Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help secure footholds, chalk to keep their hands dry and to provide a firmer grip, and bouldering mats to prevent injuries from falls. Unlike free solo climbing, which is also performed without ropes, bouldering problems are usually less than six metres (20 ft) tall. Traverses, which are a form of boulder problem, require the climber to climb horizontally from one end to another. Artificial climbing walls allow boulderers to climb indoors in areas without natural boulders. In addition, bouldering competitions take place in both indoor and outdoor settings.
Realization, also called Biographie, is a circa 35-metre (115 ft) sport climbing route on a limestone cliff on the southern face of Céüse mountain, near Gap and Sigoyer, in France. After it was first climbed in 2001 by American climber Chris Sharma, it became the first rock climb in the world to have a consensus grade of 9a+ (5.15a). It is considered an historic and important route in rock climbing, and one of the most attempted climbs at its grade.
Fair Head or Benmore is a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) long, 200-metre (660 ft) high, mountain cliff, close to the sea, at the north-eastern corner of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The cliff's sheer and vertical 100-metre (330 ft) high dolerite rock face is shaped into distinctive vertical columns like organ pipes, which formed 60 million years ago when a sill of igneous rock was injected between horizontal Carboniferous sediments.
Johnny Dawes is a British rock climber and author, known for a dynamic climbing style and for establishing bold traditional climbing routes. This included the first ascent of The Indian Face, the first-ever route at the E9-grade. His influence on British climbing was at its peak in the mid to late-1980s.
Fred Nicole is a Swiss rock climber, notable for his numerous first ascents of extreme bouldering problems, and sport climbing routes.
Jerry Moffatt, is a British rock climber and climbing author who is widely considered as being best British rock climber from the early-1980s to the early-1990s, and was arguably the best rock climber in the world during the mid to late-1980s.
Deep-water soloing (DWS), also known as psicobloc, is a form of solo rock climbing that relies solely upon the presence of water at the base of a climb to protect against injury from falls from the generally high-difficulty routes. While typically practiced on sea cliffs at high tide, it can also be done on climbs above reservoirs, rivers, and even swimming pools. Often a dinghy or other small boat is kept on scene to pick up the fallen climber, as a fall from a taller route can still pose the risk of being knocked unconscious on impact with the water, which could lead to drowning. Pioneers include Miquel Riera, Tim Emmett, Klem Loskot, and Chris Sharma.
Dai Koyamada is a Japanese rock climber and known as one of the leading boulderers of his generation who established some of the first-ever boulder problems at 8C (V15). He has also established and repeated, some of the hardest sport climbs in the world.
Lisa Rands is an American rock climber. She is known for her bouldering for which in 2002, she became the first American female to win IFSC World Cup bouldering competitions, and topped the IFSC world boulder rankings in 2002. Rands was the first American female to climb boulders of grade V11 (8A), and V12 (8A+), and was the second-ever female in history to climb a 7C+/8A boulder. As well as making first female ascents (FFAs) of boulders such as The Mandala V12 (8A+), Rands was the first female in history to do an E8-graded traditional climbing route, The End of the Affair.
Dave MacLeod is a Scottish rock climber, ice climber, and climbing author. MacLeod is best known for being the first climber in the world to climb in free solo style a 8c (5.14b) route, and for climbing one of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world.
Adam Ondra is a Czech professional rock climber, specializing in lead climbing and bouldering. In 2013, Rock & Ice described Ondra as a prodigy and the leading climber of his generation. Ondra is the only male athlete to have won World Championship titles in both disciplines in the same year (2014) and is also the only male athlete to have won the World Cup series in both disciplines.
Malcolm Smith is a rock climber born in Dunbar, Scotland, who in 2002, won the bouldering IFSC Climbing World Cup.
Andrew Earl, or Andy Earl, is a professional climber and coach from the north-east of England. He performs in both traditional climbing and bouldering having ascended both E9 and 8B+ (V14) graded problems in Europe. He was British bouldering champion from 2003 to 2006. In 2004, he won the silver medal in bouldering at the European Championships in Birmingham. In 2007, he won the fourth stage of the Bouldering World Cup, in Réunion.
In the sport of bouldering, problems are assigned technical grades according to several established systems, which are often distinct from those used in roped climbing. Bouldering grade systems vary widely in use and include the Hueco "V" grades, Fontainebleau technical grades, route colors, Peak District grades, and British technical grades. Historically, the three-level "B" system and even the Yosemite Decimal System were also used.
Ron Fawcett is a British rock climber and rock climbing author who is credited with pushing the technical standards of British rock climbing in traditional, sport, bouldering and free soloing disciplines, in the decade from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, and of pioneering the career of being a full-time professional rock climber. At the end of the 1970s to the early 1980s, Fawcett was widely considered the best and most notable rock climber in Britain.
Shauna Coxsey is an English professional rock climber. She is the most successful competition climber in the UK, having won the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Season in both 2016 and 2017. She retired from competition climbing after competing in the 2020 Olympics.
Daniel Woods is an American professional rock climber who specializes in bouldering and is considered one of the most important climbers in the history of bouldering. Woods has climbed over thirty bouldering problems graded 8C (V15) or harder, making him one of the most prolific climbers of hard boulder problems. He has also won several competitions, such as the U.S. National Bouldering Championship and some international competitions. In March 2021, Woods achieved the first ascent of a low start to Sleepwalker V16 (8C+); he named the problem Return of the Sleepwalker and proposed the grade 9A (V17), making him at the time one of the only three boulderer to have climbed that grade.
Alexander Megos is a German rock climber. He was the first climber to on-sight a route graded 9a (5.14d). He has completed multiple routes and boulder problems that are notoriously difficult, including two 9b+ (5.15c) routes, six 9b (5.15b) routes, and some boulders with a confirmed 8C (V15) rating.
Jan Hojer is a German professional rock climber. He is known for winning one World Cup and two European Championships in bouldering. In May 2010, he climbed Action Directe, still considered to be one of the most difficult routes in the world. From 2013 to 2015, he sent several 8C (V15) boulder problems.
