During the summer months a climbing gym can turn into a stale, steamy pile of white bread. Climbers are heading outside and setters dream of going there too. Problems become as predictable as mac-n-cheese. What’s a gym to do?

One of the coolest ways to spice up your bouldering area is to get climbers off their butts. While sit starts may be the standard for American climbing gyms hoping to get the most out of their small walls, they are seldom seen on classic problems.

Enter the jump start!

Jump starts are an amazingly simple way to put a little pizzazz into your bouldering sectors. Even if you don’t have highball worthy walls its still possible to add a jump start and get a quality problem.

Jumps starts are regularly seen in high-profile bouldering comps which is perhaps why they are showing up in every day problems across the country. As climbers want to emulate the sickness they see Sharma doing; setters want to mimic what the pro’s are doing.

A Caveat

They say white men can’t jump. They might as well have said “climbers can’t jump”. Be careful not to put the first starting hold so far away that nobody can reach it. Also make the jump grade appropriate. Jumps rarely work on V1 and V2 but can be brought into action at the V3 range.

Here are a few of the more popular and spectacular of the Jumps.

Matching Double Jump – This is the simplest way to get them off their feet. Place a matching hold and ya know… make ‘em jump.

Splitter Jump – A little more difficult but a whole lot of fun. Take two holds and put them just far enough apart so the climber cant look at both holds at the same time. You can also take the split to another level by putting one hold higher than the other. This forces a jump assisted one arm pull. Very high on the cool factor!

French Jump – In Fontainebleau there are several problems that require the boulderer to grab a one handed hold at ground level and leap for the next (usually a bleau slopper). This works best on slightly overhanging to mildly overhanging. Jumps starts on slabs are just mean. Similar to the splitter except the first hold is holdable from the ground.

One-handed Jump – Often talked about but rarely seen. This is the yeti of the jump start world. It’s easy really to set though. Set one hold that cant be matched, place your starting tags there and watch the climbers walk by in amazement…and then just keep on walking. The one-handed jump start should be reserved for special occasions or at least wicked hard problems.

Running Jump – Super fun for all! Give them space to run and a big foot to launch from and you’ll see your blocs heat up faster than a microwave oven.

To play by the rules a climber must jump to reach the starting holds. Usually they are not allowed to clamber up on easier holds. However in some of the more unseemly establishments one may find climbers “rainbowing” their way up the wall just to start the problem. It’s up to you to uphold the standard!

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