How To Make A Crash Pad For Bouldering

I’ve found that couch and chair foam is a little too soft for pads. Plus what you really need is appropriate hard cell to disperse the impact. When moving a pad, it will be easiest to have two people grab opposite sides of it, lift it up, and place it in the desired area. Always make sure that no gaps are present between pads when moving them and be sure to place the pad underneath the climber’s hips to capture the fall zone. Most pads will have the logo placed on the top side of the pad. You can open up the pad and feel which foam is firmer if no logo is present and the pad does not have a grippy surface.

We don’t recommend pads without them, since you’ll use them hundreds of times during a day of bouldering. Another key handle to look for, especially on a big pad, is a strap right in the middle of the pad at the folding point. This makes it easy to pick up the pad and walk short distances.

Rock climbing is a dangerous sport as it is so if you have extra pads you might as well put them to use. The fall zone is the area directly beneath the climbers hips. When the climber falls from the rock, this is where they will be landing.

Pros Of Bouldering Pads Under 4 Inches

We also have our OutdoorGearLab Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Chris McNamara, on board. Chris is also founder and head author of the rock guide publisher SuperTopo, founder of the American Safe Climbing Association. He has over 70 ascents of El Capitan and holds nine big wall speed climbing records.

A crash pad is a cushion foam pad used for a soft landing when falling off a rock in bouldering. We place the pad under the climber and often over uneven ground, stumps, or rocks. It protects the climber’s fall from the hard ground as well as any protruding objects on the ground. You may also like to check our guide to the best climbing ropes for more great equipment. While you generally only need to bring shoes, chalk, and some water to go bouldering, if you’re going to be hanging out for a while, it can be nice to pack the kitchen sink.

Step 10: Spraying The Silicon Spray And Putting The Foam In The Cover

This style offers you the best protection against injury, but if you store it for a long time, it takes a while to return to its natural state after unfolding it. There are also aspects such as gear pockets, shoulder, waist, and chest straps, and shoe mats to wipe away dirt and rock debris. Anything that makes your mat easier to use from start to finish is always preferred. It also boasts a greater surface area than standard climbing pads, providing 5.5 square feet, which is ample space to drop and roll without risking injury. As mentioned above, standard crash pads are best suited for lowball boulder problems.

An exception to the open and closed cell foam combo is Organic’s Simple crash pad using memory foam, as well as their proprietary foam. The closed-cell top layer is vital because of its ability to quickly spread energy after a fall, while providing a firmer surface that lets you land on your feet with without worry. The stability of closed-cell foam is important because many falls are controlled. The most popular material for this top closed-cell layer is polyethylene foam. A resilient foam with excellent shock absorbing qualities, it can handle the impact of falls and spread the energy throughout the pad.

We then took one piece off of the sandwiched foam and turned it over. Then I sprayed both sides of the foam and let it sit until it felt dry and tacky . After each application we cleared the nozzle by turning the can upside down and spraying until only air comes out. Then we carefully guided it back in place and pressed the pieces of foam together. We let it dry for around 30 minutes and then worked on the thin pieces.

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Some crash pads are designed to attach together with velcro flaps, which keeps them from moving, which makes things nice and easy. It is also common these days to carry small, thinner “slider” pads that can be used to cover cracks. Be sure there are crash pads in the climber’s “fall zone,” i.e., where the climber will fall if she comes off the wall. This may sound obvious but the fall zone often goes beyond the base of the boulder, where the climber sits or stands to start. This is true particularly if the problem is steep, or if it traverses. When choosing a crash pad, always go for an excellent foam.

On the other end of the price spectrum, the Metolius Session II Crash Pad is a great value option perfect for beginners or those who don’t have too extreme bouldering options close by. Evolving from the Session I, this crash mat comes with a redesigned flap making the pad easier to load into cars while also simplifying transportation with comfortable padded shoulder straps. Join a climbing group on social media that is set up for climbing gear exchange.

Moreover, it features three layers of foam, made of a high-density soy-based, open-cell for its lower layer, rubber for its middle layer, and memory foam for its top layer. The hard outer foam is usually referred to asclosed-cell foam. This type of foam is denser and can distribute weight across the pad. Without this layer, the pad becomes useless, for you may still feel the floor’s impact without this layer.

They also fold up nicely for storage (and are the comfiest to sleep on!). The hinge design allows for pads to be bigger and fold up smaller. Because of this, we get the tri-fold option which is a great way to get a big pad that won’t take up your entire trunk.

After cutting the zipper side pieces to the correct length (9″ in my case), I sewed all of the side pieces together. I sewed the zipper piece to a 20″ piece of pleather, and then to a piece of mesh. Then I sewed the other piece of mesh to this (the total mesh length should be 100″ to match the zipper side). Lastly I sewed the last piece of pleather to the mesh. This was a much longer piece (than the 20″ needed) because I wanted to wait until I sewed it to the top piece to make sure the measurements were correct. Boulderers never/rarely wear helmets, the pad is to protect ankles/back/limbs, a boulderer will almost always use a friend to protect their head. The friend makes sure the climber lands on the mat and keeps their head off the floor.

A lot because I had to sew over all of the seams twice 😉 Honestly I’m not really sure. My husband gave me a partial spool of a thick thread and there was still some left. We sprayed silicon spray on all of the sides of the foam and then worked to get the foam into the cover. With a little coaxing it all worked well–but was quite tight.

That means it doesn’t provide as soft a fall as some of the crash pads we’ve featured but we still think it’s well worth considering. For starters, it’s larger than most at six-feet by three-feet so put a couple of these together and you can easily cover the whole floor. It’s also four inches thick, so it’s not as if it’s thin.