good bouldering info

Check-in here to get all the latest info on climbing gyms in Eastern Canada.

Moderators: chossmonkey, Dom, granite_grrl

good bouldering info

Postby cory » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:43 pm

Found this on the MEC site. It's an article on spotting technique which I encourage everyone to read. There's a lot a uninformed spotters out there and everyone needs to work to get better, just as they work on climbing harder.

Cheers,
Cory
User avatar
cory
 
Posts: 316
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 2:07 pm
Location: SJ

Postby cory » Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:15 pm

User avatar
cory
 
Posts: 316
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 2:07 pm
Location: SJ

Postby The Teth » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:35 am

Excellent article. Thanks for posting it. All newbi spotters should read it.

I would also add that too much force applied too high on the boulderer (shoulders) when falling can cause the boulderer to bounce with a forward rotation and face plant into the boulder. The spotter should be absorbing force rather than locking their arms or pushing. I have been the recipient of this newbi mistake on several occasions. I have often waved off a spot, particularly from people I don’t know, because I felt safer without the interference.

Knowing how to fall, and then practising until you have it dialled (as in you will do it right without thinking about it) is essential. My wife, who almost never falls (I don’t think she pushes herself enough) got a fracture in her arm on one of the few occasions when she did fall because she instinctively reached her arm back to stop her rotation (just as mentioned in the article).

Exercising extreme stupidity can also result in a broken arm, as I have demonstrated. No matter how good you think you are at falling, if you end up rotating in the opposite direction to your direction of movement (like that holla hoop trick where you use backspin to make the holla hoop roll back to you) then you are going to have a hard time dissipating the force when you hit. (Can’t roll out of it because you are already rolling into it.)

Teth

PS: The best spotting instruction I ever got was in a presentation by Sean T.
User avatar
The Teth
 
Posts: 453
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:01 pm
Location: Halifax

Postby dcentral » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:29 pm

Do some judo if you really want to learn how to fall properly.

That's a good article.
User avatar
dcentral
 
Posts: 653
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:00 pm
Location: Victoria, BC

Postby Graham » Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:28 pm

I know a guy who had the joys of the high spot. He has a lovely gash on his face as a reminder to ensure that the spotter knows what they are doing. Grea article, deffinitly stuff everyone should know.
User avatar
Graham
 
Posts: 151
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2005 5:47 pm
Location: Fredericton

Postby martha » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:40 pm

Chris Jones can tell a story about Dave Lister getting caught around the ankles. both climber and spoter went over backwards down a steep talus in welsford. He was spotting on a trad lead before the first piece went in...

hahahaha
The phrase "working mother" is redundant. ~Jane Sellman

If a husband speaks in the woods, and his wife is not there to hear him...is he still wrong?
martha
 
Posts: 2105
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:40 am
Location: planning the next climbing trip....


Return to Gyms / Training

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests

cron