By inserting a vibrating tube into a static grain layer, the grains can climb along the tube, which presents a new way to convey grains continuously. In this study, both tubes with different sizes and cross-section shapes are used to probe the effect of geometry on climbing motion of grains. Under same vibration strength, grains in small diameter tube can climb directly into an equilibrium height. The grains in large diameter tube can't climb directly. However, if enough grains are initially filled in the tube to a certain height, the grains can climb much higher. The grain climbing is more sensitive to the tube size rather than shape of tube cross-section. With same tube diameter, the climbing motion becomes difficult with increase of grain diameter. Consistent with the experimental results, a model based on force analysis is presented. (C) 2016 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.