Bouldering competitions from a human history point of view

Looking at modern bouldering competitions from a human-history-point-of-view instead of a sport climbing point of view quickly reveals that today's bouldering competitions return to the roots of climbing! Among the different ways of moving that humans have learnt by necessity, climbing takes a special place because of its age. Up until 2-3 million years ago, trees and cliffs were key habitats for our ancestors. It could serve as a place to hide, sleep, or observe. A good climber was less likely to be eaten by a predator (a requirement for reproduction!) or get an overview of their surroundings. Additionally, the climbing was rewarded by a rush of hormones, just like it is today. Climbing is so attractive nowadays because it is a successful evolutionary concept. Climbing is to humans what swimming is to fish, or flying to birds. By climbing, we explore a complex, 3-D habitat, in which movement requires more focus and neural control than on the ground.

As the distance between contact points increases, risk assessment and complex coordination of movement become more important. All of our relatives (i.e. all monkeys) use combinations of running and jumping to reach the next contact point. Jumps of gibbons are light years ahead of what we are capable of! From an evolutionary point of view, combinations of running and jumping were always a requirement to be able to climb. I view combinations of running and jumping in bouldering as something natural, as the obviously optimal method to cross large distances between contact points! In the following paragraphs, I will discuss the basic aspects of movement in bouldering, with some examples from the Studio Bloc Masters.