History of world bouldering

The book is published in Italian.

Perhaps many believe that bouldering is one of the youngest vertical disciplines, yet boulder climbing has its beginnings in times that now seem lost in a distant past!

Long before the advent of sport climbing on cliffs, this discipline had already been practiced for decades by mountaineers and climbers, in more or less conscious forms. The bouldering exploits of Oscar Eckenstein date back to the end of the 19th century in the United Kingdom, while at the same time Parisian mountaineers began to explore the boulders in the dreamlike Forest of Fontainebleau. Here, bouldering found its most historical cradle, fascinating generations of “bleausard” who in Pierre Allain in particular found a great master, in a historical development that has continued to the present day.

However, it was in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States that the solitary figure of John Gill rose to become the father of bouldering in its most conscious form, starting a process that would lead this discipline to gradually develop throughout the world. From Colorado, to Yosemite Valley, to the emblematic local example of the Sassisti della Val di Mello, we finally arrive at the 90s, with Fred Nicole, Ben Moon, Jerry Moffatt, Klem Loskot, Bernd Zangerl and several others, the new prophets who definitively made the climbing and social phenomenon of bouldering explode in the new millennium. Since then, step by step, boulder after boulder, there have been many other inspired characters who have brought it to the present day… between sport, poetry and new visions!

A journey described in detail to learn about the events and especially the protagonists, who over time have played a leading role in the development of this exciting climbing “art”!

Alberto Milani, born in 1980, started climbing at the age of 13. In the first years of his activity he dedicated himself to sport climbing at the cliff and partly to mountaineering, before dedicating himself to bouldering from the end of the 90s. Alongside his outdoor activity, from 2003 to 2010 he took part in the major Italian bouldering competitions. Since the early 2000s he has climbed on difficulties of 8a+ worked and 7c flash and has visited a good part of the European bouldering areas and beyond. He has always dedicated himself mainly to the exploration and valorization of new areas, developing the Valbondione boulders in the early 2000s and subsequently many other possibilities in different geographical contexts. He is the author of over 500 first ascents of lines with difficulties up to 8a. Since 2017 he has been a FASI climbing instructor, currently at the Manga Climbing gym in Milan. Having sensed the close relationship between climbing and yoga from the very beginning, he approached the latter in 2002 and then practiced it continuously since 2007, starting in 2010 the multi-year training course to become a teacher, at the Jiva Yoga school in Como. In 2014 he completed this course, graduating as a teacher recognized at a national (CSEN) and international level (E-RYT®500/YACEP®). Since 2014 he has taught yoga and yoga for climbing and is one of the managers of the four-year teacher training course at the Jiva Yoga Academy. He has published many articles on both yoga and climbing in specialized magazines, is the editor of the bouldering section of the site up-climbing.com and since 2015 has been a collaborator of Versante Sud and Climbing Radio. Since 2015 he has published the three editions of Yogarrampicata, in 2020 the guide Valtellina BLOC and in 2023 Bouldering, published by Versante Sud. He is also the curator of the UP Climbing Yearbook and a member of the Editorial Coordination of the UP Climbing magazine.