Bouldering

By: Cathy Vaughan
With permission from Chebucto News.

Bouldering is a fitness thing! If climbing rock faces, in the great Canadian outdoors with no ropes or safety nets sounds just on the edge of your comfort zone, then bouldering is your new thing! This sport will test your physical energy and endurance, build upper body and core strength as well as challenge your ability to focus, problem-solve and control your emotions.

Climb Nova Scotia (CNS) is a volunteer, non-profit organization which promotes bouldering for all ages, organizes regular climbing events, trail clean-up crews and teaches climbing safety workshops. Check out their Facebook page and Instagram for information on their intrepid events and the latest bouldering news.

Compared to other climbing sports, bouldering can be a safe and beneficial discipline. Bouldering requires a workshop on climbing safety and very little equipment. You need a cluster of massive boulders and other rock-climbing enthusiasts to coach and aid you on your climb. You will want proper performance climbing shoes, a bag of chalk to keep your hands dry to hold onto the rocks and a crash pad – large, thick foam mat placed at the base of the boulders to cushion a climber’s fall.

Usually, climbers work in groups and choose rock faces about 20 feet high. The climber will use ‘spotters’ to direct them along the rock face or to the crash pad. A course in safe-falling techniques, similar to those moves used in gymnastics, helps spread the impact of a fall on the crash pad, across the whole body to avoid bone fractures.

Two experienced local climbers, Todd Foster and Graham Read, produced an illustrated guidebook, “Bouldering Metro Halifax,” which identifies 8 popular bouldering locations in the Shaw Wilderness Park located on Williams Lake. The well-organized guide includes maps and descriptions of and directions to nearly 300 popular sites as well as over 100 new bouldering opportunities in Metro. Foster is currently working on a bouldering guide to Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore. These guides will inspire your inner rocker.

Foster sums up the feeling that draws climbers to this sport. “As for adrenaline, it’s not what I’m looking for in bouldering. For me it’s more about problem solving at the edge of my physical ability, learning new ways of moving my body across the beautiful palette that nature has provided, and maintaining control of my fears and personal doubts. Ideally, I can do all that in a variety of beautiful and natural places like Herring Cove, Chebucto Head and Shaw Wilderness Park.”

Fear less. Climb more!!!