Bouldering is a style of climbing on walls that are a maximum of 15 ft tall with a thick, cushy pad below you to protect against falls.
Check out this video to see bouldering in action:
Some say bouldering is the most pure form of climbing – it’s just you and the wall, no harnesses, ropes, or other gear to manage.
Climbs in the bouldering area are called “boulder problems” because you are solving a sequence of moves with your body as you move up the wall, engaging both your mind and your body along the way.
Bouldering is also a very social type of climbing. You’ll often find many climbers gathered around the same problem working the moves and trying to figure out how to “send” (climb from the bottom to top with no falls) together.
Expect bouldering to feel challenging move-for-move. Falls are a normal part of bouldering as you try to figure out the moves, but please keep in mind: every fall is a ground fall when bouldering, so make sure to always use proper falling technique.
Questions? Drop us a line at pittsburgh@faclimbing.com.