Bouldering and the Process of Confronting the Unknown

Having gotten away with enough trash talk about bouldering in the last few posts, it’s finally time for a deeper dive. It’s no secret that I’m not as big of a fan as bouldering as when I first started, and am responsible for extremely subtle and coded quotes such as:

While I’m still waiting for a solid response to that one (it’s likely a matter of location. The state I live in is more sport-climbing centric, making it sort of impractical to pursue outdoor bouldering given the quantity/quality of routes the gym offers) the importance of bouldering as a discipline can’t be understated enough, particularly as it applies to other types of climbing.

In the modern age of climbing it’s unlikely if not inevitable that a new climber’s journey doesn’t begin with the gateway drug of bouldering. You can essentially walk in and start climbing. An extremely high skill ceiling and a surprisingly lower actual ceiling leaves endless room to progress vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The first route seemed easy? Check out the next one. The magic of bouldering gyms is that they’ll look and feel different almost every time.

Our local gym opts for an unusual color system rather than the traditional V scale to identify climbing difficulty, and as you can imagine this leaves itself open to ambiguity. Colors can be limiting or freeing: you’ll only know which level you’re at by climbing it first.

The precarious nature of bouldering is surprising. Make no mistake, the lack of significant height and rope skills does little to hinder the intensity of the experience. The capacity of route-setters to constantly create new and enticing problems that rest on the edge of reasonable while feeling exposed, inside of a building, is nothing short of impressive.

Unlike other types of climbing, bouldering is significant because it allows you to gradually step into the unknown without as dire of consequences. In fact, bouldering is probably the least straightforward of any climbing discipline…

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