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