Bouldering Examples

Bouldering is climbing on large rocks, called boulders, or very short cliffs fairly close to the ground. Since boulderers climb closer to the ground, ropes are not used. (Sometimes boulderers will use a rope on tall boulders, called highballs, to brush the rock and rehearse moves, before climbing it without a rope.)

Key things to identify bouldering images:

• Protective pads under the rock
• Chalk bags or chalk pots
• Any rock angle (unlike scrambling, which is usually less than vertical)
• Spotters (fellow boulderers who use their hands to guide the person bouldering to the pads)

Applicable LCSH Terms

Currently, LCSH maps Bouldering to Rock climbing. Use the term “bouldering” in title and/or description and “Rock climbing” in the subject.

Bouldering examples

Example Image 1:  Karl Dunn in traversing contest, Arches National Monument, Utah

This image is from the Alpine Mountain Photograph Collection and courtesy of the Multimedia Archives, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.

Here you can see Karl Dunn climbing a large rock that is close to the ground. There is a person close to the base of the rock (with head slightly visible at lower left corner), keeping watch.

View full metadata here.

Video Example 2: Little Things – Vol. 1: LCC Bouldering, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

While this video is not in an institutional repository, it contains demonstrations of bouldering.