Bouldering
What's bouldering? Wikipedia describes it like this:
"Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad (called a bouldering mat) so that a fall will not result in serious injury. It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas. However, it may also be practiced at the base of larger rock faces..."
Which is a pretty good description. Often it's done with a partner who "spots" the climber as well to reduce the possibility of injury.
Like scrambling it can be a good half-way house between indoor and outdoor climbing.
Bouldering grades can be complex - Wikipedia again has a comprehensive list of grades.
Laurence Redding of Mountain Trips says:
"I have set up my own rock climbing site that has a number of free bouldering guides to the South East of England. I thought that these guides might prove useful to kids and parents as bouldering is a very accessible form of climbing. The areas I have covered are close to London with easy transport links. The guide to Bowles rocks has many kid friendly routes and as there are toilets and easy parking it tends to be a very popular family climbing area."
Visit the Boudering guides page on Laurence's site for more information.
Noticeboard
11 Feb 2012
Many thanks to Boulders, Cardiff's leading climbing centre who kindly donated a generous£20 to Kidsclimbing's Just Giving charity the Children's Trust recently!
13 Dec 2011
New Testimonials page available.
12 Dec 2011
All gear listings have now been fully updated. Broken links to previous retailers pages have been removed. You can restore links to your products on payment of £10 to the Kidsclimbing charity.
Now that's really great value!
09 June 2011
Many thanks to Mountain Trips who kindly donated £10 to Kidsclimbing's Just Giving charity the Children's Trust recently!
IMPORTANT NEWS! All companies with links to their sites from the Kidsclimbing pages please note - although we don't charge for a link, it would be appreciated if you donate to my current charity the Children's Trust by using the link in the left hand menu on a regular basis. After all you're getting free advertising and they would benefit greatly from any donation.
Like our cool cartoons? Thanks to our fantastic artist Abi for creating them especially for Kidsclimbing! Look at more of Abi's excellent work at Greencreepers.co.uk.
Any parents⁄carers who have second hand⁄outgrown climbing/walking boots please contact me and I'll post it up on the noticeboard.
If you've got any comments or questions about this site or you can write a review of any of the gear, please contact me.
British Mountaineering Council Youth Initiatives
BMC Facebook
BMC Twitter
National Indoor Climbing Achievement Scheme
The National Indoor Climbing Achievement Scheme (NICAS) is a UK wide scheme designed to promote climbing development and accredit individual achievement on artificial climbing structures. It can be used as a starting point for people wishing to take up climbing and mountaineering. It is open to all candidates aged 7 and upwards.
NICAS on Twitter : 11/01/12
You can now follow NICAS on Twitter: @NICAS_Team with #NICAS. We also have a Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/NICASTeam