Bouldering

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Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad (called a bouldering mat) so that a fall will not result in serious injury. It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas. However, it may also be practiced at the base of larger rock faces, or even on buildings or public architecture (see buildering).

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[edit] History

Bouldering's documented origins may be found in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy in the last quarter of the 19th century.[1] The British coined the words bouldering and problem at that time. The first documented bouldering advocate may have been Oscar Eckenstein, a British engineer and innovative climber who wrote about bouldering, and in the 1890s conducted an informal bouldering competition for natives in Askole, a village in the Karakoram mountains.[2] For many years, bouldering was commonly viewed as a playful training activity for climbers, although in the 1930s and late 1940s Pierre Allain and his companions enjoyed bouldering for its own sake in Fontainebleau, considered by many to be the Mecca of bouldering. 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, a mathematician and amateur gymnast who found the challenge and movement of bouldering enjoyable.[3]

[edit] Bouldering basics

A climber with chalked-up hands and a crash pad on the ground. (Black Mountain, Idyllwild, California)

Bouldering is a style of climbing emphasizing power, strength, and dynamics. Its focus is on individual moves or short sequences of moves, unlike traditional climbing or sport climbing, which generally demand more endurance over longer stretches of rock where the difficulty of individual moves is not as great. Boulder routes are commonly referred to as problems (a 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. Bouldering is more focused on the technique of climbing instead of undertaking a full bodied climb.

Bouldering at Lizard's Mouth in Santa Barbara, California

To reduce the risk of injury from a fall, climbers rarely go higher than 3–5 meters above the ground. Anything over 7 meters is generally considered to be free-soloing (or simply 'soloing'), although such climbs might also be termed high-ball bouldering problems. For further protection, climbers typically put a bouldering mat (crash pad) on the ground to break their fall. Last, climbers often have one or more spotters, who work to direct the climber's body toward the crash pad during a fall, while protecting the climber's head from hazards.

Bouldering is increasing in popularity; bouldering areas are common in indoor climbing gyms and some climbing gyms are dedicated solely 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.[citation needed]

[edit] Equipment

One of the major appeals of bouldering is its relatively scant equipment requirements. Nothing is actually required - beyond suitable comfortable and flexible clothing - and it is not uncommon to see people bouldering with just climbing shoes, a chalk bag, and a crash mat.

Bouldering equipment may include:

  • Close-fitting rubber climbing shoes, for better traction and edging capabilities.
  • Loose, powdered chalk may be used as a hand drying agent while climbing. Alternatively, liquid chalk is sometimes used.
  • A mattress-like object called a crash pad. These are generally thick, rectangular foam pads with a heavy-duty fabric shell. They are opened and placed at the base of a boulder to cover irregularities in the landing and provide some cushion if the climber falls.
  • A brush, or several brushes of differing sizes, is used to clean holds. Brushes are typically made with nylon bristles, but sometimes use coarse animal hair, and may be mounted on a telescopic pole to allow greater reach.
  • Sports tape is useful for covering cuts or blisters, as well as providing support for joints that may have been strained.

[edit] Ratings

Main article: Grade (bouldering)

As in other types of climbing, bouldering has developed its own grading systems for comparing the difficulty of problems, mainly because bouldering problems can be much harder than traditional rock climbing routes. The most commonly used grading systems are the Fontainebleau system which ranges from 1 to 8c+, and the John Sherman V-grade system, beginning at V0 and increasing by integers to a current top grade of proposed V16 (The Wheel of Life by Dai Koyamada in the Grampians, Australia; The Game, by Daniel Woods, Boulder Canyon, CO; Lucid Dreaming, by Paul Robinson, Bishop, CA, which is the only unrepeated and unchallenged problem of this grade). Both scales are open-ended at the top, and thus the upper grade of these systems is always increasing as boulderers ascend more difficult problems.

[edit] Technique Terminology

There are a variety of bouldering terms that are useful in utilizing and describing the techniques necessary to complete a route. A few include; bump, campus, chicken wing, crimp, dyno, gaston, heel hook, high-step, knee bar, lock-off, smear, stem, side-pull, toe hook etc [4]

[edit] Famous Bouldering Areas

Boulder, Colorado is legendary with bouldering opportunities and fierce clean climbing ethic, particularly in the Crown Rocks area featuring notable first bouldering ascents by John Gill, Chuck Pratt and Pat Ament. Particularly famous is the Pratt Mantle, relatively easy but a classic mantle; the Pratt Overhang, a classic off-wideth, an adjacent John Gill face problem, and the forty foot Monkee Traverse. Its red sandstonish rock affords an opportunity to experience the use of smear holds while only a short bike ride away, Boulder Canyon provides Schawangunk-like edging on grey rock with its own plethora of bouldering and short climbs. The region around Fontainebleau near Paris is particularly famous for its beautiful and concentrated bouldering areas. Other well-known areas are: Chironico (Switzerland), Stanage (UK), Hueco Tanks (Texas), Val Masino and Val di Mello (Italy), Castle Hill (New Zealand), Bishop (California), Joe's Valley (Utah), Yosemite (California), Rocktown (Georgia), Rocklands (South Africa), Cocalzinho de Goiás (Brazil), Kjugekull (Sweden), Hampi (India)[5] Horse Pens 40 (Alabama) and Horseshoe Canyon Ranch (Arkansas) amongst others.

[edit] Places to Boulder

Bouldering at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, USA.
Indoor bouldering venue in Helsinki, Finland

[edit] Fontainebleau forest

Just outside Paris, France, the Fontainebleau area is the biggest and most developed bouldering area in the world. The Fb bouldering grade was developed there.

[edit] Lists of bouldering sites in the U.S.A

[edit] Locations by country

[edit] United States locations by state

Ouro Preto, Brasil

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bouldering
  1. ^ Origins of Bouldering - from John Gill's Website
  2. ^ Oscar Eckenstein - from John Gill's Website
  3. ^ The Art of Bouldering by John Gill, The Journal of the American Alpine Club, 1969
  4. ^ "rock climbing moves". ABC of Rock Climbing. http://www.abc-of-rockclimbing.com/whatis/rockclimbingmoves.asp. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  5. ^ Bouldering in Hampi

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