I’m late to the party on climbing. I’ve woken up to find everyone has dusty hands and their feet are jammed into crushingly tight shoes. Rock climbing has become mainstream.
Within the climbing world, bouldering is the discipline that has taken off. Without the harnesses and ropes needed in other forms of climbing, all you need is a wall or rock formation to scale and a pair of climbing shoes.
The growth of the sport in Wellington has seen the opening of Faultline, a specialist bouldering gym, where I’ve been climbing for the last few weeks with a couple of mates to see what this bouldering caper is all about.
Writer Matt Tso practices his problemsolving on the climbing wall. Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
One of the most enjoyable parts of climbing is the time spent on the ground. It turns out bouldering is a nice way to hang out.
Bouldering routes – your way up the wall marked by coloured fibreglass holds – are called ‘problems’. They can be as easy as going up a ladder or involve feats that would make Spiderman nervous.
Most problems take less than a minute to complete and are followed by a spell off the wall, when you are resting, recovering and chatting with everyone else. There’s plenty of bouldering talk but a lot of just catching up, as well.
Faultline’s owner Brook Powell reckons this aspect of bouldering is part of why it has become so popular.
Dusty hands are a prerequisite for indoor climbing. Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
“Climbing centres were traditionally places to train for outdoor [climbing]. Modern gyms are different; they are about socialising and hanging out as well as challenging yourself physically. You can climb with people at different skill levels and it doesn’t matter, that’s not the case with other sports.”
Brook also runs HangDog, a climbing centre in Lower Hutt which, along with Fergs on Wellington’s waterfront, has been a long-time hub for the capital’s climbing community. He opened Faultline after making more space for bouldering at HangDog in 2016 and seeing the sport grow from strength to strength.
“Globally it’s been ramping up over the last 10 years; in New Zealand it’s been a little bit slower. It’s been getting busier in the last few years. HangDog and Fergs were packed at peak times, so we knew there was demand.”
The pick-up at Faultline, he says, was immediate and the number of customers and memberships is continuing to grow.
For the casual climber, there is no element of feeling like you need to compete with others. It’s about challenging yourself to climb as well as you can.
Whoever introduced ‘problem’ into climbing nomenclature hit the nail on the head, as finding the solution to complete a route can become an obsession. Each time you pick yourself up off the crash pads, you’re thinking about how to make it to that next section of the wall, and how to do it smarter, with greater efficiency, with more panache.
As problems become more complex, a greater degree of strategy is needed to progress along a route with a climber thinking several moves ahead as they might in chess.
Matt Tso embraces his new climbing hobby. Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
Climbers will study a wall, mapping out what hand or what foot will go where and how to best position their body. Coordination, strength and guile are needed, but the problem-solving element makes bouldering not feel like exercise at all.
Socially, physically and mentally stimulating – bouldering is fun. For someone that prefers outdoor activities over regimented and repetitive exercise, climbing fills a gap when the weather’s lousy for tramping or there isn’t any surf.
See you on the wall.
Story by Matt Tso for the Summer 2024 issue of AA Directions Magazine. Matt Tso is a Comunications Advisor on the AA's Motoring Policy team in Wellington who regularly contributes to AA Directions magazine.
Explore more from AA Directions magazine while you're here:
- A recent retiree and a young professional both test drive the new hybrid Suzuki Swift.
- Get a hands-on experience of creativity and culture in Whanganui.
- What do vulnerable road users want all motorists to know?
