A Skateboarder’s Guide To Bouldering With Poppy Starr
Portrait by Brendan Frost, Below photography by Wade Mclaughlin
Poppy Star is incredible.
She’s a pro skateboarder, she skates for Worble, the company of fun, Cobra Man, the Mull brothers and the illusive Manramp. She was a guest quizmaster on the Australian TV show Have You Been Paying Attention, something my sister told me about as soon as I said we were doing this interview, it is very cool, I must admit. She’s a pretty big deal in Australia, an Olympic superstar and a spokesperson for skateboarding in the country, especially after her fifth-place finish in the Olympic park competition. She’s at the start of what is going to be an incredible career.
She is all that. But anyway, this interview isn’t about any of that, it’s about her about her new obsession, Bouldering. So welcome back to the ‘A Skateboarders Guide To’ series – a series where I talk to skateboarders about something that has nothing to do with skateboarding. Here is Poppy’s great guide to bouldering aka indoor climbing aka the coolest sport of the last five years. Here’s all you need to know before you get to your local gym for your climbing debut.
What is bouldering?
Well, bouldering is a bunch of fake rocks on a wall and there are different routes you can find to climb from the bottom fake rock to the top fake rock. There are also outdoor climbs, where there are real rocks.
Have you ever gone on an outdoor climb?
No, but I am so keen. I found out that one of my best friends in Newcastle goes all the time and I had no idea. I go to this indoor bouldering gym religiously in Newcastle, a couple times a week.
How did you get into bouldering?
I was in Italy for a comp last year and my family came over for a family holiday after the comp. My sister, Kip and I love cliff jumping, so we would go to all these different beaches and swim out to all these cliffs. To jump off the cliffs we would have to climb up them and we realised that half the fun was climbing up the rocks. I was like to Kip, ‘We should do rock climbing, this is so much fun’. When we got home, we went to this indoor bouldering place and now we are so obsessed.
Had you ever rock-climbed with harnesses before you started bouldering?
Yeah, my dad would take my brother and my sister to this indoor climbing place when we were little. I remember going a lot as kids, but I hadn’t done it in fifteen years or something like that.
Is there an ideal outfit for bouldering?
I’ve seen so many different outfits. I’ve just got some little Patagonia shorts and whatever shirt that I want to wear. I’ve seen this guy in the gym who is always wearing Dickies and now I want to try climb in my Dickies [laughs]. I don’t really know how he does that, because you are moving your body in lots of weird, nimble ways so usually stretchy pants are best, but I kind of want to try it because he looks cool.
Do you have your own climbing shoes?
Yeah, Kip and I would rent them every time we went and then we became so obsessed that we got some for Christmas.
How important is chalk when you’re climbing?
It’s so important, at the start when your hands aren’t used to it, you’re always ripping your callouses off. It helps with the grip and not to cut your hands.
Yeah, the cuts you get on your hands seem so gnarly, everyone I talk to about it says their hands just get destroyed.
Yeah, my sister has an album on her phone of all of our ripped hands and our injuries so far. She bearhugged this massive hold the other day and ripped all our arms but it’s so much fun [laughs].
Have you had any injuries from bouldering?
I’ve fallen from some pretty high up but gotten away with it. It is definitely scary when you get right to the top hold and miss it and fall two metres. I have watched some national bouldering competitions and I have seen some pretty gnarly slams.
How high is it at the top of the wall?
At my gym, it is like two metres. I have seen some other gyms where it gets really high and that would be so scary. Even though it’s on a mat if you fall a little bit weird and faceplant it would suck. I saw this video of a guy who fell off the top and scorpioned.
What are some bouldering dos and don’ts?
Kip and I go with our dad because he is just as hooked as us. He has ADHD and is always on the go. He is always embarrassing in general but when we go bouldering he is in his prime, he does everything you aren’t supposed to do and is just so excited. All the don’ts are what my dad does. He will stand under all the climbers; mapping out all his routes without realising there is a climber right above him that could fall on him. He yells at us when we are on the wall, he is like ‘Go there, go there’. He is like a little cockroach he just rushes all his climbs, trying to do it as fast as he can. He will see someone do something and try to show them up. He’s such an embarrassing dad but you know, he’s sixty and he is doing climbs that Kip and I can’t do, so he is pretty good at it. It’s really impressive. He is super fit for a sixty-year-old.
Some dos, I don’t know, I still feel like a poser, I’ve only been doing it for a few months. Patience is important though. Randomly, one of my friends was Australia’s National bouldering champion last year, so he gave me some tips. The last time we went together, he told me that it is all about movement, it’s not just about your upper body, you need to use the power in your legs.
Woah that is awesome. What’s your friend's name?
Ben Abel, he is really good. The gym Kip and I go to goes from level one to ten and Kip and I just got our first seven the other day.
Damn, congrats!
Thank you! It was a big day. Kip was like to Ben ‘Which ones can’t you do?’ and he was just like ‘I can do them all’. He really could, it was so wild.
How do you plan your routes?
It’s similar to skating, it’s like learning a new trick, and there’s lots of trial and error. The first time I don’t map it too much I just kind of start, try to test it out, feel what went wrong, and then try to plan it out a bit. It’s always fun going with friends because when you’re on the wall and something isn’t working, they can see it from the ground and can be like ‘Put your right foot there’.
Does bouldering help you skate?
I think so. I am a big fan of trying so many new things and I think that all helps me with skating. It is nice to have something else that isn’t skating, that’s really fun to take my mind off it especially while I have the pressure of the Olympics. It is also making me a lot stronger as well, so that helps in some way too.
Do you think skateboarding makes you a better climber?
Yeah, I think skating has helped me more with climbing than climbing has helped me with skating. Even going with my sister, I can notice that she is more scared of certain things whereas I am not as scared to go for jumps and go for the higher ones because I know how to fall. It is scary for her because she isn’t used to falling and hurting herself.
Okay, so. If you could pick five skaters to go bouldering with, who would they be?
Sean Thomas Ryan because I love him. When he comes to Newcastle, we go bouldering together and it’s so funny. Adelaide Norris she actually messaged me the other day and said she is going to start bouldering, I got so excited. I get so excited when anyone ever tells me they like bouldering [laughs]. Hayley Wilson would be super fun to go with, sometimes when she slams it’s just so dumb and funny. Taniah Meyers she is a super good skater, she is usually just good at everything so it would be fun to go with her. Marley Rae he is a crazy guy, and he has so much energy, he would be so fun to go with. He was telling me the other day that he used to do a lot of climbing when he was really young. He had these pictures of him at the top of these massive walls.
Is there a Tony Hawk-like figure in the bouldering world?
I watched this Netflix documentary about this guy, Alex Honnold who is a free solo climber and he was trying to climb this massive cliff face in America. It is so insane it takes him hours and hours to get up to the top, I have only seen that one video of him, I’m not sure if he is like Tony Hawk, but I’d say it's him because he is so gnarly.
Have you noticed any similarities between bouldering and skateboarding?
Yeah, I have. There is a lot. I am always finding when I am climbing it is like skating a lot. When you are trying a new climb, there are a lot of elements similar to skating. When you are trying to work out these new routes and get into all these different holds, it is really difficult, and it is a lot of mental strength and being brave enough to commit to the next hold. Fear, strength and muscle memory, are lots of key things that remind me of skating.
Do you have a favourite bouldering moment?
In my gym, it goes from one to ten, and the difficulty goes up by the number. My sister, dad and I were up to the sixes, then one time I saw this seven and I just tried it and first try I got to the top. No one was there, so I was yelling from the top of the wall at the other side of the gym at Kip. She couldn’t hear me, so I got down and got her and made her watch me do it again. We were squealing and all excited because it was such a big moment. Then she tried it a few times and did it, then my dad did it too. We all got our very first seven and we were all so excited. It was so awesome.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into bouldering?
Go with a friend. It is really fun if you go with a friend or a couple of friends, especially for the first time, it’s less intimidating. A bunch of people seem to be climbing at the moment, so if you have a friend that climbs it would be super beneficial because they can give you the run down and some tips. Also, don’t just go for the really hard climbs, start from the lower ones and learn the techniques to work your way up instead of just skipping steps. It is really satisfying when you work your way up.