Bouldering Grade that everyone can climb

What grade could anyone reach if they trained hard enough?

V3, or whatever level you are currently at.

Seriously, it is a silly question. And any answer would be a wild guess and conjecture. Most people will never reach anywhere near their potential, because most people don't try hard enough, nor do they want to. So, as far as guesses go, V3 sounds as good as any. So does V8.

Considering they put in 100% commitment. 

come on brah, there was already a lengthy discussion centered around Ondra's claim that anyone can boulder V8. Get your shit together.

Whatever grade they reach after they train hard enough.

I've been out of school for a while but I would say maybe 12th grade.  If you hired a private tutor and do the reading and homework you should be able to pass your tests.  If you reach final enlightenment you should be crimpin your pebble pinch up to V8 juice cans.  If you drink enough v8 you may be able to graduate to mango juice aka v1000  moon rocks.  Follow these steps and you just may become a rock jockey from the sky.  

mike sheridan wrote: I've been out of school for a while but I would say maybe 12th grade.  If you hired a private tutor and do the reading and homework you should be able to pass your tests.  If you reach final enlightenment you should be crimpin your pebble pinch up to V8 juice cans.  If you drink enough v8 you may be able to graduate to mango juice aka v1000  moon rocks.  Follow these steps and you just may become a rock jockey from the sky.  

12th grade at your school would be kindergarten in the Gunks.

Ok serious answer.  In “How to Climb 5.12”,  Hoooooorst contends that basically anyone can climb a 5.12 well suited to them (in terms of technique / strength demands) with sufficient training.  Not that everyone can be a “5.12 climber” in some colloquial sense that implies the flash / onsight at that level, but that anyone without some serious mobility deficiency can sniff out a 5.12 that they could eventually redpoint with enough work.

I have no idea if others agree with his assertion, but it is a data point.  Sorry, it’s routes not boulders.  Also the version of this book I read was a printing from like 10 years ago so his more modern bloviating may take a different stance.

One more important thing to consider is WHERE are you bouldering.

I took my daughter - a confident at that time V3-V4 gym boulderer - to southern CA, Joshua Tree State Park and she couldn't do a single V0 there. It was VERY CONFUSING and frustrating. Luckily second day we ran into her trainer from our climbing gym in North CA (lucky us!) and the guy took pity on us, took us to a nearby bouldering area and showed how to do V1 there. That route was one and only route my daughter could complete in JT park, and she wouldn't be able to without his help. Since then I've heard bouldering in JT is notoriously difficult. So here you go...

jaredj wrote: Ok serious answer.  In “How to Climb 5.12”,  Hoooooorst contends that basically anyone can climb a 5.12 well suited to them (in terms of technique / strength demands) with sufficient training.  Not that everyone can be a “5.12 climber” in some colloquial sense that implies the flash / onsight at that level, but that anyone without some serious mobility deficiency can sniff out a 5.12 that they could eventually redpoint with enough work.

I have no idea if others agree with his assertion, but it is a data point.  Sorry, it’s routes not boulders.  Also the version of this book I read was a printing from like 10 years ago so his more modern bloviating may take a different stance.

I remember reading some climber article years ago, something about how the guy/woman thought that as long as he/she stayed in shape, they would be able to climb some 5.12 routes for the close to the rest of their life... something special about the 5.12 line.

V5 at my gym

In a power company podcast (forget which episode) they talk about a blog post from a trainer (?) or coach (?) saying that anyone who trains regularly can climb v10. Not sure if i believe that but it might be worth finding if thats what youre looking for. 

Tim Lutz wrote: Anyone? Anyone??

Anyone other than me

Lance Ruggles wrote: In a power company podcast (forget which episode) they talk about a blog post from a trainer (?) or coach (?) saying that anyone who trains regularly can climb v10. Not sure if i believe that but it might be worth finding if thats what youre looking for. 

I believe that many coaches / trainers have really poor estimates about population parameters.  I think there's multiple cognitive biases at work, namely that many (most?) who self select into coaching are themselves relatively gifted athletes, they spend most of their time around other gifted athletes, and there is a bit of projection / blinders when opining about population (e.g. what?  not everyone can do a one-arm pushup?).   Put simply, I think their point estimate of the mean / median climber and the potential of that climber is biased upward.  

I know there's a big "if" there ("if they train regularly...") but I'm tempted to believe that this is a sorta implicit sales pitch - if you train regularly (and, say, obtain guidance from myself or one of my esteemed colleagues, then..). 

What salary could anyone get if they worked really hard for it?
What's the best sandwich anyone could eat if they were really, really, really hungry?
What's the prettiest girl anyone could marry if they were really, really, reeeeeeally in love with tHEM???AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
rvfuiud O[D YUFQ

Lance Ruggles wrote: In a power company podcast (forget which episode) they talk about a blog post from a trainer (?) or coach (?) saying that anyone who trains regularly can climb v10. Not sure if i believe that but it might be worth finding if thats what youre looking for. 

This is the episode you are referring to.

And what they said wasn't QUITE that anyone can climb V10. What they said is this:

Any climber with an athletic disposition, dedication, time, appropriate training and proper diet can climb V10.

That's a lot of qualifiers. What is "athletic disposition", exactly? And how do you measure if someone has it, or not?

David S wrote: Something I read once put it like this:

V0-5: 1 year if you're young, 2 if you're not
V6-10: not if you have a job
V10+: ignore; only for a few people in the world

Every been to Colorado? So many people climbing V10+/5.13+, many of them with full-time real careers and families...

I would say most people, barring physical ailments or disabilities, could climb V10/5.13+ or so, given they had unlimited time to train (effectively) and the motivation to do so.  As in, it's rarely mere physiology holding people back.  The rare thing is not a body that can potentially climb hard, but a lifestyle that allows a body to climb at its potential, which is rare indeed.  It has to be an obsession, and usually doesn't leave room for pesky things like children, spouses, careers, etc...  Most people climbing at that level are young and responsibility-free. There are obvious exceptions (the Anderson Bros. kind of set the standard for professional/child-rearing elite climbers), but they're usually extremely driven, and possess preternatural time-management skills.  And perhaps most importantly, they almost always live in close proximity to hard outdoor routes/boulders and other strong climbers.

Of course, this all pertains only to folks who -didn't- start climbing in their pre-pubescent years.  The strongest climbers (by far) at our gym are all team kids in their mid-teens, and include several 5.14/V10+ crushers. So I suppose the best advice would be to find a time machine and some parents with lots of disposable income.

Leliko Mana wrote: One more important thing to consider is WHERE are you bouldering.

I took my daughter - a confident at that time V3-V4 gym boulderer - to southern CA, Joshua Tree State Park and she couldn't do a single V0 there. It was VERY CONFUSING and frustrating. Luckily second day we ran into her trainer from our climbing gym in North CA (lucky us!) and the guy took pity on us, took us to a nearby bouldering area and showed how to do V1 there. That route was one and only route my daughter could complete in JT park, and she wouldn't be able to without his help. Since then I've heard bouldering in JT is notoriously difficult. So here you go...

I dunno. I've never been to Joshua Tree, but I feel like the numbers you're saying is pretty representative of the difference between gyms and outdoors at the lower bouldering grades. I bouldered gym V3 for a long while, and only once I started sending about gym V4 was I able to get V1s outdoors. And that applies to a bunch of different bouldering areas: Gunks, Horse Pens 40, Red Rock, Central Park, Sourlands... I don't think there's an area I've been to where there wasn't a drastic difference between indoor/outdoor boulder grades. So I don't think that indicates that Joshua Tree boulder grades are sandbagged.

Gyms make a large percentage of their money off getting beginners into the sport, so the lower grades are in difficulty ranges where a beginner can see progress quickly. Lots of beginners can send a gym V1 on their first day, and some can even hit V2s. But outdoor grades aren't concerned with money, so pretty much all beginners are going to spend a while in the V0 range.

I'll also add that indoor bouldering doesn't really prepare you well for outdoor bouldering. Outdoor boulders' feet are usually desperate compared to indoor. Holds are sharper/more irregular/not spaced with a human body motion in mind. Rocks come in a wider variety of shapes than walls generally do.

Not sure if this question is about what is the upper limit if you are someone aged before you reach your physical peak and dedicated all your time and resources into reaching a bouldering grade, or if this is about what an average climber can likely do if they train at a reasonable non-pro level. I would guess the first would be around V10, the latter maybe V7-9. Bouldering I think is much more dependent on your age and physical characteristics compared to route climbing. When you say "everyone" that means you have to account for older people past their physical prime and short people with small ape indexes. Many of those people I don't believe could do V10 no matter how hard they train. There are of course exceptions, but when you are asking what "everyone" can attain, you are operating on the lowest common denominator, which I think lowers the bar a bit.

David S wrote:

SO many?

Yup.