By JohnJo Devlin
What Is Bouldering?
Bouldering refers to climbs that are protected by pads rather than ropes.
Generally, that means that bouldering doesn’t take you too high off the ground — most boulder “problems” aren’t more than 12 or 15 feet tall. Most outdoor problems are located on large boulders (surprise), but some may be on low cliffs.
Like many genres of climbing, this definition can get blurry. Some boulder problems are much longer than 15 feet, but because they stay close to the ground they’re still protected by pads. These climbs may resemble sport routes more than traditional boulder problems, but they’re still categorized as boulders.
Other times, a tall boulder will have bolts and be categorized as a sport climb. Extremely tall problems blur the line between bouldering and free soloing (climbing tall walls without a rope). Past a certain point, pads can only help so much.
The Gear
One of the chief virtues of bouldering is the lack of necessary equipment. All you really need to get started is a pair of beginner-friendly climbing shoes.
And if you’re not sure you want to buy those, you can rent them at at your local climbing gym. When you’re ready to complete your kit, you can add:
A chalk bag or chalk bucket
Climbing chalk
Inside a gym, that’s all you’ll ever need. Just throw on your shoes, chalk up your hands, and start climbing — no knots, no belays, no fuss. Bouldering remains the cheapest and most accessible form of climbing.
What to Expect Your First Time Bouldering
Climbing gyms come in various different configurations, but you can count on a few constants at bouldering walls. Problems will be coded with color, using either colored tape or the color of the holds themselves. To climb a problem, use only holds belonging to that color.
Starting holds are usually marked in some obvious way — an extra piece of tape, a colored box, or a card with the grade on it. Start with your hands on the starting hold(s), and climb to the top of the wall.
Most gyms will also mark a finishing hold, either at the top of the wall or close to it. A few gyms have areas where climbers can “top out,” which means climbing all the way on top of a formation (more on all the bouldering lingo later).
Where topping out is possible, an easy descent route, like stairs or a ladder, will exist somewhere else on the formation.
If you’re bouldering outside, a little more thinking is involved. There’s no tape or color-coding, so you’ll have to find your hand- and footholds for yourself (although most handholds are covered in chalk).
How to Fall Properly
You might not be too far off the ground, but that doesn’t mean bouldering is without risk. In fact, because every fall means hitting the ground, some types of injury (like broken wrists or ankles) are more likely than on roped climbs.
To keep falls safe, stay aware. Make sure that nothing is on the pads below the problem you intend to climb: no water bottles, nothing to twist an ankle on, and especially no other climbers.
Falling safely is a skill unto itself, and it takes a little practice. When you do fall, don’t try to catch other holds or slow yourself down.
Instead, learn to go with the flow: accept the fall, stay engaged (but not stiff), and prepare for the landing.
When possible, absorb shock with your knees first. Land with your feet flat and your knees bent and soft. Allow the knees to collapse and continue your fall, rolling onto your back (or your side, if necessary). As counterintuitive as it may seem, stay a little relaxed on the landing — stiff limbs are prone to injury.
Never land with your arms out or absorb impact with your wrists. Learn to bring your arms in when you fall, keeping them out of the way of the impact. Don’t try to stick the landing, either. It might be easy from a few feet up, but from the top of the wall it’s much safer to roll. On big falls, tucking your chin can help avoid whiplash.
Bouldering will put you in challenging positions — upside down, sideways, you name it. Every fall is different, and it’s worth thinking about how you might land if you fell from various different moves. The same concepts will almost always apply: go with the fall, stay relaxed but engaged, and don’t absorb shock with your arms.
Bouldering Lingo 101
Now that you’re ready to climb, you’ll need to learn to communicate with your fellow climbers. Like all forms of climbing, bouldering has its own jargon.
Here is an incomplete list of words you might hear at the boulders or in the gym:
Beta (n.): Advice or insight regarding the best way to execute a move or sequence.
Campus (v.): To climb without using your feet.
Crux (n.): The hardest sequence of moves in a problem.
Deadpoint (n. or v.): A long dynamic move with one hand, or the act of completing such a move.
Dyno (n. or v.): A move requiring that both hands (and sometimes both feet) leave the wall in a long jump to the next hold, or the act of completing such a move.
Flash (n. or v.): To climb a problem on your first try after having received information or seen someone climb it, or a successful attempt at doing so.
Highball (adj. or n.): Describes a boulder problem tall enough that a fall from the top risks serious injury.
Onsight (n. or v.): To climb a problem on your first try with no information about how to climb it, or a successful attempt at doing so.
Problem (n.): A sequence of holds with a start point and end point.
Project (n. or v.): A problem that a climber attempts many times while learning, or the act of doing so.
Send (v.): To climb a problem without falling.
Soft (adj.): Easier than the advertised grade.
Spot (v.): To guide another climber’s fall for safety.
Spray (v.): To offer beta to another climber (esp. when unprompted).
Stiff (adj.): Harder than the advertised grade.
Top Out (n. or v.): To climb until you can stand on top of a formation, or the moves allowing you to do so.
Traverse (n. or v.): To move laterally across the wall, or a climb consisting mostly of lateral movement.
All this jargon can weave together in ways that are oftentimes difficult for beginner boulderers to follow.
Don’t stress if you get confused by the lingo. There’s no shame in asking a fellow climber to explain the terms they’re using.
Bouldering Tips & Etiquette for Beginners
Like all communities, bouldering has its own set of rules and conventions. To avoid committing a faux-pas, here are a few tips:
Share the wall. When you’re the only one around, it’s fine to monopolize some real estate. But when there’s a crowd, make sure that you get out of the way after you fall. There’s a natural rhythm to taking turns, and it helps to have a break anyway. If the climb you want to do overlaps with other climbs, don’t begin until the other climbs are clear, too.
Avoid giving other climbers beta unless you know they want it. Many climbers enjoy the process of figuring out climbs on their own. If you’re unsure, just ask the climber if they want beta or not.
On the flipside, DO make sure to chat with other boulderers. Bouldering can be the most social form of climbing — make friends!
Keep your belongings in check. When you’re in the gym, don’t leave your water bottle on the pads. When you’re outside, don’t spread your kit below the whole boulder.
If someone has just brushed the holds on a problem, give them first dibs on the next attempt.
If you’re about to try a move with wild swings or falls (like a horizontal dyno), consider notifying nearby climbers to avoid accidents.
If your gym has movable pads, ask nearby climbers if they’re using a pad before you move it.
If you accidentally disturb a route in the gym (by rotating a hold, scraping off tape, etc.), let the gym staff know so they can fix it.
Leave no trace applies to bouldering too. No one wants to find your crushed celebration-beer can when they head out for a day at the boulders.
Outside, it’s common for climbers to mark hand- or footholds with lines or dots of chalk. That’s fine, but make sure to brush them off when you leave so that other climbers can discover the subtleties for themselves.
Be judicious about music and noise. If you’re in the gym, make sure that your headphones aren’t so loud that you can’t hear warnings from other climbers. If you’re outside, consider your surroundings before blasting the Beastie Boys on your boombox.
Don’t squash the stoke. If someone needs help or advice, do your best to help out. If a climber just sent their project, don’t start yammering about how easy it was for you. Be kind and supportive, and others will be too.
When in doubt, ask! Boulderers tend to be welcoming, and most are more than happy to help you learn.
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