Bouldering: Movement, Tactics, and Problem Solving

by Peter Beal

Movement, Tactics, and Problem Solving demonstrates not just the basics of how to boulder, but also how to get better at it and take it to the next level. Whether you're a beginning climber who just started at the local gym, a competitive sport climber looking for a new challenge, or an aging alpinist who needs to take a season off from high-altitude, this guidebook offers something for everyone pursuing the art of gear, movement, tactics, training, injury prevention, competitions, and more.
Contributing photography and insights come from climbers such as Dave Graham, Jamie Emerson, Paul Robinson, Chris Schulte, Daniel Woods, Ty Landman, and many others, and an appendix highlights many of the top bouldering destinations all over the world.

Genres: Climbing, Sports, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Ash Moran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this to give me a bit more of an overview on bouldering after taking a beginner's course.

I've learnt a lot from this, although I felt a bit plunged in the deep end. The author seems to assume readers will be experienced in some other form of climbing. If you're not, I highly recommend looking in the glossary as soon as you find an unfamiliar word. Content wise, it's covered everything I could have asked for: equipment, movement, training techniques, safety etc.

Another reviewer commented that the movement section is weak, and suggested this is because it's inherently hard to describe in words. Based on my experience of martial arts, I agree with this explanation. There's enough in here to make me investigate moves and holds I wasn't aware of before, which is all I would ask.

Peter Beal gives advice to approach bouldering in a calm, balanced way. Everywhere he mentions the need to push yourself he warns against doing things carelessly, or for ego or show. A few times I felt I was reading a book on tai chi, until he made the comparison himself at the end.

The writing is terse and covers each point simply before moving on to the next. It's an easy, enjoyable, uplifting read. I can't comment on the technical content because I'm so inexperienced, but it has motivated me to practise bouldering even more.

[Emiliano Marin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the book is well written and provides a lot of easy to understand information about technique. I would have loved having some digital content paired at the different techniques to really understand visually how it can be achieved. Luckily, as the author says, searching YouTube for it is relatively easy abs could be done individually.

[Eric George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A easy guide to update some guidelines and tactics around bouldering. You might get a few tips and hints on things you took for granted or overlooked.

[Mark Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw a good review for this book in Rock & Ice magazine and bought it at REI. I've been learning to climb in a gym and wanted to start outdoors with bouldering. Bouldering doesn't require all the gear that trad climbing does and you don't have to drive as far usually to find places to do it compared to trad. Anyway, this is a great book for newbees (and probably for experienced boulders too). The writing is clear and it gives you the techniques (hand, foot, body positions) you need to solve various problems. I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in getting into this sport. You'll save a lot of time over trying to learn these techniques on your own.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from a friend who suggested that I read this as my first climbing book because it gives a good overview of the sport. It provides you with a brief history of the sport and the grading system, then moves on to generally discuss different types of moves and the names for those. I wouldn't recommend it for a seasoned climber, but it fit my purposes.

[Rich Draves · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really learn anything. It gives an overview of the sport but it doesn't get into details of movement, training, etc. Maybe it's impossible to teach movement with a book.