Spotting is a
climbing technique
Climbing technique refers to a broad range of physical movements used in the activity or sport of climbing.
Notable sub-groups of climbing technique include:
*Aid climbing technique as is used in aid climbing
*Big wall climbing technique as is ...
that is used mostly in
bouldering
Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or Climbing wall, artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or Climbing harness, harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers ...
, where other climbers stand beneath an active climber on a
route
Route or routes may refer to:
* Air route, route structure or airway
* GPS route, a series of one or more GPS waypoints
* Route (gridiron football), a path run by a wide receiver
* Route (command), a program used to configure the routing table
* ...
in order to break the impact of any fall, and to reduce the chance of an uncontrolled fall that could result in a serious head or back injury.
[ Except with very light climbers, or very short likely falls, spotter(s) are not trying to ''catch'' the falling climber, but instead to ''deflect'' their trajectory; in general, the spotter(s) focus on the active climber's hips, which will correlate to their ]centre of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. For a ...
, and will thus mark the line of any possible fall.bouldering mat
A bouldering mat or crashpad (also sketchpad) is a nylon-enclosed multi-layer foam pad used for Protection (climbing), protection when bouldering. Bouldering mats help prevent climbers from injuring themselves from the continuous and repeated fall ...
s along the ground to make sure that they are always beneath the climber's latest position and covering the most likely landing zone for any fall.[ Spotters will try to maintain a flexible body position (e.g. bent knees) with the fingers together and thumbs turned in — known as "spoons" — to safely absorb the impact of any fall and avoid injury to themselves.][ Spotters have been severely injured, and even hospitalized, as a result of spotting.][ A ''power-spot'' is where the spotter takes some weight off the climber by pressing against their hips or back to enable the climber to practice the hardest ]crux
CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system ...
moves.[
The most serious form of spotting is for ]highball bouldering
Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help sec ...
, where the climber might be falling from a height above , which can generate a force equal to the weight of a vehicle.[ The impact force of a climber falling from higher up on a highball boulder, therefore, makes normal spotting very dangerous.][ A highball-spotting technique known as "pad-fu" has been used where the spotter holds a thick bouldering mat that they use to deflect a falling climber onto a bigger stack of mats and to absorb some of the energy of the fall.]
See also
*Beta (climbing)
Beta is a Glossary of climbing terms, climbing term that designates information about how to ascend a climbing route, and the specific climbing techniques required—and how to apply them—to overcome the key challenges encountered. Traditionally ...
*Bouldering mat
A bouldering mat or crashpad (also sketchpad) is a nylon-enclosed multi-layer foam pad used for Protection (climbing), protection when bouldering. Bouldering mats help prevent climbers from injuring themselves from the continuous and repeated fall ...
References
External links
Perspectives On Indoor Spotting
''Climbing Wall Association'' (CWA) (August 2019)
Bouldering skills: how to spot when bouldering
British Mountaineering Council
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for England and Wales that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC ...
(2015)
Spotting a Huge Fall Off White Rastafarian
Joshua Tree
''Yucca brevifolia'' (also known as the Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca) is a plant species belonging to the genus '' Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names.
This monocotyledonous tre ...
(2016)
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Climbing techniques
Bouldering