Location: Maranat Falls, Oriod River
Total Distance: 3km of continues boulders, rocks and waterfalls
Total Elevation: 240m

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What is Bouldering - Bouldering is like sport climbing, but you are climbing on boulders rather than on cliffs and crags. Because the maximum height of a boulder is typically ten feet or so, bouldering is often done without ropes.

Bouldering is a style of climbing emphasizing power, strength, and dynamics. Its focus is on individual moves or short sequences of moves, unlike other forms of climbing, which generally demand more endurance over longer stretches where the difficulty of individual moves is not as great.

To reduce the risk of injury from a fall, climbers rarely go higher than 3-5 meters above the ground. But remember, falling 2-5 meters with no protection at all could be fatal considering you will be landing on solid rocks and boulders.

One of the major appeals of bouldering is its relatively small equipment requirements, just climbing shoes and a chalk bag or most probably with nothing at all, like I did.

At least stash dry towel behind your back so you could dry your hands off. Maneuvering up the rock
walls and search for stable footholds and try to conserve energy.

Sometimes you’d hit a spot where you couldn’t continue, either because it is really a dead end or because it was beyond your ability, then you have to turn back and find another rock.

Start of bouldering. This will be your jump off rock.

10 Bouldering Tips and Techniques from outdoorswithdave.com by Mike

1. Picture yourself on a ladder when you climb, move from one hold to the next as
relaxed as if you were ascending the rungs or steps of a ladder.

2. Avoid over gripping holds with your hands. You will quickly tire your arms out.

3. Use your feet like you would your hands.

4. Trust your feet. You can stand on your legs all day. You don’t hang with your arms
all day. Too often people hang on their arms and then fall off, sailing right past a monster
ledge they could have had their feet on.

5. Trust your belayer, and focus on climbing. If you are worried your belayer doesn’t
have you, find a new belayer you can trust.

6. Concentrate on what is within reach. Sometimes you can use an intermediate hold
(a smaller hold between secure holds) to get to a better hold.

7. Climb from the bottom up, not top down. Of course, if you can see the top of the route,
look to see if there is a pattern working from the goal down to where you are, but when
you start to climb, focus on the climbing at the bottom of the route as you climb up.

8. Climb in an X shape with your hips being the middle of the X. Hang with your arm straight.
Your skeleton can take much more of a load than your muscles can. If the heel of your foot
is hanging too far down you may notice your leg start to shake like a “sewing machine”.
This is very common occurrence, simply apply more weight to your toes so your calf muscle
spasm can stop.

9. Fear of heights is normal. Climbing is all about conquering those fears. Time will cure the
fear of heights. A good trick is to look down no further than your feet to correctly place them
on the best part of the hold.

10. Take your time. Climb like a cat does—quiet, deliberate, and precise. Picture the move,
and then execute it. Use all of your limbs, not just two. The lower the angle of the climb,
the more time you have, so use it. Make each move as fluid as possible.