My daughter Mia was in competitive gymnastics and after 9 years of gymnastics, was ready to move on. My husband and I had climbed in rock climbing gyms every so often in the past, and so we suggested that she try bouldering since there is a top-notch gym close by our home. She instantly fell in love with the sport and appreciated the vibe of the community, quite different from the high pressure of competitive gymnastics. As this article describes, the bouldering community is “supportive and chill.”

Since she was taking classes twice a week, my husband and I started climbing regularly as well so we all began bouldering about a year and a half ago. In bouldering, climbs or “boulder problems” are rated beginning with VB (very easy), then V0, V1, and so on. At our gym, the climb grades can go up to V8 or V9. The ratings help you understand how difficult a problem is. The “V” is short for “Verm” or “Vermin”, the nickname of the boulderer, John Sherman who created the V Scale.

Although I’ve been active most of my life, I have never focused on weight lifting or building up my upper body strength so bouldering was a shock to my system. My daughter and husband quickly accelerated through the levels of climbs, but when I first began, I stayed at the V0 and V1 levels for 2-3 months. In particular, there was a V0 climb that I struggled with for a few weeks. It was my albatross. But I kept trying and practice, and after a while, I was able to reach the top! Here’s a video of my climbing that V0 route about a year ago.

I believe the feeling I got when I reached the top of that V0 climb was just as sweet as how my husband feels when he completes a V6 climb. This is what I love about bouldering. It is about your individual journey and progress and you can relish these victories no matter what your skill level is.

The other aspect of bouldering which I appreciate is how social climbing is. Bouldering is problem-solving. The routes are called problems, and it is common for a group of climbers to tackle a problem together. You learn as much from watching other climbers as you do climbing the route itself. As you are progressing on the wall, your partner observes the path you take, and after you jump back down, your partner can help you analyze how you did and point to where your feet and hands were at a particular point in the climb. There is a lot of discussion among climbers about technique and strategy and there are always different ways to solve the same bouldering problem! I’ve been struck by how creative bouldering is.

If you go through the past two paragraphs above and substitute bouldering with coding, the paragraphs would make sense! I feel about bouldering how I do about coding. The sense of accomplishment after completing a task is gratifying no matter what level you are at as a coder. I’ve taught high school computer science for the past 6 years, and one of the best parts of teaching is being a witness to this sense of accomplishment and pride whether you’ve completed a simple “Hello world” program or finished implementing a complex, interactive game.

In my classroom, I strived to cultivate a community of coders who encouraged one another as they progressed at different rates of learning. I don’t know if my classroom was necessarily “chill”, but was hopefully always supportive.

Here’s a welcome video I created for my students at the beginning of last year which this blog post is based on.

Cheers and happy coding and bouldering!