| 2) A crashpad's a good investment to avoid injury, equally important
is that a pad makes you look professional.
3) The climbing 'community' rarely communes. My first two trips to Lincoln
Woods, both perfect fall days, I saw one other boulderer all day. And that
ain't bad.
4) Boulderers do pull up's to pull down, use underclings on overhangs and
do sitdown starts to layback cracks. They have no friends, lots of problems
and usually have their fingers in other people's pockets. Oh, and lots of
lingo.
5) The climbers I've run into at the boulders and the crag are nothing like
those on the message board. Then again, the people from the message board
I've run into at the boulders are nothing like they are on the message board.
6) Don't underestimate V9's and V10's. Not that you would, but don't even
think they are possible unless you have been chosen by the Creator. There
are more features on an elevator door.
7) Most mantels are mental. Meaning if they were 3 feet off the ground my
grandmother could get up them. Put that same movement at the top of a reasonably
high boulder and you're hanging there sweating bullets, building up the balls
to pull over what is essentially like climbing into bed.
8) Mental focus can also get you at least 6 inches higher on a dyno than
strength alone.
9) There are ethics (ahem, rules) in climbing and bouldering. Generally speaking
they seem to vary by area, are unwritten, open to interpretation and often
contradictory to each other. They are created and imposed by a militant few
who have no real right to tell you what to do or how to do it. My advice
however is to do exactly what they say. Failure to do so could result in
them setting fire to your car, strangling your dog and peppering your favourite
boulder with machine gun fire. These are the type of people who's children
become gothics.
10) People who know about great boulders don't really want you to go there. |
