I went bouldering for the first time recently. As is pretty standard for me, I loved it and I have been researching and generally obsessing over it ever since! I found the whole experience a bit confusing to start with, it was easy to figure things out as we went but I thought documenting the experience might be useful to someone else doing it for the first time!
Bouldering is one of the simplest forms of rock climbing. You don't need ropes or a harness, so you don't climb super high, and the indoor climbing centres have massive landing pads on the ground, in case you fall. This also means that if you finish a project (I'll explain what that means in a sec) you can jump off the wall and have a soft landing. I love that you can jump off - it's an extra adrenaline buzz after you've climbed!
When we arrived at the climbing centre we were given a quick demonstration once we were fitted with some hire climbing shoes. The only thing that they really stressed during the demonstration was how to fall/jump off correctly. We were told to climb back down a little bit if we could, then jump off and land with both feet on the mat and bent knees. We were then told that the yellow holds were the easiest ones and then we were left to our own devices.
The gym that we were at is set up with different coloured routes or problems. A problem has a marked starting point and finishing point, and it's up to you how you make it there. The catch is that you can only use the foot and hand holds that are the correct colour! You also don't need to use every single one of them...
Bouldering is one of the simplest forms of rock climbing. You don't need ropes or a harness, so you don't climb super high, and the indoor climbing centres have massive landing pads on the ground, in case you fall. This also means that if you finish a project (I'll explain what that means in a sec) you can jump off the wall and have a soft landing. I love that you can jump off - it's an extra adrenaline buzz after you've climbed!
When we arrived at the climbing centre we were given a quick demonstration once we were fitted with some hire climbing shoes. The only thing that they really stressed during the demonstration was how to fall/jump off correctly. We were told to climb back down a little bit if we could, then jump off and land with both feet on the mat and bent knees. We were then told that the yellow holds were the easiest ones and then we were left to our own devices.
The gym that we were at is set up with different coloured routes or problems. A problem has a marked starting point and finishing point, and it's up to you how you make it there. The catch is that you can only use the foot and hand holds that are the correct colour! You also don't need to use every single one of them...
As you can see in this photo (which is from the Urban Climb website), the climber is using orange holds. which means that he has to ignore the red and green holds that are near him.He can however use the bits of wall that are jutting out if he wants. Edit: I'm pretty sure those jutting out bits are called volumes!
I think the thing that I loved the most about bouldering is that you generally climb in fairly short bursts. I went with a good friend, and we usually took turns climbing - but we could both be tackling a different problem at the same time if we wanted to. It was also fairly social because people of different abilities would be waiting to use the same bit of wall, so it was easy to have a chat. I could imagine that if it was busier I would have found it a bit stressful being a beginner and having to make more advanced climbers wait (as if what they were doing was more important than my attempt), but I didn't really get that feeling when we were there!
One piece of advice that I wish I'd known before starting would be to tackle the same problem a couple of different times before moving on. If we completed a problem we would generally just try a different one - but doing the same thing a couple of times is a good way to build up skills (sounds pretty obvious when I type it out!).
Another thing that I have learnt since we went is that you don't need to always have your big toes closest to the wall, and that your hips don't necessarily need to be flat against the wall at all times either. Sometimes when moving sideways you can use the outside edge of your foot, and you can turn your hips in the direction that you're travelling too. There are also cool heel hooks and toe hooks that you can do - which is explained in this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49vEno40-n8. I only found that youtube channel when writing this, so I'm excited that there's more to watch now!
Climbing is not something that I can realistically allow much time in my life right now (along with family, friends, running and yoga) - but it's definitely something that I want to keep playing around with on an occasional basis!