Climbing plants are found in numerous plant families and play a key role in the community and ecosystem dynamics of forests worldwide. The climbing habit is often understood as allowing plants to reach better lit layers and enhance light capture. Therefore, it should be nearly absent in environments with abundant light and canopies rarely imposing significant shade on lower layers. Arid ecosystems fit the latter description, yet climbing plants are consistently present there. To address this issue, I considered their climbing mechanism. First, I explored the distribution of climbing plants in arid environments vs their climbing mechanism in Chile, a country with a marked latitudinal gradient in aridity. Results showed that root climbers are excluded -and scramblers are nearly excluded- from the desert, while both tendril-bearing and twining vines increase their relative presence in the desert compared to the forest. Second, to test whether stem twiners and tendril bearers are intrinsically more resistant to drought than scramblers, I compiled data from studies measuring physiological resistance to drought-induced embolism. Results showed that there was no difference in this trait among species with different climbing mechanisms. Finally, I discuss that twining and tendril-bearing climbers could be favored in arid environments because of their higher efficiency in finding (and attaching to) shrubs, which will grant them substantial benefits in terms of abiotic conditions and/or herbivory protection. Although there is surely no single explanation for the presence of climbing plants in deserts, I would suggest that the role of climbing mechanisms deserves further exploration.