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How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

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Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#31

Post by avs733 »

bmj wrote: post #26
avs733 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To save those who don't climb... I've climbed most of my life... I boulder three times a week and run 30 miles worth of trails a week . I can do pullups from my finger tips on a 'hangboard' (it's a training tool). I climbed a V5 last week and was so happy I nearly cried. These people are freaks in the most awe inspiring and amazing way I can possibly imagine. Climbing competitions are worth watching just for the shee…

Having seen a national level competition up close and personal (and seen very good boulderers do V13+ on real rock), the most impressive thing to experience is their sheer determination. Yes, you can tell they are trying hard when watching a video, but it's just different seeing it in person.

I totally agree. One of the spider monkey's at my gym explained that my basic 'problem' was I can't will myself to deploy more force when I need. I asked how to fix that and he kinda shrugged and just said 'I mean you just pull harder'.

That was disheartening.

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#32

Post by avs733 »

air7 wrote: post #24
avs733 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To save those who don't climb... I've climbed most of my life... I boulder three times a week and run 30 miles worth of trails a week . I can do pullups from my finger tips on a 'hangboard' (it's a training tool). I climbed a V5 last week and was so happy I nearly cried. These people are freaks in the most awe inspiring and amazing way I can possibly imagine. Climbing competitions are worth watching just for the shee…

> These people are freaks in the most awe inspiring and amazing way I can possibly imagine. I went to youtube to find out what you mean. Didn't need to search for long. Here's one example. I don't know what grade this is but the climb is definitely freaky. https://youtu.be/4QrvLoxFAM4?t=180

Have fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYgDT9fSiAs

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#33

Post by Fricken »

avs733 wrote: post #31
bmj wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having seen a national level competition up close and personal (and seen very good boulderers do V13+ on real rock), the most impressive thing to experience is their sheer determination. Yes, you can tell they are trying hard when watching a video, but it's just different seeing it in person.

I totally agree. One of the spider monkey's at my gym explained that my basic 'problem' was I can't will myself to deploy more force when I need. I asked how to fix that and he kinda shrugged and just said 'I mean you just pull harder'. That was disheartening.

When you have many years of climbing under your belt, and you have a deep well of muscle memory to draw from, pulling at your absolute limit becomes a matter of will.

It's really apparent with someone like Adam Ondra, who has been climbing hard for 20 years. He'll get spit off of a problem a half dozen times and then suck up these elemental forces of nature and crank through it. I mean, he's a genetic freak amongst the upper eschelons of strong, he's more flexible than any top climber today, his ability to climb swiftly with technical precision is the best I've ever seen, but the real X factor that puts him head and shoulders above the rest might just be that he tries harder than anyone else.

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#34

Post by akvadrako »

justinator wrote: post #14
sixo wrote: post #4

In case anyone isn't already familiar with indoor bouldering, here's a great competition video: https://youtu.be/uHlV_nLLXLc?t=49 Cannot recommend bouldering enough. Problem-solving minds tend to love it.

I'd recommend anyone curious about bouldering get into simply top rope climbing first. Bouldering is HARD which isn't so much the real problem, but it can also be frustrating. Some problem solving strategies like throwing yourself into the problem (metaphorically)can result in nasty injuries and a short bouldering career. Get some easy climbing mileage!

Bouldering is as easy as you want it to be. The easiest routes are doable by people with no experience or much strength.

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#35

Post by ericmcer »

TomVDB wrote: post #30
sixo wrote: post #4

In case anyone isn't already familiar with indoor bouldering, here's a great competition video: https://youtu.be/uHlV_nLLXLc?t=49 Cannot recommend bouldering enough. Problem-solving minds tend to love it.

That was an awesome move at the end! I loved rock climbing, but overdid it by doing it 2 times per week in combination with squash and badminton. Too much for the tendons of my arms, and it never really went away. One of my favorite childhood memories was going to Fontainebleau, just south or Paris. They have fantastic outdoor bouldering there. 25 years later I went back there for my honeymoon and it was just a great…

Part of the joy of bouldering for me has been putting tons of pressure on my tendons/joints/pulleys and then figuring out how to get them conditioned to endure the strain. I used to get such bad tennis elbow that I would have to lay on the floor after climbing, elbows just aching for 1-2 hours. Stretching, long warmups, yoga, foam rolling & other fascial releases, diet (collagen & fish oil especially) have gotten them to the point where they can take an insane amount of abuse and keep going, Now I am working on my fingers :).

There is a kind of glamorization of these really intense training sessions in the workout community, but the real work and struggle is rehabilitating injuries, and having the patience for the best practices that allow you to train hard safely at the next level.

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#36

Post by [deleted] »

TomVDB wrote: post #30
sixo wrote: post #4

In case anyone isn't already familiar with indoor bouldering, here's a great competition video: https://youtu.be/uHlV_nLLXLc?t=49 Cannot recommend bouldering enough. Problem-solving minds tend to love it.

That was an awesome move at the end! I loved rock climbing, but overdid it by doing it 2 times per week in combination with squash and badminton. Too much for the tendons of my arms, and it never really went away. One of my favorite childhood memories was going to Fontainebleau, just south or Paris. They have fantastic outdoor bouldering there. 25 years later I went back there for my honeymoon and it was just a great…

[deleted]

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#37

Post by sandworm101 »

bacon_waffle wrote: post #19
jimnotgym wrote: post #12

I'm a fat-old-man in climbing terms. I still prefer the mental challenge of trad leading (although I haven't done much recently) to bouldering. The zen like state of staying calm while placing gear that your life depends on is quite something to me. Whereas bouldering is an art form of movement... and one I suck at...but it never appealed to me in the same way

Same here. Plus, when I was more in to that scene, it seemed like a disproportionate number of folks got injuries from bouldering vs free climbing.

Yup. It is vastly more dangerous than trad or even sport climbing. No rope+fall=bad, even if only a few feet off the deck. Bouldering also leads to pushing a vertical boundry, exactly where does bouldering become free soloing? I also worry for the boulderer/gym rat who's physical abilities are not matched with the technical knowhow that comes from trad.

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#38

Post by japhyr »

Fricken wrote: post #28
air7 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These people are freaks in the most awe inspiring and amazing way I can possibly imagine. I went to youtube to find out what you mean. Didn't need to search for long. Here's one example. I don't know what grade this is but the climb is definitely freaky. https://youtu.be/4QrvLoxFAM4?t=180

I'm not sure there's a sport that puts so much emphasis on pushing the upper limits of human strength within a single muscle group (the fingers). Check out this video of Jan Hojer training, it really makes it clear just how ridiculously, absurdly, otherworldly strong elite boulderers can be: https://youtu.be/DFojqoAfJ7g And in top competition bouldering the problems aren't just physically hard, they are also fiendish…

Those pinky levers are just amazing!

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#39

Post by pierrec »

I think this article doesn't really explain what the setters are focusing on here, and it's actually quite interesting. When setting for a bouldering competition, the problems you create must satisfy very precise constraints: namely, create good separation between competitors, but still be entertaining for spectators. Separation is the hard part. In finals you have a handful of competitors doing a handful of problems, and the perfect separation you're going for is something like this:

    1st place: 4 tops
    2st place: 3 tops
    3rd place: 2 tops
    ...
Of course this rarely ever happens, but it's approximately what you're aiming for. It's hard. You have to know the exact level of the competitors that are participating, and fine-tune the difficulty of the problems so that they will be nicely separated, preferably without depending on height/reach or overly specific strengths. Even world-class setters sometimes fail at this, for example creating a world cup where almost every finalist gets 1 top, leaving only the number of attempts (or zones) to separate them. There's still technically separation, but it's catastrophically frustrating for spectators and competitors, and the results will be less likely to reflect each competitor's actual climbing skill. With all that, you also want the problems to have creative and interesting moves that get the crowd going wild (but that's really the fun part of setting). Source: I'm a routesetter, both regular gym climbs and competitions.

Re: How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made (2015)

#40

Post by justinator »

akvadrako wrote: post #34
justinator wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd recommend anyone curious about bouldering get into simply top rope climbing first. Bouldering is HARD which isn't so much the real problem, but it can also be frustrating. Some problem solving strategies like throwing yourself into the problem (metaphorically)can result in nasty injuries and a short bouldering career. Get some easy climbing mileage!

Bouldering is as easy as you want it to be. The easiest routes are doable by people with no experience or much strength.

It seems to me that the learning curve is much more of a precipice, no? Of all the gym bouldering problems, only a few are rated for absolute beginners - the rest are much harder. Even the V-grade of, "0" is compared roughly to a 5.10 roped climb. In at least my bouldering space, you'll simply run out of things to do, quickly, as a beginner.

It may be also where I train, as the gym isn't one specifically geared towards beginners, the grades may not be as inflated as other places, and the route setters read like a who's-who of American sport climbers (Matty Hong, Jon Cardwell, etc).

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