Template:Bouldering

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A climber with a crash pad on the ground.(Saint Just, Cantal, France)

Bouldering is a type of rockclimbing undertaken without a rope and is normally limited in respect to the height the climber ascends the route so that any fall will not risk significant injury. This variation of climbing can be practiced on large boulders, at the base of larger rock faces/climbing routes, in indoor climbing centres, or even on manmade structures (see buildering). Its documented origins may be found in the United Kingdom and France in the last quarter of the 19th century [1]. The British coined the word bouldering at that time. For many years, bouldering was usually practiced as training for climbers, although, in the 1930s and late 1940s, Pierre Allain and his companions enjoyed bouldering for its own sake in Fontainebleau . However, the first climber to actually make bouldering his primary specialty (in the mid 1950s) and to advocate its acceptance as a legitimate sport not restricted to a particular area was John Gill, an amateur gymnast who found the challenge & movement of bouldering enjoyable. (See his article, The Art of Bouldering, in The Journal of the American Alpine Club, 1969)

A climber bouldering at Horse Pens 40 in Steele, Alabama.

Typically bouldering is a more high impact sport focusing on individual moves rather than the endurance required in traditional climbing or sport climbing. Boulder routes are most commonly referred to as problems (another British appellation), because the nature of the climb is often short, curious, and much like problem solving. Sometimes these problems are "eliminates", meaning certain artificial restrictions are imposed. As in other types of climbing there are entire grading systems for bouldering alone. The most commonly used grading systems are the John Sherman V-grade system, beginning at V0 and increasing by integers to a current achievement of V16 (The Wheel of Life by Dai Koyamada in the Grampians, Australia [1]), and the Fontainebleau system which ranges from 1 to 8c+. Both scales are open-ended at the top, and thus the upper grade of these systems increases as boulderers ascend more difficult problems.

To reduce the risk of injury after a fall, climbers rarely go higher than a few meters above the ground (anything over 7 meters is generally considered to be free-soloing although such climbs might also be termed high-ball bouldering problems). They may also put a crash pad/bouldering mat on the ground to break their fall and/or assign a spotter, a person standing on the ground to prevent the climber from landing badly. The spotter generally works to direct the climber's body toward the crashpad during a fall, while protecting the climber's head from hazards.

The region around Fontainebleau near Paris is particularly famous for its beautiful and concentrated bouldering sites. Well known areas include Stanage (UK), Hueco Tanks (Texas), Castle Hill (New Zealand), Bishop (California), and Horse Pens 40 (Alabama) amongst others.

Bouldering is continually gaining in popularity, partly as evidenced by the growth of bouldering areas in indoor climbing gyms and even entire climbing gyms dedicated to bouldering. Children are joining the sport now as well as adults. In fact, studies have found that young climbers develop better skills as adults from their experience with youthful disadvantages such as height and strength.

Also called the A.D.D. of climbing since routes require you to stay focused for longer periods of time, while bouldering doesnt.

Gear

Chalk
Boulderers use loose, powdered chalk on their hands as a drying agent while climbing. The chalk is stored in a small hand-sized pouch worn on the climber's lower back called a chalk bag. Climbers may, on occasion, mix their chalk with cleaning alcohol, benzine etc. This is to ensure that the climbers hands are not only dry, but that any grease or other impediments to good grip will dissolve in the alcohol and evaporate. However, continued use of this mixture can have adverse effects on the climber's skin. It is therefore not a recommended technique and should only be applied before extremely difficult climbs if at all. John Gill introduced the use of chalk into climbing in the 1950s, in America.
Pads
Boulderers commonly carry a mattress-like object called a crash pad. These are generally 50" x 40" x 3" foam pads with a heavy-duty fabric shell. Crash pads are made to be either rolled or folded in half and worn like a backpack. They are opened and placed at the based of a boulder to cover irregularities in the landing and provide some cushion if the climber falls. Often a group of climbers will boulder together, each carrying his or her own crash pad. When using many crash pads together, the landing zones are larger and safer. A crash pad is not a substitute for a human spotter to protect a climber in a fall, and crash pads cannot eliminate all risk of injury. The first commercial pads, designed by Greg Kinnaloa and others, appeared in the early 1990s.
Ropes
Ropes are generally not used in bouldering these days. However, top-ropes were used prior to the introduction of bouldering pads on particularly high or dangerous boulder problems, and are still occasionally used to practice such moves; however, many boulderers now consider this to be poor form.
Shoes
While shoes designed for technical climbing are not required to participate in bouldering, they can offer the climber a distinct advantage. A large variety of climbing shoes are now available from climbing shops and online. All such shoes incorporate "sticky" rubber soles - first produced by Boreal in the 1970s. Prior to that time, normal black rubber had been used for many years.
Accessories
Often, a toothbrush is carried while bouldering. This can be used to "dust" off any grime that is on the rock. The toothbrush comes in handy on very crimpy small holds. Wet holds can be easily dried up with the use of chalk and a toothbrush. However, in many regions, boulderers have come into conflict with other climbers and with conservationists due to problems with over-use of chalk, which leaves white marks and changes the acidity of the rock; and with over-brushing, which can lead to serious erosion of certain rock types in particular.
White sports tape is useful for covering cuts or blisters, as repeated attempts on a particularly sharp problem can injure the climber's hands in the same places.
Climbing Walls
Climbers often build small climbing walls to practice their technique. Bouldering can also be practiced at the base of full scale climbing walls; and short structures designed specifically for bouldering can be found in many commercial climbing gyms.


Bouldering Terms

Beta
Any helpful tips, solutions to problems, guides, tricks, etc. that one boulderer passes on to another.
Boulderer
Any person who decides to tackle boulders for the sake of it.
Crimp
A hold that is so small, you have to crimp your fingers on it in order to have a good hold. Having a lot of crimps on a problem increases its difficulty.
Dyno
Shortened form of dynamic movement. Essentially any movement that requires you to jump from one hold to another. Usually increases the difficulty of a problem.
Flag
Dangling of a leg in such a way that you can obtain a better balance.
Flash
Completing a problem on the first try with no falls, but with beta.
Highball
A term for a boulder that is so high, falling when close to the top could cause serious injury. Some highballs have anchor bolts at the top, to allow for protected top-rope climbing.
Hold
Any piece of rock that you can grab or place your foot onto, and pull/push yourself up.
Jug
A hold that is large enough that you can reach your entire hand around, making it a good hold to pull yourself up with.
Matching
Matching implies that the feet or hands are at the same point on a hold.
Offwidth
An awkward ledge, that is usually too wide to jam a hand into, or otherwise hold, and not quite big enough to jump up onto. These typically require a combination of several different methods to achieve a good hold.
Problems
A term for boulders. Roots or Routes refers to anything that has to do with a rope.
Sit Start
A start to a problem that begins with the boulderer sitting on either the ground or a crash pad, and starting from the lowest point of the boulder. Typically starting from a sit start indicates a much higher difficulty on the boulder, as you have to climb much further.
Sloper
A hold that tends to slope, or is round. Sometimes very difficult to get a hold on.
Traverse
A solution that involves traversing all the way across a face, or sometimes around a boulder, sometimes finishing off at an arête in order to top out.
To send
Slang for ascend.
Top out
Most problems top out, meaning that you must reach the top of the boulder for one to have successfully climbed the boulder.


See Also / Related Articles

History of Bouldering

List of Bouldering Sites or Gyms

Lists by U.S. state:

External links

Photo site

Video sites

Locations

Worldwide

Europe

United Kingdom

North America

Asia

cs:Bouldering de:Bouldern es:Bulder it:Boulder he:טיפוס בולדרינג nl:Boulder ja:ボルダリング no:Buldring pl:Bouldering ru:Боулдеринг sl:Balvansko plezanje sv:Bouldering zh:抱石