How to Read a Climbing Route

Reading a route means working out how you will climb it before you leave the ground. It is the skill that most quickly makes a beginner better, and experienced climbers never stop doing it. In bouldering a climb is called a problem, which is a fair name for it: the answer is a sequence of moves, and you can find most of it with your feet still on the mat.

1. Start from the ground up

Before you touch the wall, stand back and look. Find the starting holds, then trace the line with your eyes all the way to the top. You are after the overall shape of the climb before any detail.

2. Find the key holds

Pick out the handholds and footholds that matter most. Look at their shape, their size and which way they face. A hold that faces sideways tells you which way your body will need to lean.

3. Picture the moves

Imagine yourself climbing it. Which hand goes where? Where are your feet when you reach? Is there a move you will have to make quickly, or one where you can stand still and think?

4. Plan where to rest

On a longer problem, look for a bigger hold or a comfortable stance where you can shake out your arms before the next section.

5. Find the crux

The crux is the hardest part of the climb. Work out where it is and how you will approach it, so that you arrive with a plan and not a surprise.

6. Think about the flow

Is the climb steady all the way, or does it change suddenly? Knowing helps you pace yourself and save energy for the part that needs it.

7. Watch other people

If somebody else is on the same problem, watch them. Notice where they put their feet, how they turn their body and where they struggle. You will learn something even from a climber whose style is nothing like yours.

8. Warm up first

A plan does not help cold muscles. Warm up before you try anything hard: it cuts the risk of injury and you will climb better.

9. Be ready to change the plan

Sometimes the move you imagined does not work. Come down, look again and try it another way. That is not failing to read the route, it is the second half of reading it.

10. Trust what you feel

Some of a route can only be read by climbing it. Pay attention to what your body tells you on the wall, and adjust.

How to find the route at Boulder Shack

On our walls the colour of the holds shows which holds belong to a climb, and the tag at the start shows how hard it is: the more sides the shape on the tag has, the harder the climb. A different wall is stripped and reset every Friday, so there is always something new to read.

Reading routes gets easier the more you do it. If you would like a hand, our climbing coaching in Southampton covers exactly this, and if you have never climbed, a bouldering induction is where to start.