What is bouldering?

The word «bouldering» comes from «boulder», and is climbing on boulders/low outdoor rock faces or low indoor walls. There is no need for a rope, as you fall onto a crash pad (outdoors) or padded floors (indoors). Bouldering requires no special equipment for safety. 

Bouldering is a sport (in addition to lead climbing and speed climbing), with national and international competitions. It is also used by many as training for lead climbing (rope climbing). As the walls and the routes (often referred to as "problems") are shorter than in lead climbing, bouldering is more intense, and trains maximum strength more than endurance. In bouldering you are training your whole body, but particularly the upper body. However, elements such as technique, mobility and coordination are just as important as brute strenght. The best part is that bouldering is so much fun you don't even realize it's training. 

Our bouldering wall has problems of all difficulties, from beginner to experienced, and boulders adapted for children (with shorter distance between the holds, and holds adapted for small hands). The difficulty grading of a boulder consists of a number combined with a, b or c, and potentially a +. Increasing numbers means increasing difficulty. Additionally, a 6b will be harder than a 6a, while a 6a+ is between these in difficulty. Both the start and the finish hold of the boulder are marked by tape. You have completed or "sent" the boulder when you have both hands ("match") on the top hold for a few seconds.

No course or special equippment is necessary to get started. The only thing you need are some climbing shoes and chalk (which you can rent or buy from us). For those who want some help to get started, including climbing technique and advice, we have introduction courses.

The problems are graded based on their difficulty, and we use French boulder grades (in addition to coloured tape for quick separation of the difficulty of the boulders). We use Vertical Life, which is a free app you can use to log which boulders you have done, and give feedback on the quality (star rating) and the difficulty of the boulders.