Bouldering
How ironic of Boulder residents to be into an activity called Bouldering. Bouldering is a free-climbing sport in which participants cling to rock faces in attempts of scaling their bodies to the pinnacle of the rock. People who boulder often wear large, foam, protective backpacks in case they fall off the rock while they are climbing. The backpacks are called "crash pads" or "crash packs." The
undercurrent pushing this trend along is the rock climbing community. Bouldering allows people to rock climb solo without the use of ropes or someone else belaying the climber, which also makes the sport much cheaper to participate in. Also, "The Spot's" growing popularity is spreading the word about bouldering rapidly. "The Spot" is an indoor facility in which people can practice and bring new comers along to help them train and get used to bouldering before attacking the real thing. For $5 one gets unlimited use of the gym for the day (another $5 to rent climbing shoes). Once they get past "The Spot," Chatauqua Park seems to be the popular place to experience real, natural bouldering. This trend seems to be catching on with CU students and Boulderites alike.Frisbee Golf
Throwing around a frisbee disc is an activitiy most people participate in in order to be outside while relaxing and jogging around at the same time. If one wants to make the activitiy a little more competitive they can play a game of ultimate frisbee. However, if someone wants to participate in an activity between relaxing and competitive they can engage in a round of frisbee golf. Players use differnetly weighted discs in attempts to "tee-off" and sink their disc in a target basket, aka the hole. The frisbee scoring rules are the same as regular golf in that players add up however many strokes (throws) it takes for them to reach the hole. The person with the lowest score at the end of the round in the winner. The undercurrent pushing this trend is probably the rapidly growing number of holes popping up around Boulder. I'm from Massachusetts and had never even heard of the sport until I came to Boulder. Now I'm seeing personalized holes in people's yards and around apartment complexes. People are even playing through campus and using landmarks as hole markers to score on. Numerous courses are present in Boulder that people can use free of charge, just bring your own disc and some friends to play with.Parkour
Parkour, commonly referred to as "free running" or "urban running" is an activity that has been catching on in recent years and especially around CU's campus. Participants use the natural environment and other man made structures as obstacles to overcome. Parkours runners jump off of ledges and heights the average person would normally never even dream of, and with style, too. Also, they scale buildings and landscape stuctures with ease without the use of ropes or guides. As you could assume, these runners are incredibly fit and lack the emotion of fear, since they are flipping their bodies all over the place when they are free-running. The undercurrent pushing this trend may be CU's parkour club spreading the word, or people seeing others practicing parkour and getting turned onto the sport. Viral YouTube videos depicting some of the world's greatest parkour runners have also been sweeping the web with incredible footable for people to see. I'm sure these must play a part in promoting the activity. Wherever it came from it looks like its here to stay since the activity is entertaining to participate in and also to watch, and its also a great form of exercise.Jam Circles
In the past two w
eeks I've seen many of these improvised jam circles being set up by students on campus. On Norlin Quad the other night I witnessed a group of about ten students playing all sorts of various instruments and singing along with one another. At least one group of freshman lounging on Farrand Field can be spotted having a nice jam sesh almost every afternoon after classes are out. The undercurrent pushing this activity along is simply people wanting to practice and play with others who enjoy their same liking. Its a fun way to meet people and express ones individuality. The circles are always welcoming anyone who wishes to participate and strongly encourages joining. The jam circles popping up around campus are guaranteed to stay for as long as humans enjoy the sound of music, which will likely be through eternity. If you see a group playing, don't hesitate to take a seat and listen in on them; they love to play for a crowd.
eeks I've seen many of these improvised jam circles being set up by students on campus. On Norlin Quad the other night I witnessed a group of about ten students playing all sorts of various instruments and singing along with one another. At least one group of freshman lounging on Farrand Field can be spotted having a nice jam sesh almost every afternoon after classes are out. The undercurrent pushing this activity along is simply people wanting to practice and play with others who enjoy their same liking. Its a fun way to meet people and express ones individuality. The circles are always welcoming anyone who wishes to participate and strongly encourages joining. The jam circles popping up around campus are guaranteed to stay for as long as humans enjoy the sound of music, which will likely be through eternity. If you see a group playing, don't hesitate to take a seat and listen in on them; they love to play for a crowd.
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