The Bouldering Revolution

Bouldering is a rather esoteric subgroup of climbing. The experts are instantly recognisable. They are either stick thin or built like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and all carry a large doubled over mattress on their back, (a bouldering pad for crash landing.) Their hands are whitened from resin chalk which is used to dry the perspiration from their fingertips so they can cling onto minuscule holds. Their rubber soled climbing boots help suction them to the rock, so they can clamber orangutan style, upside down through caves.

Besides being a sport in its own right, climbers have for many years 'bouldered' as a form of training for technical rock climbing and mountaineering to develop the power and stamina to complete difficult routes. The sport generally involves following a sequence of technical climbing moves up a boulder which is low enough not to use a rope. The sequence is given a grade representing its difficulty and a name to distinguish it from other problems.

Last weekend our family packed the camping equipment and headed off for the Cederberg. We arrived at one of the world's most famous bouldering destinations, De Pakhuys near Pakhuys Pass in the Cederberg. I had heard much about the venue, having climbed at Rocklands in my 'first' youth. Now with our toddler Rosemary, we set up camp near a large egg shaped rock at the campsite. Being of the 'grownup, second-youth generation' our family setup was round the corner from the youth scene. Theirs consisted of tiny tents crammed next to one another; and ipodded youths wandering about with huge mats strapped to their backs, and mini laptops 'wifi-ing' their latest ascents to the cyber-world. Between the trees they had 'slackline' tight ropes set up so they could practice balance and concentration on rest days. Many of them travel from Europe and USA and live in the campsite for the winter months when conditions are favourable.

As a family we visited all the main areas, ('Plateau', 'Fields of Joy' and 'Roadkill') in the three days we spent discovering the local vicinity. Rosemary loved playing in the flowers in and around the various boulders, overhangs and rock faces. Jeremy met up with some of his old climbing friends and was able to work on some of the hard problems through the caves whilst I made some new and exciting discoveries. Normally I would try the harder problems, and generally not accomplish a huge amount, finishing the day either injured or dejected. Now having had a recent operation I was not in a position to think about the harder problems, and with a two year old half your mind is on their enjoyment and safety as well. Suddenly a new opportunity presented itself.

All the hard problems had been climbed, and the easier options vastly overlooked. As this sport is developed by the top end protagonists there has been little interest in developing easier problems. I set about to make a change, one that with time could be significant enough to take this sport from its esoteric standing into an everyday mainstream activity that families can enjoy together.

We invented fun 'child' bouldering problems for Rosemary (given 'c' or 't' grades for child or toddler) and easier problems that beginners or the not-so-expert can have fun on. I teamed up with another female climber and together we created a 'meaty' stamina traverse around one of the boulders, that could be worked in sections by beginners or used as a great warm up for harder climbs. We named it Traverse of the Goddesses, and gave it the bouldering grade 5c. After opening four or five new problems I have realised how much potential there is, and before arriving back home we started planning our next trip to play in the boulder fields of De Pakhuys.