UKC

With distinct lack of snow about in England and Wales , I'm trying to find other ways of entertaining myself outdoors .
I've done a bit of bouldering indoors got myself skilled up with spotting , how to fall off properly and other basic principals .
I have a friend who is in the same position , we both want to move on to some easy outdoor stuff .
If we both get a basic bouldering mat (Alpkit phud ) will two mats be enough to protect easy problems ?

In reply to SethChili:

1 mat is enough.

In reply to SethChili:

Agree with 1 mat, I use 1 Phud for everything.

More the better, though. It has an effect on technique/balls, in that you'll start climbing statically if you are worried about coming off badly.

In reply to SethChili:
Two smaller mats are definitely better than one large one: Sloping / rocky / stepped landings are more problematic than flat landings, and two mats allow you to flatten slopes, bulk out landings, fill in gaps, etc.

In reply to SethChili:

There's no definitive answer to this. You need to scope out venues and problems and make an informed decision based on the amount of risk you're willing to take. For some problems, the landing/height/likelihood of you falling off will be such that you're happy to boulder with only one mat. For others, you'll want two (or more).

Check this out: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=5982

In reply to SethChili:

Starting out, 1 pad and a suitable venue is all you need. Go and play on the rocks.

A guidebook can be useful for many venues, even better is someone who's been there before.

Only thing I would say is that because of the horrible amount of rain, many of our nations boulders now have moats. Burbage South is a great venue for starting out, but at the moment I guess it's Somme-like territory.

In reply to SethChili: depends on how steep, sit start, traverse etc. whether you're bouldering in a team, and how old you are. Since I passed 50 I use as many as I can carry and am unapologetic about it. If you are taking just one, then as large and as deep as you can get in the car/carry.

In reply to SethChili:

you can definitely find loads of problems to do with just the one mat. Two are useful for things that traverse off or you need a big of a larger landing zone if the problem is high or you could come off with little warning (like a smeary/balancy arete or something).

I'd prob just stick with the one and spend the rest of the cash on petrol getting to a great bouldering venue a few times. For starting out something like the burbage south boulders is good and you can definitely get lots of stuff done with just the one mat.

Lets hope we get some dry weather in soon!