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Published on 03.02.2025

What is bouldering?

Discover climbing in the urban jungle!
Bouldering for beginners!

Itching to climb? Got restless legs since you came back from vacation? Is the weather keeping you from climbing outdoors? Are the kids bouncing off the walls like caged lions?
Looking for a full-body workout that’s fun, stress-free, and shapes a dream physique?

A friendly place to work out, grab a drink, and meet great people who share the climbing spirit?
In short, a cool, fun sport to feel good and improve without pushing too hard?

Discover bouldering!

What is bouldering (often just called “boulder” by climbers)?

Sport climbing includes three disciplines – speed, lead (with rope), and bouldering. Combined, they made their Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in August 2021.

Bouldering is a form of climbing practiced on low walls (usually under 4.7 meters high), either outdoors on natural rock boulders or indoors on artificial walls equipped with holds that mark out a route according to the chosen difficulty level. Indoors, climbers fall onto thick mats; outdoors, onto “crash pads” – portable climbing mats that serve as landing protection.

Bouldering has grown rapidly since the 2000s. It can serve as training for roped climbing or mountaineering, but today it also stands as a discipline in its own right.

It is an easy entry point into the world of climbing, accessible to a wide audience.

So, how do you actually practice bouldering?

A “boulder” is a set of holds of the same color on the climbing wall, which forms the route to complete. Climbing a boulder means performing a short sequence of movements that require power, strength, and dynamism.

To start, both feet and both hands are placed on the holds marked with tape of the boulder’s color (2 footholds and 2 handholds). If a piece of tape is missing, it means that one foot or hand may, or may not, use the wall for support. A strip of tape placed halfway up marks the “zone,” which represents roughly the midpoint difficulty of the climb. In competitions, “reaching the zone” earns you partial points. The two pieces of tape at the top indicate the “top”: you’ve completed the route!

A boulder is climbed using only one color. As you progress, you can use all the holds of your chosen color, the wall itself, and the wooden or grey “volumes” fixed to the structure. Areas you’re not allowed to touch are marked with black tape.

Can you picture it? The best way is to come and try in one of our bouldering gyms in London.

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*The information presented in this article corresponds to the period of its publication - February 2025.
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