Necessity of a crashpad?

Only a rockclimber would think $150 is a lot of money.

Your FEET are 20 ft off the ground and you're landing these no problem? Sounds dubious..

I may be wrong, but I don't think where your fingertips are reaching, maybe 7 1/2 feet further up from your feet, (assuming a fairly vertical boulder for simplicity) actually counts as the height of the fall.

I also bet people seriously overestimate how high up they are. Take the height of your average ceiling, multiply it by 2.5, that's 20 feet.

I bet the guy in the picture upthread has his feet like 12 feet off the ground, and that looks pretty sketch already.

I too call BS on the OP. When I was a teen and even as old as 21 I could do a flat drop onto the ground from my frist story roof (about 12 feet I guess). I hurt every time. Even going just 3 feet higher to 15 feet was something I would not do and 20 feet would have been really bad. I did sprain my ankle once as well from the roof jump.

ParkourAcademy - landing

A while ago I was bouldering alone and fell. The problem was steep and I was more or less in a seated position when I fell. My butt was probably less than four feet off the ground, and just missed the pad. Luckily I landed on my fat ass and not on my tailbone, and luckily the ground was flat dirt and free of rocks. I was rattled, but it could have gone so much worse. Lowballs are no guarantee of safety, and you don't always have time to execute a perfect ninja roll landing. Get a pad.

Dylan B. wrote:Only a privileged...American would think $150 is something to sneeze at.

There it is...the typical liberal attack. You didn't EARN that $150.00 bucks.

hell I popped off a problem just a couple feet at BEST on flagstaff mtn. Missed the pad and landed on a little baby head rock. Fractured the top of my foot and was on crutches for a spell.

Check Craigslist.
I bought a used Bittersweet crash pad for $60 off craigslist and it does the job. I honestly wouldnt suggest taking many (actually i wouldnt suggest doing it at all) 20 foot drops or your bouldering career is going to be cut pretty short. Because eventually your going to break the bones in your feet and ankles..
I use my pad at crappy landings where if i fell wrong i could seriously injure myself (hitting my head or landing on small rocks leading to twisted ankles) which nobody should have to explain the "need" for a crash pad..its common sense, so you dont get hurt.. Also if your going to start taking bouldering seriously its pretty useful once you start getting inverted..ever fall 4 feet from the solid ground with small rocks on your back?..i could tell you i honestly wouldnt want to without a crash pad.

May have already been mentioned in this thread, I know it came up recently but Climbing has aboout a middle of the road entry price tag. Suggesting somebody spend 150 on a pad is not out of touch it's common sense.

Dylan B wrote: Spending $150 on a crash pad is fine. Stating blithely that $150 is chump-change is out-of-touch.

its chump change compared to the thousands of dollars in medical bills one could be paying if they fell and worked their feet and ankles or slammed their head against some rocks..

Maybe Obamacare will cover your crash pad?

Not placing the correct value on your personal safety is out of touch. Man up mow some lawns or somthing and spend the C-note. It is NOT that much money. If you can't afford a few bucks on basic safety equipment then climb less and work more, you'll live longer.

Zac Diehl wrote: Why do you all think I'm trolling? Not everyone can afford a $150 pad. I'm actually seriously curious.

Zac, if you're motivated I bet you could make it happen. I know everybody's path through life is different, and I remember just how much money $150 is to a teenager, but it is likely not as out of reach as it seems. I don't want to go too far down "back in my day" lane, but once upon a time I put together $100 for a Nintendo mowing lawns for $6/hr

I realize your circumstances could be more difficult than we are assuming. For example, maybe you already work part-time to help feed your family. In which case, yeah, a pad will be a lot harder to afford :(

One option that really doesn't require a bouldering pad is boulder traverses. I don't know how many you have, but there are some exciting traverses near me that never take you more than a foot or two off the ground.

Check for deals at places online, and then do something like the campsaver.com 5% less pricematch and most places have free shipping over $50, and boom, crash pad for a discount. Also check eBay. There are some inexpensive mad rock crash pads on there with free shipping, even have the best offer option, haggle away. I was lucky with mine as I literally stumbled across it, but if you're serious about climbing, spending some cash to keep yourself safe is a good idea.

climbing friend,

unless your crashpad is the size of a postage stamp, it will cost $350 or more.

You must buy this crash pad, unless you want misery and to be hurt, also you would not feel so excellent falling off of steep problem onto your back in the dirt.

If you cannot afford this, you must resort to crime, or to stacking the corpses below the climbing rocks of dead lifeless boulderers who tried to make highball flash before they are ready and could not afford pads.

My first pad was a voodoo, over 5 years ago. Still have her <3 GREEN SUEDE <3

Are these boulders you are taking 20' falls from in a mulch pile or something?

Are you attempting high balls with sketchy landings with out a few crash pads let alone a single pad? There are problems I wont even get on without 3 or 4 crash pads to layer and cover all the ankle/leg breaking holes between the rocks below.

and 3rd not every fall you ever take will be an anticipated fall/drop. $300+ for a decent crash pad even if it was only useful once out of 10,000 sends and or attempts when that one hold broke out of nowhere and took an awkward fall, it would be worth the cost ten fold.

in short you are naïve and ignorant, not my problem, climb on.

"I also bet people seriously overestimate how high up they are. "

+1
There's no way this kid is jumping down 20 feet, and/ nor taking 15 foot climbing falls without a pad.

Zac...BS on landing a 20 ft drop pretty easily. A knee replacement and spinal decompression is going to be way more expensive than the most expensive crash pad. If you're a none believer just google John Gill and/or John Sherman and take note of their health issues as a result of pre-pad bouldering. Sherman doesn't call his body "the Sherman Wreckage" for nothing.

F the crash pad! You don't need it. Your young and will bounce back.