One of the first things you may have noticed when playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the lack of bridges. A second obstacle you may have noticed is cliffs full of fauna begging to be explored, but with no way to climb up to them. There are solutions to both of these dilemmas, in the form of vaulting poles and ladders. These items will allow you to explore the rest of your island. And so here’s how to climb cliffs and pole vault in New Horizons.

How To Pole Vault

As there are no bridges on your island initially, the vaulting pole tool comes in very handy. The tool cannot be purchased and is one that you will have to craft yourself using a DIY recipe. You can obtain the crafting recipe for the vaulting pole tool from Blathers. To speak with Blathers, you will need to have convinced him to visit the island. In order to do this, you need to donate five fish or bugs to Tom Nook in the Residents Services tent (which you can read more about here).

Once the tent (where the museum will eventually be located) is constructed, you can go inside and speak with Blathers. Blathers needs 15 different exhibits in order to get permission to build a museum. He therefore gives you the DIY recipe for a vaulting pole so that you can cross rivers and find fossils.

The vaulting pole is an easy item to craft. The recipe requires only five pieces of softwood, which can be obtained by chopping at trees with an axe. Unlike other tools, the vaulting pole won’t break. In order to use the vaulting pole, you need to face the river, equip the vaulting pole from your pockets like other tools, and simply press A to cross the river.

How To Climb Cliffs

You may have noticed that your island has a lot of cliff areas full of fauna that are seemingly inaccessible. However, you can access these areas by using a ladder. Like vaulting poles, ladders cannot be purchased and must be crafted. And in order to craft a ladder, you will need a recipe for it.

You will be able to acquire the ladder recipe after several days of gameplay. Once you have upgraded your tent to a house and built Nook’s Cranny, it will become apparent that new villagers are looking to move to your island. If you then speak with Tom Nook, he will request your help in preparing for the new arrivals.

Your first task will be to build a bridge. In order to build the bridge, you will need 4x clay, 4x stone, and 4x log stakes. Log stakes can be crafted using 3x wood at the workbench. Once you have built the bridge, Tom Nook will request your help in choosing plots and preparing the future residents’ homes. During this process, he will call to inform you that one recipe requires flowers that can only be found on the island’s clifftops. He will then proceed to give you a DIY recipe for a ladder in order to access the cliffs.

The ladder is easy to craft as it only requires 4x wood, 4x softwood, and 4x hardwood. The ladder can be used by equipping it like other tools, facing a cliff you wish to climb, and then pressing A.