Climbing Sticks are obstacles found in Pikmin and Pikmin 3 that require Pikmin to build and shimmy up them. They are somewhat similar to bridges, but they are not climbable by Captain Olimar, nor by Pikmin carrying something. Sheargrubs and Shearwigs will fortunately not dismantle these useful ladders, although they are automatically leveled every day after sundown. They are found in every level in Pikmin except The Forest of Hope and The Final Trial. In Pikmin 3, Pikmin that carry objects on a route will use Climbing Sticks. Some Climbing Sticks need to be built, while others are already built.
In Pikmin, an interesting happening is that there is a good chance that one or more Pikmin will start climbing the Climbing Stick, while other Pikmin are working on it. This is commonly seen on The Impact Site, when the player wants to bring 100 Pikmin up the trunk. Swarming the Climbing Stick will cause some Pikmin to start climbing before the work is done. Additionally, swarming many Pikmin on a finished Climbing Stick might cause some Pikmin to get stuck on the bottom.