www.johngill.net Origins of Bouldering The Early Days of the Sport

Page 1

General History - A Very Brief Overview .   .   . Undocumented boulder climbing or bouldering - depending upon your definition - may have been practiced as early as the mid 19th century when alpinism began to flourish. Swiss guides and clients likely spent many a rainy day on the boulders rather than venturing forth onto the high peaks. Both guides and amateurs probably exercised on small local rocks and outcrops even in fair weather. Where and when did documented bouldering start?  Some think it began with Chris Sharma in the early 1990s. Others believe it started with me in the 1950s. Still others think that Pierre Allain and his 'Bleausards initiated the sport in the 1930s. In fact, climbers were scrambling about on boulders in Fontainebleau as early as 1874. Does scrambling and easy climbing on boulders constitute bouldering? If so, then the 'Bleau climbers may have been the first to document an appreciation of the sport. Not only did the early 'Bleausards record their activities, but these activities - whether with top ropes or not, as generation after generation of Parisian climbers made the short journey to Fontainebleau to practice for the Alps - continued in a more or less uninterrupted fashion until present times. This temporal continuity appears to be unmatched anywhere else, although the most important advances in difficulty at Fontainebleau occurred after 1970. A more serious version of early bouldering - and one not restricted to a particular area, such as Fontainebleau  - appears to have started in Great Britain in the 1880s, championed by Oscar Eckenstein - a short but sturdily built gymnastic climber capable of one-arm pull-ups. Aleister Crowley speaks of Eckenstein doing a problem on the Y-Boulder in the Lake District that other excellent climbers could not do - to my mind this is evidence of a more sophisticated competitive environment, eclipsing the role of bouldering as merely training for the mountains. Eckenstein may well have been the first true master of the sport : a climber who not only sets new standards of difficulty, but contributes in a substantial way to the evolving philosophy and practice of bouldering. In Scotland - during the 1880s -  Fraser Campbell and others engaged in a light-hearted training activity they described as "boulder climbing". However, the vast majority of British climbers declined to recognize bouldering as a legitimate sport in itself until recent times, unlike the French rock aces of the years between the World Wars - who began to explore the separation of bouldering from traditional climbing. Pierre Allain and his crew popularized climbing on the giant boulders in France's Fontainebleau in the 1930s and, later, after the War, in the1940s, asserting that such climbing had intrinsic value in the Fontainebleau area - a major step on the European continent. They broke with the tradition relegating bouldering to merely training status. The 'Bleausards performed elementary dynamic moves, used rosin for the feet, and started from small bouldering rugs.  Clearly Allain deserves credit as an early master of the sport. In 1947 Fred Bernik designed the first circuits at Fontainebleau as training exercises for alpine climbing. British boulderers probably had practiced in a similar fashion wherever it was appropriate, but the French formalized the concept. Interestingly, it was at this approximate time (1941) that a climber established a 1,000 foot traverse along cliffs at Harrison Rocks, near London, popularizing such practice climbing on sandstone outcrops similar to those of Fontainebleau. I initiated a gymnastic approach to short rock climbs, specifically bouldering, in America in the 1950s (introduction of chalk, gymnastics-inspired dynamic moves, a preliminary and entirely separate grading system), and perhaps became the first climber to specialize in bouldering and to promote the "new" sport as a universal activity. My 1969 article in the American Alpine Journal - The Art of Bouldering- encouraged the recognition of bouldering as a legitimate form of climbing. There were several other American climbers of the 1960s who thought of bouldering as a legitimate and artistic  climbing activity - including the Colorado gymnast & climber, Pat Ament, and the Devils Lake genius, Pete Cleveland. By the mid 1970s a number of other climbers had begun focusing their energies on the small rocks. Chris Sharma became an icon, popularizing bouldering in the 90s with his astounding skill, determination, and photogenic qualities. Many others - Jim Holloway, John Bachar, Ron Kauk, Klem Loskot, John Sherman, etc. - in the 1970s and 1980s contributed to the recognition and advancement of bouldering in various important ways as well - usually by raising difficulty standards. Using Sherman's V-scale - designed for use at Hueco Tanks in the 1990s  - I  would guess that the British achieved V0 to V1 levels around 1900.  Allain and his companions probably reached V3 levels in the 1930s. And by the 1950s others at Fontainebleau had carried those levels up to V4 or V5. Although most of my problems by the late 1950s were V2 to V7, on occasion I did moves up through the V9 and V10 range, but probably not beyond that degree of difficulty. And Jim Holloway likely reached V12 or V13 (possibly higher) in the 1970s on a fairly regular basis - putatively, a couple of his problems remain unrepeated to this day. He rarely dabbled with the easier stuff. Holloway, slim but graceful and powerful - and exceptionally tall - became one of the first focal points for an ongoing though somewhat casual dialogue about difficulty vs. genetics.    The number of climbers performing at two-digit V-grades has increased significantly since that time. And difficulty levels have risen even higher.  Additionally, the character of boulder problems has changed somewhat, with the latest  requiring stamina as well as individual move abilities. At some point, toward the end of the 20th century, the occasional top-rope was abandoned by most boulderers in favor of the new bouldering mats.

I invite any viewer who has come across documented photographs and/or written material, which conflict with any statement I have made on this website concerning the origins of bouldering, to contact me. I seek only the truth, and have no biases for or against particular countries or personalities.

In the following pages, my preference is to allow climbers from the past to tell us about their experiences. Where such quotes are not available, I narrate. I don't have a philosophical agenda. I only wish to show that climbers have bouldered throughout the history of rock climbing (mostly - but not entirely - as practice for longer routes) and that the activity has gradually matured to the point that many in the climbing community now accept bouldering as a legitimate climbing specialty. Words, however, run a poor second to actual historic photographs . . .

---

               

---

---

---

---