confusion
Well, it has been brought to my attention that the lingo, jargon, slang or cant that I use in my posts when talking about bouldering and climbing may not be understandable nor intelligible. In actual fact, Lex threatened my with physical harm for it, so I feel that I must try and explain at least a few of them. Any that are still not understood after this, please point out and I shall endeavor to make amends.
To start with, bouldering is climbing of smaller rock surfaces, mostly free-standing boulders, but sometimes short cliffs, especially along the ocean here in Halifax. Heights range from 6-30 or more feet, but normally is in the range of 8-14 feet. The sequence of hand and foot holds used to climb to the top of the boulder is known as a problem. A boulder may have any number of problems depending on it's size and number of holds. There are also variations on this, including sit starts and traverses. Sit starts involve starting the problem sitting on the ground, which allows for a more difficult or interesting problem, or perhaps allows for one to be put up on a boulder which would otherwise be too short to be useful. A traverse, on the other hand, is less concerned with height than with length: instead of moving up the rock, you move across it instead, which involves a totally different dynamic and type of movement. When one actually manages to climb a problem from start to finish without falling it is known as sending, you can now be said to have sent that problem, which is the ultimate goal of bouldering (happy now lex?). Two last things of interest concern equipment and difficulty. First, the main piece of gear used when bouldering is a crash-pad, which is simply a couple of inches of open-cell foam on top of an inch of closed-cell foam which you put on the ground under where you are working on a problem. This pad acts as a cushion for when you fall, which you always do at some point, with your spotter helping to guide you onto it and protect your head and spine. It also helps lessen the impact on your knees and ankles, which over the space of a decade can be quite damaging. As to difficulty, the last thing I will cover, bouldering problems are rated on a number of scales. Without getting into it, the most common one rates problems starting at V0 and goes to I believe V15, this being the hardest that has been climbed in the world so far. The scale is open-ended, so we may well see V16 or V17 in the next few years. V0 is the easiest, but even that is quite difficult compared to an easy traditional rock climbing route for a beginner, as the climbers who started rating bouldering using the V-scale were already accomplished climbers when they started doing so. I am currently a semi-solid V4 climber, meaning I have climbed a number of them but also been stumped by one or two, which is normal. Sean Therian, to give somewhat of a scale, is I believe a V10 climber.
I hope this answers any questions or confusions that people may have had with my posts, and I will attempt to limit or at least explain any other terms I use. Off to climb again tonight, so enough typing about it!
To start with, bouldering is climbing of smaller rock surfaces, mostly free-standing boulders, but sometimes short cliffs, especially along the ocean here in Halifax. Heights range from 6-30 or more feet, but normally is in the range of 8-14 feet. The sequence of hand and foot holds used to climb to the top of the boulder is known as a problem. A boulder may have any number of problems depending on it's size and number of holds. There are also variations on this, including sit starts and traverses. Sit starts involve starting the problem sitting on the ground, which allows for a more difficult or interesting problem, or perhaps allows for one to be put up on a boulder which would otherwise be too short to be useful. A traverse, on the other hand, is less concerned with height than with length: instead of moving up the rock, you move across it instead, which involves a totally different dynamic and type of movement. When one actually manages to climb a problem from start to finish without falling it is known as sending, you can now be said to have sent that problem, which is the ultimate goal of bouldering (happy now lex?). Two last things of interest concern equipment and difficulty. First, the main piece of gear used when bouldering is a crash-pad, which is simply a couple of inches of open-cell foam on top of an inch of closed-cell foam which you put on the ground under where you are working on a problem. This pad acts as a cushion for when you fall, which you always do at some point, with your spotter helping to guide you onto it and protect your head and spine. It also helps lessen the impact on your knees and ankles, which over the space of a decade can be quite damaging. As to difficulty, the last thing I will cover, bouldering problems are rated on a number of scales. Without getting into it, the most common one rates problems starting at V0 and goes to I believe V15, this being the hardest that has been climbed in the world so far. The scale is open-ended, so we may well see V16 or V17 in the next few years. V0 is the easiest, but even that is quite difficult compared to an easy traditional rock climbing route for a beginner, as the climbers who started rating bouldering using the V-scale were already accomplished climbers when they started doing so. I am currently a semi-solid V4 climber, meaning I have climbed a number of them but also been stumped by one or two, which is normal. Sean Therian, to give somewhat of a scale, is I believe a V10 climber.
I hope this answers any questions or confusions that people may have had with my posts, and I will attempt to limit or at least explain any other terms I use. Off to climb again tonight, so enough typing about it!