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

Re:How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Ma... by justinator on Monday November 19, 2018 @01:08AM (#18484488)

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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Re:How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Ma... by akvadrako on Monday November 19, 2018 @01:38AM (#18484564)

I think it's just your gym. I don't know about your grading system but with 2 being walkable, my bouldering gym has about a dozen 3s, a dozen 4s and a couple dozen 5s. Routes are replaced monthly or so.

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Re:How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Ma... by justinator on Monday November 19, 2018 @12:26PM (#18487960)

Wow! That's almost a bit of watering down of the activity!

But again, I'm in a climbing epicenter (Boulder), so I can go outside and find V1's that are nigh impossible for me to do. Problems that have been put up by people like Pat Ament, John Gill - there's still boulder problems put up 40+ years ago that still haven't had a second ascent.

I guess maybe my sentiment is also almost: bouldering should be hard. It's a problem! I would love to see footage of your 3's or 4's - I'm almost in disbelief.

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Re:How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Ma... by akvadrako on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @12:08AM (#18491922)

I don't understand - are you surprised there are some easy routes? 3s are mostly for first timers and warming up. I'm not saying there aren't also difficult ones.

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Re:How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Ma... by justinator on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @05:03AM (#18492813)

I'm surprised there's "a dozen" that are one step above, "walk-able" - absolutely! I'm used to 1 or 2 absolute beginner/warmup problems set.

I do believe my gym has a V15 set at the moment. I was watching Dave Graham unsuccessfully work a tricky V12. Pros winter over and live in the parking lot of this place.

What gym do you go to?

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