Do Ethical Dabs in Bouldering Exist?

Bouldering is unregulated, except for a couple guiding characteristics, the sport doesn’t ask much of climbers. With that said, there are a few rules that are necessary for the sport to exist. For example, every boulder problem needs to have a starting position. Without this position, it would be difficult to communicate where a person should begin.

While most of bouldering is easy to understand, and up for interpretation, there would be those that argue that a dab nullifies the validity of an attempt. A dab can be defined in two ways. This first is when a climber is moving on a route, and they touch anything that isn’t the route or the rock the route is on. This might include spotters, trees, and other rocks.

The second is when a climber is moving on a route and they touch anything that takes weight off their body. This means that a person could climb and brush against a tree, but, so long as this tree didn’t take weight off of their body, the ascent is valid. These differing perspectives have caused disagreement among climbers. The big reason for this is that climbers want their friends to send. Nobody wants to invalidate someone else’s effort.

With that said, there is some agreement that a dab invalidates a climb among every climber. For example, if you put a foot on the pad halfway through a traverse and then pull that foot back on, this isn’t a valid attempt. The question then becomes, what makes a dab okay? Most of the time, a dab is inconsequential. A foot grazing the pad is hardly a reason to stop climbing, but, by the first definition, would invalidate the attempt. It did not, however, take weight off and so, by the second definition, it would not be considered a dab.

It is generally more fun to live by the second definition. With that said, what happens when you reach a professional level? Professional outdoor boulderers depend on being the best in their field. It provides them the opportunities they need to push the sport and maintain a living.

Though many of us might look at professional climbing as the ideal job, the job is only ideal so long as they are employed. If difficult ascents are devalued by illegal ascents, then so are the climbers that worked to finish the problems in good style. This is significant because it makes it harder for the strongest athletes to attain the incentive required to climb the world’s hardest boulder problems. This might seem superfluous, but in the context of route development, it is significant. Each time bouldering pushes its limit, the sport is offered opportunity to grow. This comes through climbing films or articles and is best articulated through branding.

One of the most exciting things about professional climbing, from a sponsorship perspective, is that nobody knows what the physical limits of bouldering might be. V17 is becoming a progressively more discussed grade, while more and more climbers are looking beyond that difficulty as the sport’s ceiling. What happens when you link two V16s? Who is to say?

What we do know is the world’s first V17 took four years to complete. Nalle Huukataiaval’s Burden of Dreams is the product of years of motivated effort by one of the best boulderers in the world. If he were not as well supported by sponsors, would he still have been able to complete the problem in the same amount of time? Would the sport still develop at the same rate? Would the V17 glass ceiling have been broken? Would it even be possible for The Big Island’s low start to be considered V17?

Though this is all a long-winded extrapolation of the consequences of something minor, it is important to consider. There are athletes that give their lives to the sport’s progression. For them, taking the dab isn’t an option.

With all of this said, most of us are not pushing the limits of what is possible in our country or otherwise. Like all the ethical aspects of climbing, it comes down to the individual and their own decisions. The consideration for others takes precedence over all things, and realistically, it should not be up to others to call your dab. With that said, consideration for others cuts both ways. What of the athletes that gave their time in the pursuit of difficulty?