Bouldering

Bouldering

by Chris Chaney

Publication Date: January 2000

In the last few years, as rock climbing has become increasingly popular, different aspects of climbing have also increased in popularity. If you break climbing down, you'll find you have mountaineering (the origins of all rock climbing); traditional climbing (placing and removing your own gear at small cliffs as opposed to mountain climbing); sport climbing (using fixed protection such as bolts and pitons); gym climbing; and bouldering. Other forms of climbing include ice climbing and competition climbing.

You can mix any and all of these different creatures to find your own niche. Of all the varying aspects of climbing mentioned above, bouldering is perhaps the most simple and least committing of all of them. You can boulder on the side of the road without uncoiling ropes, stepping into harnesses, or conning your girlfriend (or boyfriend) to act as a belay slave. All you need are shoes, chalk if you prefer, and some rock, (preferably actual boulders).

Bouldering as a sport by itself has gained a big following in the last few years. More and more people are leaving their ropes at home in favor of pulling off short, hard boulder problems inside and out. Climbing gyms are gateways for mainstream society to experience climbing and especially bouldering. Bouldering is ideal for those of us with short attention spans and those that have trouble with lengthy commitments. You can attack a ten foot problem with complete focus and five seconds later be moving on to another route. Compare this to roped climbing in which you can spend minutes to hours, and even days, on one route. With the appeal of convenience, this alternate form of climbing fits right in to our modern society.

But what is bouldering? What kind of gear do you need? Where do you boulder? Why should you boulder?

Bouldering is climbing close to the ground without ropes or any other devices to arrest a fall. Most often a boulder is scaled like a mountain, with the top being the goal. Bouldering can also be traverses on boulders or cliffs and you don't necessarily have to top out. Problems can be easy or very hard. Most often a person can pull off much harder moves bouldering than in roped climbing. A boulder problem can be just one move.

It doesn't take much gear to climb around near the ground. In truth, you don't need any specialized equipment, however, rock climbing shoes are the single most important item in bouldering. Another handy item is chalk for drying your hands and a chalk bag with a sturdy tooth-brush sized brush for cleaning excess chalk from holds. Climbers use the same type of chalk as gymnasts. The use of chalk was introduced to the climbing world by a boulderer.

Another important piece of gear is a crash pad. A crash pad is something that absorbs the impact of a bouldering fall. After all, in bouldering every fall is a ground fall. Crash pads can be cheap homemade jobs or stylish and elaborate in construction with cinch straps and pack straps for carrying. There are a few companies that market quality pads. If you're a serious boulderer a crash pad is a great investment.

You can boulder anywhere. You don't have to find boulders to be a boulderer. There's another form of bouldering called 'buildering.' Find a stone building and you'll see the options are limitless. Kentucky has some great bouldering whether it be boulders, or any of the thousands of miles of cliff-line in the Daniel Boone National Forest or down on the stone walls of your local courthouse. The Red River Gorge has seen quite a bit of bouldering development in the last few years. I'm sure in time the development will spread to other areas in the state.

Safety in bouldering, as in all forms of climbing, is a big concern. As I mentioned before, a crash pad is the main protection in bouldering. Another key safety measure is a spotter. A spotter is to a boulderer as a belayer is to a roped climber. A spotter doesn't actually prevent the boulderer from falling or hitting the ground. In fact, a spotter's job is to direct the falling boulderer away from dangerous obstacles on the ground and protecting the boulderer's head and neck. Spotting is an art all its own.

So whether you pick up bouldering as a new hobby, or need a way to train for your roped climbing, or just want to try something new, all you need is a little chunk of stone and a little creativity.