Approaching Highballs | 瞭解高牆抱石

作者 Author：Jake Tiger （授權翻譯，請勿轉載，粗體字重點為譯者所標）

你是不是曾經想在戶外攀岩，但對落地（landing）感到害怕？

是不是曾經被高牆抱石（highball bouldering）吸引，卻又擔心墜落與潛在風險？

在高牆抱石時，你的安全與成功，取決於你的自信。這種自信源於對環境的了解，以及讓身心做好準備，在墜落時能有本能的反應，並具備承受衝擊的身體機能。

Have you ever found yourself wanting to climb a boulder outdoors but been intimidated by the landing? Have you been inspired to climb a highball but worry about how you may fall or if you’ll injure yourself? Your safety and success on the higher boulders will come from your confidence, built from an awareness of your surroundings, as well as from the preparation of your mind and body to have instinctive reflexes during a fall and the mobility required to take such impacts.

（按：所謂的高牆抱石，是指攀爬六或七公尺以上的抱石）

Gumby Bear on Heavenly Path, the famous highball in Bishop.

我最喜歡攀岩的地方，就是能夠不斷地向上移動。不需要任何保護裝備，也不需要掛安全繩——就是純粹地攀爬、一步一步地前進。這種感覺，我只在深水抱石（deep water solo）、無繩攀登（free solo）和高牆抱石中體驗過。

事實上，無繩攀登和高牆抱石的界線常常很模糊，因為在高牆抱石時，有時會到達一個無法回頭的點，墜落可能有致命風險。不過，主要差異在於，高牆抱石非常講究落地規劃。而在深水抱石中，墜落會掉入水中——不過倘若沒有正確入水，也有可能會受傷。而在無繩攀登中，幾乎每次墜落，都可能導致死亡，不管落地情況如何。

My personal favorite thing about climbing is having uninterrupted, continual upwards movement on the rock. That means no gear placement, no clipping—just having the freedom to climb, move after move. This feeling for me has only really been found in deep water soloing (DWS), free soloing, and highball bouldering. The lines are often blurred between soloing and highballing because sometimes on a highball, we pass that point of no return where a fall could be fatal. The main difference however is that a lot of thought goes into the construction of a landing for a highball. Obviously such things are not important during DWS because the landing is taken care of by a body of water—though you can still injure yourself if you don’t impact through the water properly—and in free soloing a landing will almost always result in death, regardless of the landing.

大部分情況下，攀岩者必須非常仔細確認高牆抱石的落地狀況：在難關或更高處墜落時，精心規劃過的抱石墊位置，可以有效降低不理想的墜落風險。

這和一般抱石類似，但因為高度更高，講求更多思考。最好是將落地區域弄得越平整越好，盡可能多擺幾層抱石墊——當然，這要看你有多少朋友願意幫忙背抱石墊。

在高牆抱石時，通常越多抱石墊越好，但抱石墊的作用畢竟有限。對於如何正確墜落有充分的瞭解，更能夠幫助到你，無論落地點的情況如何。

We have to protect the landing of a highball with keen intention: with the potential of falling at the crux, or higher, well placed pads can mitigate the risk by landing in an unideal manner. This is similar to regular bouldering but considerably higher off the ground and therefore, more thought needs to be put into the construction of the landing. It’s best to make the landing as flat as possible, with as many layers of pads as you have friends who are willing to help hike pads in. On highballs, you often want as much padding as possible but crash pads only help so much. A prudent knowledge on how to fall properly will help you regardless of a potentially suboptimal landing zone.

大多數人是從室內攀岩館開始接觸戶外攀岩，室內岩館的牆面高度通常不超過 16 英尺 / 5公尺，落地區域經常是一大片厚 14 吋 / 35公分、平整無縫隙的泡棉軟墊。這使得室內攀岩成為學習和適應墜落的絕佳場所。

在攀岩館教的常見墜落技巧是「摩托車落地」（motorcycle landing）——雙手抱胸，腳先著地，身體往後傾，膝蓋彎曲，向後翻滾，吸收墜落衝擊。不過，這招在戶外攀岩不一定能夠發揮作用。

Most of the people entering the outdoor rock climbing scene typically start in a climbing gym. Wall heights in the gym generally cap out around 16 feet (5m)  and the landing zone is an expanse of roughly 14 inch thick (35cm), flat, foam padding, with no gaps or seams. This makes climbing indoors an excellent place to learn and get comfortable with falling. The common technique for falling, which they teach in the climbing gym, is called a motorcycle landing. It’s where you cross your arms in front of your chest, land on your feet, lean back with bent legs and roll onto your back, absorbing the impact of the fall. Albeit, this is a great technique for dissipating the impacts of a fall in the gym, it is rare to have a best case scenario like this when landing outside.

Vy Tran on Good Morning Sunshine, highball in Bishop.

我們對攀岩的熱情引領我們走向大自然，然而，自然環境中的落地狀況，卻往往不是我們可以控制的。戶外抱石常常會遇到由碎石堆積的不平整地面、森林中的巨大樹根，或是傾斜、參差不平的地形。在這些環境中使用「摩托車落地」，效果不會太好，因為通常沒有足夠的空間能夠順利翻滾。你可能會撞到其他東西，或是朝錯誤的方向跌落，這些都是室內攀岩館不容易遇到的潛在危險。

When our passion for climbing eventually takes us to the wild places in nature, we are not always in control of what the landing zone will look like. Quite often you expect to find uneven landings created by piled rocks in talus fields, large roots in forests, or slanted, jagged ground, among other things. To practice your motorcycle landing in these environments would be less effective as you often don’t have the room to roll effectively. There will be things that you can hit if you roll too much or if you fall leaning the wrong direction, and many more potential hazards that don’t exist in a gym environment.

如果你決定越爬越高時，你最好希望自己有良好的空間感知和心理準備，因為這些事情可不能開玩笑！

對環境的了解，不僅僅是擺放抱石墊，還包括全面理解抱石墊的位移動態。

當抱石墊被踩踏或撞擊時，他們的位置可能會移動，擺在不平坦的石頭上也容易移位。抱石墊並排放置時會產生腿部或腳踝可能插入的縫隙（譯者：非常容易扭傷腳踝）。

我的技巧是在鋪設好抱石墊後，在上面到處走動，感受哪些地方會隆起，會有什麼縫隙產生——想像自己從高處落下時會是什麼感覺。要將抱石墊的落地區域集中在最可能墜落的位置。

最重要的是，要在腦海中勘察落地點，不要去思考哪裡高或低，而是在你墜落時，憑肌肉記憶直接反應。

If you ever decide to climb at heights, at your own risk, you better hope you have good spacial awareness and mental preparation, because it’s not something to be taken lightly. Awareness comes from more than just laying the pads in the landing zone: it comes from a full understanding of the dynamics of the pads. When pads get walked on, or landed on, they shift. When pads are put on uneven ground, they shift. When pads are placed side by side, they create gaps for legs/ankles to fall through. My technique for fully understanding the effectiveness of a landing is to walk all over the pads once they are setup to feel what raises, what gaps are created— what it may feel like when I land on this from a height. Build the landing to be focalized below the most likely place you’ll fall. It is crucial to have the landing mapped out in your mind so you don’t have to think about where it is raised or sunken in any given spot, you just remember from muscle memory.

完攀後正在休息的 Gumby Bear，確保的朋友已離開，這條路線墜落時會撞到後面的石頭，因此後方石頭上掛了一個抱石墊。

攀岩人經常會在地面上，用身體去模仿牆面上的攀爬動作。在高牆抱石時，這同樣重要的，事先規劃路線難關時的應對方式，並了解從該處墜落時應如何反應，尤其是需要從高處墜落的狀況。

當你在對抗地心引力時，你通常沒有太多時間思考，墜落反應需要盡量在潛意識中預先規劃好。這一瞬間的反應，取決於你事前的落地準備是否充裕。你需要知道主要

撞擊處會在哪，並確保那裡的抱石墊沒有未覆蓋的縫隙。

Climbers are known for visually preparing how they will climb from the ground by miming the movements. On a highball boulder it’s just as important to plan how to react at the crux of the boulder and to understand how to react if falling from said crux, especially if at a height. You don’t have a lot of time when fighting gravity and a reaction to a fall needs to be subconsciously planned. This split second reaction should reflect the preparation you’ve done with building the landing. You should know the main point of impact and make sure there’s no uncovered seams in the pads here and there.

此外，你應該知道墜落和著地時應該面對的方向。舉例來說，在地面傾斜處落地，如果你側身朝斜坡跌落，很可能會造成身體一側承受更多衝擊。如果面朝上坡跌落，則很可能會往後翻滾，甚至可能滾出抱石墊。

所以在想像如何攀爬高牆抱石時，也要想像墜落時應如何反應。事先規劃好後，本能會接管身體。一個微妙的旋轉——可能是從牆壁推開或是手臂擺動造成的——可能就能讓你以理想的方式著地：面朝下坡。面朝下坡通常是斜坡處最好的著地方式，因為往後傾的幅度很小，還能看清抱石墊外的潛在危險。

You should know which direction you need to be facing when you fall and land. For instance, if you have a slanted landing and you fall facing sideways to the slant, you are likely to have an uneven fall putting more impact on one side of your body compared to the other. If you fall on a slanted landing facing up the slope, you are likely going to roll backwards and potentially roll off the pads. So when visualizing how you will climb your highball, also visualize how you should react if you fall. When planed out ahead of time instinct takes over. A subtle rotation, caused by a push off the wall or the swinging of the arms, can make the difference for an ideal landing: facing down the slope. Facing downhill is often the better way to land on a slope, since you have minimal movement from leaning backward and it allows you to see potential hazards found off the pads. 

當然，有人在旁邊確保，也是降低墜落風險的關鍵，但也不能百分之百依賴確保者來避免受傷。經驗豐富的確保者可以預測並幫助你跌出抱石墊外，或是減輕部分衝擊，但最寶貴的是要懂得如何正確墜落。

Having people to spot you is of course another key to reduce the risk of bad falls, but spotters can not be relied on 100% to avert injury. A well experienced spotter can anticipate and help prevent you from landing off the pads or dissipate some of your impact, but what’s most valuable is to know how to fall properly.

正在拉筋的 Gumby Bear 和 Paul | We were streching!

同樣重要的是，良好的身體活動度和柔軟度——尤其是下半身的——會影響我們準備高牆抱石和高處墜落（big fall，口語常稱大fall）。我從一群專業滑板好手那裡得到一個建議：要有非常靈活的膝蓋和腳踝。

最近幾個月，我一直在慢慢訓練腳踝伸展，讓它們能夠習慣向內向外旋轉，如此一來，腳踝處於這些位置時比較不會受傷，膝蓋也是如此。

在你平時的伸展練習中，加入關節活動度的訓練，長遠來看會有很大的幫助，未來或許可以預防腳踝或膝蓋扭傷。

Of the same importance, good mobility and flexibility—especially in the lower body—is pivotal in helping you prepare for these tall climbs and big falls. A tip that I got from a group of professional skateboarders, who constantly take intense ground falls on hard surfaces, is to have very flexible knees and ankles. For months now I’ve been working on my mobility in my lower body by gradually stretching my ankles towards a pronated and supinated stance in preparation for if my ankles find themselves in those positions, they are less likely to get injured. Same with the knees. Incorporating range of motion into your stretching routines makes a big difference in the long run and may help to prevent rolled ankles or blown out knees in the future.

誠然，抱石是有危險的。當我們進行高牆抱石時，這些危險就更加明顯。但要成功，主要靠的是意識和準備。瞭解如何墜落很重要，但在不確定或缺乏信心的情況下，使用攀岩繩進行高牆抱石也是很務實的選擇。

事先規劃好墜落時的反應方式，調整身體來準備承受巨大的衝擊，這些在抱石墜落真正要發生時，都會有很好的幫助。

我對高牆抱石和墜落並不陌生。我已經從高牆跌落過很多次，幾乎每次嘗試高牆抱石都會墜落。但憑藉經驗，這些技巧讓我從未在墜落時受到嚴重傷害，即便是從30多英尺/約9.1 公尺 高的地方、在只有一層抱石墊的情況下墜落，也沒有造成嚴重傷害。

而我攀爬這些高大岩石的信心，來自於對危險的理解與充分的準備。

 It is true that bouldering is dangerous and when we’re on tall boulders it makes the dangers exponentially more evident. But to be successful with them it mostly takes awareness and preparation. It’s always good to know how to fall but also preparing for a highball on a rope is often a pragmatic choice when one is unsure or unconfident for what is above. If falls do occur preparation in how you’ll react and how to prepare your body for such great impacts is super helpful. I’m no stranger to highballs and I’m certainly no stranger to falling off them. I have taken some massive falls off boulders and it’s pretty common for me to fall off of every highball boulder I’ve attempted. But through my experience, these tips are what have prevented me from ever getting seriously injured, even when I’ve fallen from 30+ feet onto a single layer of padding. My confidence to climb these tall rocks comes from my experience of being aware of the dangers and the level of preparation that I put in. 

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本文作者 Jake Tiger 是加拿大西岸 Squamish 戶外攀岩場知名的開發展。他長期致力於 Squamish （位於溫哥華北邊車程一小時的知名岩場）的抱石路線開發，其中有數不清的驚人高牆抱石路線。本文感謝 Jake 授權翻譯，但因為沒有取得 Jake 的照片授權，只好放幾張譯者的照片。

下為 Jake Tiger 的 IG，歡迎追蹤。他在 Youtube 上的 beta 影片也有非常高的點閱率，如果各位讀者有機會去溫哥華的話，一定要 Squamish 攀岩看看！

The author, Jake Tiger, is a famous outdoor climber and developer in Vancouver / Squamish area in Canada. He has developed countless boulders, including highballs, in Squamish. He is such an inspiring climber! Thank Jake for giving me the opportunity to translate his article. I also thank Chatgpt and Claude for helping the translation, tho they quite their job soon after several chat with me :O. Below is Jake's Instagram you might want to follow. Jake also posts his beta video on Youtube for the communities. Next time when you plan to visit Vancouver, definitely go check Squamish (1-hr drive) for some climbing!