The “bouldering is dumb” thing

Personally I really like my Sterling Rope shirt you're talking about. 

Nice and green

Jens 1 wrote:

Nahhh, the tripod and journal guys must be the party animals. 

Yeah you’re right everyone should do exactly what you want to do or else they’re dumb. Makes sense to me 

Don't forget to wear a beanie and a flannel shirt

Jens 1 wrote:

Every small town in the US has a bouldering gym these days making them a dime a dozen.

I wish.

landow 69 wrote:

Don't forget to wear a beanie and a flannel shirt

Beanie, no shirt

boomer 

Long Ranger wrote:

can't wait for tomorrow going into the alpine

to boulder.

• Where can I get this shirt though? I need it in my life. 

David K wrote:

I'm fully aware that I'm responding to a troll, but here's my defense of bouldering from a primarily trad climber's perspective:

Everyone I know who climbs hard on ropes has spent a lot of time bouldering.

Personally, certain skills are just very hard for me to work on rope. If the crux of a rope climb is a hard move, I have a very hard time convincing my body to try maximally if I've never built those CNS connections in a more focused context. A sport or trad session simply isn't going to be effective in improving my strength in the same way--out of 10 tries, if I haven't been bouldering lately, I might get 1 or 2 where I actually get the focus right to actually hit my physical limits because there's so much else going on with a sport or trad climb. With a boulder problem, I can often get the physical effort to max 8 or 9 out of 10 tries. And building that CNS pathway means I'll hit my max more naturally during a rope climb. Ultimately, I've found that if a move on a sport or trad climb is shutting me down, spending a week or two bouldering is a reliable way to remind my CNS what it feels like to try hard, which usually results in breaking through that barrier.

If you want to improve your rope climbing and have an effective tool like bouldering at your disposal, it's stupid not to use it.

I've recently come to a similar conclusion as you actually.  Been wanting to break into invert offwidth for a while and frankly most inverts are boulder problems in my area so it just makes sense.  Plus as you said you get to purely focus on the moves instead of trying to keep a #5 or #6 bumped up next to you or worrying about an awkward upsidedown swing.  And holy crap now that I had a solid two days last week working on some boulders with a guy who really knows his stuff on those I'm realizing that I absolutely have to get comfortable with these moves a foot off a pad before I ever hope to lead those kinds of routes.  Really glad I decided to finally purchase a pad too as now I can even potentially work some of these problems solo if they are short enough roofs.

I understand the value of bouldering. It is fun, it is effective training, I used to boulder a lot, but holy shit..,I never understood the whole “you don’t have to worry about falls/swings/gear” thing. Every fall in bouldering is a grounder, and every single injury I’ve had in three decades of climbing has been from bouldering. This includes sprained ankles and knees galore, badly bruised heels, a broken foot, and even a sprained jaw with broken teeth when I fell head first out of a fist crack. These days I can try much harder on a rope than some 15’ pebble where I’ll come crashing into the tallus off of some weird mantle horror show. 

Same for me schmuck, I've come to the age of infirmity where even a pad fall could send me to the hospital. For me, the boulderer must not fall! :) Takes a lot of the fun out of it, no most of the fun out of it. That's ok, its just self-abuse anyway.

Sixty years ago some of the California climbers started referring to me as "a mere boulderer", and I became fond of the appellation, sometimes signing off in a letter with it. It wasn't entirely accurate, but who really cares? If I had a t-shirt with it I'd wear it to the fitness gym.   

But jumping off boulders has consequences, even using mats. My back is so bad it's difficult to walk any distance. So beware the downsides of the sport.  

John Gill wrote:

Sixty years ago some of the California climbers started referring to me as "a mere boulderer", and I became fond of the appellation, sometimes signing off in a letter with it. It wasn't entirely accurate, but who really cares? If I had a t-shirt with it I'd wear it to the fitness gym.   

But jumping off boulders has consequences, even using mats. My back is so bad it's difficult to walk any distance. So beware the downsides of the sport.  

Wait, you're the actual John Gill? Holy shit.

caesar.salad wrote:

Wait, you're the actual John Gill? Holy shit.

I have noticed as the ratio of poop posts go up so does the chance of fame walking in here. We just have to come up with a dumb enough idea to get Alex H. Also all climbing is dumb.

Princess Puppy Lovr wrote:

Also all climbing is dumb.

100%... and selfish too. Look mom, I'm a climber, I'm so badass!!!

Jens 1 the legend, keep doing it to em

W K wrote:

Jens 1 the legend, keep doing it to em

x15x15 wrote:

100%... and selfish too. Look mom, I'm a climber, I'm so badass!!!

I'm sick of people calling climbing "selfish". Why is having a hobby selfish?

caesar.salad wrote:

I'm sick of people calling climbing "selfish". Why is having a hobby selfish?

Well, not too many people call for a rescue while collecting stamps.

Ben Silver wrote:

Well, not too many people call for a rescue while collecting stamps.

ROFLMFAO

Getting injured is selfish?

Jens is more bad ass than all the rest of you put together on this thread. (if you take John Gill out of course) so listen to what he says. Or listen to John Gill too, likely the most bad ass Boulder on the planet ever........hmmm. opposing thoughts on this. 

OK, go with Gill first, then Jens. Certainly the "jumping off of boulders" is worth a read. Use to climb barefoot as I could not afford shoes (literally over40 years back), it helped on how far I'd want to fall off. About 10' was my max I'd want to fall off of and slam down barefoot- back then- before crash pads. That has been reduced to about 4 feet off (foot to ground) if I had a crash pad, which I down't own and still down trust. 

As JG knows, the climbs one use to do are no longer possible as an elderly person. We all do what we can, and having a good time is the root of it. If the boulders in the gym were enjoying themselves, that's what counts. There are literally people who climb in the climbing gym 3 times a week and are very skilled who have never (GASP/SHOCK) climbed outside. They just don't care to do so and you know what? That works for them.