tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196855075169929864.post4162301164237406168..comments2023-05-27T20:30:55.353-07:00Comments on The Bouldering Book: Bouldering and its Physical Impacts: What Should We Know?Peter Bealhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15576690594320743452noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196855075169929864.post-4631713911705467722017-04-16T14:14:25.901-07:002017-04-16T14:14:25.901-07:00#1. you are unroped while bouldering, so you shou...#1. you are unroped while bouldering, so you should never fall and you should always be able to reverse your moves and downclimb<br /><br />#2. anything where your feet go higher than chest high is soloing - not worth the risk unless the difficulty backs off to 3rd or 4th class<br /><br />#3. back in the 80s, bouldering was mostly viewed as training for cragging - and soloing was a hot thing to do - climbers have morphed bouldering and soloing into one very unsafe mindset - combined with increased difficulty = lots of injuries<br /><br />#4. to be a safe climber: use low elevation controlled bouldering for strength training - and do your real climbing on a rope<br /><br />#5. as someone who climbed in the 80s, I find it very disturbing that today's climbers accept falling so much unroped - back then, it was bad style to fall, roped or unroped - nowadays, everybody is falling on crash pads a hundred times before they can do that V whatever move<br /><br />#6. there is reason that 5.9 USED to be the hardest moves -- anything harder than 5.8 has increased fall potential - the older climbers were not so much less talented, they just did not want to fall and they did not spend their life training to climb higher numbers. <br /><br />#7. I am concerned that the modern acceptance of falling unroped will lead land managers to close down outdoor bouldering areas on public landtruthseekerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00894445690880833482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196855075169929864.post-1405130587612269722015-11-12T08:41:27.109-08:002015-11-12T08:41:27.109-08:00Excellent article. My previous gym was just as Ano...Excellent article. My previous gym was just as Anonymous said -- plenty of high, off balance crux finishes, often dynos, where you would fall in an uncontrolled spin. There were problems which experienced boulderers would just refuse to do as they were so high. Plenty of potentially shoulder wrecking moves as well. As well as being dangerous--though I must admit I never saw any serious acute injuries--there didn't seem to be much crossover into outdoors bouldering. As my outdoors grade gradually increased, my indoors grade stagnated. Now I'm at an old school gym, more or less like someone opened their basement to the public, and hey ho, finger strength, body tension, and footwork are back in style. I'm delighted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196855075169929864.post-69159700316491104762015-07-31T05:48:12.280-07:002015-07-31T05:48:12.280-07:00This is a timely read, Peter. Yesterday happened ...This is a timely read, Peter. Yesterday happened to be my maiden voyage into the world of large 'next gen' gyms. The Walltopia shapes and brand new holds looked appealing enough, but I found the climbing completely underwhelming. First of all, the height of the walls is on average about 6' too high. I didn't take any high falls while climbing, but the finishing moves (often very dynamic) were always done under the shadow of fear. Even the controlled jumps I made a few holds below the lip were uncomfortable. I've accumulated enough climbing injuries in the past 15 years to spot a liability (for my outdoor season) when I see one. Yesterday was all red flags. <br /><br />Beyond the increased risk of injury I was also turned off by the style of climbing. It was creative and no doubt varied, but it seemed to have little in common with the real deal. The aesthetic seems to hinge on a game of one upmanship where each move strives to be more audacious than the last. Flashy into flashier into flashiest culminating in the crescendo way off the deck. Outdoor climbing is much more simple with much of the complexity written in nuance rather than neon. The most fruitful indoor climbing is much the same. There are hundreds of School Room-esque woodies stuffed into basements that sport greater safety and efficiency than the newer gyms. Straightforward difficulty that tests body tension and finger strength with all the risk located above the waist. The capitalization of gym climbing has certainly increased in the last two decades, but I can't help but wonder if it's really improved. tommy wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06528454596684529265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6196855075169929864.post-62490056414365820492015-03-23T10:30:18.347-07:002015-03-23T10:30:18.347-07:00I could not agree more. An especially irritating t...I could not agree more. An especially irritating trend of "modern" bouldering is setting boulders with easy/dull beginnings up to unbalanced crux moves up high, where you either grab the final hold or fall in an uncontrolled rotation. I am sure moves like that look spectacular in a competition. They do not add value in training in my opinion.<br /><br />An additional problem especially for beginners is the imaginary safety of the mats. While they make safe bouldering possible, a fall from a high wall can still result in serious injury especially when the fall is uncontrolled. The open fractures I have seen have significantly reduced my taste for "risky" bouldering. That there are evenings where the ambulance has to come to the climbing gym three(!) times is of course not publicized. It might reduce sales after all.<br /><br />All of this is especially ridiculous in bouldering, a from of climbing that has the term "sit start". To train strength and technique it is irrelevant if the move is in 50cm or 4m height.<br /><br />Joe<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com