a prerequisite for coping well on a route and distinguishing feature of elite climbers. On the other hand, the small variations in body fat percentage between trained climbers (all of which are typically lean) are of very little importance. This means that the extremely low levels of body fat will not help. The height and arm span also appear not to be limiting factors. Of course, it is good to be able to reach distant holds. Most elite climbers have a larger arm span to height ratio (ape index > 1), but there is no conclusive evidence that having a high ape index means to be talented. Taller climbers may have an advantage when the distances between the handholds are big, but may also have a disadvantage if the handholds and footholds are situated too close.