| Bouldering is a kind of rock climbing which involves | | | | better grip going up. Boulder climbers may also |
| relatively short climbing distances made without a | | | | make use of a brush to help them clean the |
| rope and without any special climbing equipment. | | | | places where they need to get a grip. All in all, |
| While people climbing the face of a boulder are | | | | however, the gear used is minimal and the only |
| generally only going up a few meters, the | | | | piece of really essential equipment for bouldering is |
| surfaces that they climb are chosen for being | | | | a crash pad for safety's sake. |
| particularly difficult to scale. In the United Kingdom, | | | | The most popular place in the world to travel for |
| the routes that people use to climb on boulder | | | | bouldering is Fontainebleau, to the south east of |
| faces are usually called "problems", because it | | | | Paris, France. The Fontainebleau system and the |
| takes some thought to solve the problem of how | | | | John Sherman V-Grade system are the two |
| to get to the top. | | | | systems for rating the difficulty of bouldering |
| Generally the only piece of safety equipment that | | | | ascents. The sport of bouldering continues to |
| one will use for climbing a boulder will be a large | | | | develop, and more and more difficult climbs are |
| thick pad on the ground below. This is called a | | | | being located all over the world, with the most |
| crash pad - in addition, when someone is climbing | | | | difficult one on the John Sherman V-Grade |
| on a boulder they usually have people below them | | | | system being the Wheel of Life in the Grampians |
| on the ground who can reposition the crash pad | | | | of Australia. While bouldering was originally just |
| to catch the person in the event of a fall. Most | | | | seen as a training method for rock climbers during |
| boulder climbs are also in the range of three to | | | | the Victorian era of mountain climbing, the late |
| five meters, making it very unlikely that a fall | | | | nineteenth century and early twentieth century |
| onto the pad will result in any kind of damage. | | | | began to see the related skill sets of rock |
| While it is possible to climb many boulder faces | | | | climbing, ice climbing and bouldering split off from |
| without any kind of equipment at all, most | | | | being thought of only as necessary parts of |
| climbers make use of a few basic items, such as | | | | mountain climbing and were pursued more in their |
| climbing shoes, sports tape, and loose chalk which | | | | own right as sports with their own specific |
| is kept in a bag on one's belt and used to get a | | | | challenges and focuses. |