Time to share about bouldering. “But Eric, what about your fashion journey?!?” Buddy, if you read what my blog is about, it’s not just about fashion, but all the things outside the 9 to 5. *dabs
Anyways, enjoy my perspective of bouldering, get to learn a few terms from it, and don’t be a hater.
Around the week after I got laid off of my job, a Discord message appeared: “Who wants to boulder this week?”.
It was in a group chat I had joined almost a year ago, but had become a full-time lurker after my elbow injury. I tore my elbow during a mud run, which stopped me from applying any pressure or extending my arm for a while.
After almost a year going through my resting arc, my orthopedic said I had healed and approved me to do pretty much any activity now. This was a huge relief, because I was looking to get back into exercising, and I had gotten quite out of shape and lazy because of it.
So when that chat popped up, I said “Why not?”. I was figuring out a career switch, and had a lot more free time now. I was also trying to work on strength training, so it would be an extra, supplemental exercise. And since my friends could get me in for free, how could I say no?
Now it had been some time since I last climbed, and I still remembered that time like it was yesterday. I had no arm strength, lacked stamina, and felt like a weak noodle. Whenever I would try to start a climb, I’d fail to pull myself up. I’d lift my butt off the ground, hang from the holds for a bit, struggling to pull myself up, and promptly plop back down on my bottom. Though I appreciated my friends encouraging and suggesting how I should approach it, I felt I was fighting above my weight class.
What was even more embarrassing was after I would fail a climb many times, my friends would hop on to the problem I had just fallen from. They’d talk me through the moves WHILST they were climbing without missing a breath.
They’d grasp the hold that I struggled to reach, and complete it!
So with that memory burned into my mind, I knew I wanted to do better. Be better! I knew I wanted to take it slow, but boulder right this time.
I started to learn a lot of technique, and with it, climbing specific words and phrases.
- Beta is the way you climb a specific problem. Usually it’s a skill checkto see if you know technique, and a skill issue if you can’t figure it out.
- “The typical beta is going to be different for me for that problem because I’m a tall boy.”
- Hang boards are like pull up bars, which people can use to train finger strength. People basically just hang from them, using different sized edges, measured in millimeters, to test and strengthen their grip. They’re also great to use for stretching and warming up before climbing.
- “I’m going to warm up on the hang board. I can hang off of a 15mm edge.”
- The V-Scale is a somewhat subjective scale that climbers use to classify the difficulty a boulder. It ranges from VB to V17 currently, but most gyms only go up to V10 at the very highest. Different climbing gyms use different ways to simplify and symbolize difficulty, instead of using the V-scale. The gym I go to uses animals to symbolize difficulty.
- Flash is when you successfully climb a boulder on your first try. This proves your technical skill, strength, and sometimes your absolute monster ability to push through pain.
- “Wow, I can’t believe I flashed that squirrel (V5-V6). I generally do raccoons (V3-V4).”
- Chalk is nice. It increases friction with the climbing holds friction and keeps your hands dry from sweat. In the end, it feels good to put it on, and it’s a typical boulder’s routine to clap their hands to spread it, creating a dust cloud of chalk for surrounding people to know their about to get serious and start a problem (it’s actually to get excess chalk off your hands, because too much chalk reduces friction).
- “Manage your skin” is a phrase I started to pick up from my friend who climbs alot more than me. It’s about the amount of skin you have left to use up on climbing before it’s painful. Typically when climbing you build up thicker skin, and some climbs will demand more of your skin a.k.a. tear off easier. It’s really important to take care of the skin on your hands in climbing because it can tear and become painful, reducing your climbing ability and enjoyment.
- “Bro, I have to manage my skin. I can only do this climb once, because afterwards I can’t climb anymore.”
Bouldering has become part of my weekly routine. Every Tuesday, I go to the gym and do a warm up at the hang board, working on grip, hang, and core down. I usually get down to the 20mm.
If I’m feeling daring, I try to hang at 15mm for at least 5 seconds.
Afterwards I wander the gym revisiting problems I haven’t hit yet. They reset different sections of the climbing walls each week, so I mourn for the boulders I never got to complete and attempt new climbs once I’m done grieving. I’ll also watch and cheer friends on as they solve problems they’d been working on themselves.
My natural state many times is to lay on the mat, resting between climbs. Many times I’ll look upwards at different people solving problems, and breath in the clouds of chalk others create.
One thing I’ve enjoyed with bouldering is seeing the physical progress I’ve made.
I recently started hitting V3-V4 problems and completing them; it’s a big milestone!
V3-V4 climbs (symbolized by raccoons in my gym) requires a little more technique to complete. I’ve enjoyed taking compounding lessonsfrom previous climbs and applying them to different problems to hit this goal.
I’ve also enjoyed the social aspect of bouldering. It’s fun to discuss beta of certain climbs with friends, and cool to cheer on friends who succeed on a problem they’ve been working on for weeks. And sometimes, I’ve been able to bond with other climbers when we’re all attempting a similar climb.
Ultimately though, climbing has become a place of solace amidst the chaos of life.
Without a day job, structure and stability can be hard to come by in my life at times.
“Keeping the lights on”; figuring out career direction; nothing is really set.
But when I enter the bouldering gym, it’s clear what I’m there to do.
It’s a time between me and my own body and mind.
I enter a state of flow.
And in the end, when I flash a problem; figure out a technique; or complete a difficult climb that took several weeks to work through, it is a feeling of progress and accomplishment.
I’m still at the beginning of my bouldering journey. And I’m still not as skilled as others who have climbed for awhile. I am still in awe of people who can flash problems that take me weeks to complete.
Whenever that happens, I feel humbled, and am reminded I still have a lot to go.
But that’s the beauty, there’s always room to grow.
Every person has put in the work and effort to meet the climb. And it’s beautiful to be able to glimpse into a moment of all that they’ve put in to reach their current capacity.
I’ve only hit raccoon status, but I’m looking forward to the day I can take on harder problems and see the rewards of bouldering. This is my own climb I’m taking on.
“It ain’t much, but it’s honest work” -David Brandt