Aerobics and weightlifting in one activity. Plus, it can improve your flexibility and exercises your brain. It’s a full body and mind workout. Impossible? Try bouldering, it can give you all of that.
Bouldering is like scaling mountains but much simpler. More fun and safe, actually. On straight and inclined engineered walls are combinations of artificial holds in several colors. Each color form a path you should solve to lead you to the the summit. It’s fun and challenging for beginners and seasoned climbers, the young and old, tall and shot. By yourself, with family or friends, this recreational activity is enjoyable and great way to bond.
In Davao, there’s Boulder24. Boulder24 is a community-driven bouldering gym that aims to bring together rock climbing enthusiasts and inspire more locals to take up the sport. The gym offers a unique and exciting way to experience climbing, without the need for ropes and harnesses.
The idea for Boulder24 was born out of the passion of its owners, Jenina Amparo-Cruz and Ronald Cruz,. They have years of experience climbing in gym walls and natural rock formations. When they moved to Davao in 2021, they found that there were limited options for indoor bouldering, so they decided to take the leap and open their own gym.
Jenina with her husband, Ronald, partnered with her sister, Jolla Soriaga, and husband, Harold, and parents Raul and Chikie Cruz to bring Boulder24 to life. The name "Boulder24" reflects the gym's commitment to bouldering and its hopes for a prosperous future in the year 2024.
“Bouldering is a style of climbing that focuses on short, challenging routes or ‘problems’ to overcome that require balance, strength, flexibility, and technique. To make it exciting and keep the challenge level up all the time, a section of the wall is changed every week to introduce new routes to solve to make climbing always interesting and challenging,” said co-founder Jolla Soriaga.
Boulder24 currently features seven Boulder Grades (V Scale 1 to 7) marked with four colors and a Mystery Route. The more difficult V8 and up routes will be offered in the coming days.
The gym is open Monday to Friday from 2pm to 9pm, Saturday from 2pm to 7pm, and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm. To ensure a safe and fun space for small children, Boulder24 offers special hours for children aged 5 to 10 on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 1pm
In addition to its regular hours, Boulder24 has partnered with Abba'a Orchard School to offer bouldering as part of their physical education program. This partnership allows an opportunity to introduce young children to new sports and inspire them to develop strength, balance, flexibility, and problem-solving skills through bouldering.
Overall, Boulder24 is a welcoming and supportive community that is dedicated to providing an exciting and challenging bouldering experience for climbers of all levels.
Now, should you wish to aim high and make sport climbing a go or even a career, you must know that Sport Climbing made its Olympic debut in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The event considered three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. Aiming for the stars is always good.
Boulder24 is on Facebook (Boulder24) and Instagram (boulder24.dvo).
