The Boulder Problem

There’s a pun on this; because the boulder problems are what people climb, and I have a problem with bouldering: I really like it.


If you’ve seen my Instagram by now, you’d know that I’m really into bouldering or sport climbing for that matter. In fact, I’ve really gotten so hooked onto it that I’ve started climbing at least twice a week, for the past two weeks. My hands are aching, but getting stronger, and I’m starting to buy 10 passes into gyms that I’ve never entered in my life. It’s nuts.

Also I’m seeing people that are a good ten years younger than me climb some really fancy routes, and all I think about is how old I’m feeling and how much I wished I had that youth of healing, to get past injuries.

Like when I started skateboarding again, I sprained both my wrists to the point that they were soft to hold. I could squish them basically, and Clarice was really worried about it. Right now my shoulder’s gotten really achy and stiff from one of the earliest injuries – the one that I had just before my IPPT. I just hope I get over it in the next few months.


Great Video posted last year.

But it’s really addictive/addicting. This video puts it quite well together, although I don’t necessarily agree with the social part of it. In Singapore, it feels like another elite sport that only the rich can afford, or like there is a cash barrier to it. That makes bouldering in Singapore quite a different approach to how it is in other countries, based on what I’m seeing on the different channels. But then again, internet access to showcase what one can do in their free time already states some level of monetary privilege.


Which brings me to another boulder problem: the economics of hobbies. Are hobbies something of privilege? That one can afford to pay for something for fun?

As I sit in the climbing gyms, I just wonder if everyone can safely afford to climb. I’m sure some really can’t and they’re trying their best to make it. That thought makes me kinda sad, and I feel like I need to do something about it, which also makes me address my savior complex.

In any case, before I dive even deeper into more issues and social commentary, I really just do enjoy climbing, and I think that I want to be a positive change around those in the climbing gyms. If I can find a friend who needs help, and offer them one of my multi passes, why not? It’ll be cheaper than the full prices for single entry, and it’ll be a great way to make a friend.


Posted

in

by