Highball Bouldering: How High Is High, and When to Toprope Instead

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The Mountain Project page for Li-Yang bouldering in Taiwan says two things. The riverbed landings are mostly good and the area suits beginners, with problems mostly V0 to V5. The same area also has an 8 to 9 metre highball whose main line is still a V8/9 project.

One riverbed holds boulders that are fine for your first outdoor session and one boulder in a completely different risk class. This post is about the second kind.

This is post 3 of the Outdoor Bouldering series, and the last one. The earlier posts are crash pads and spotting, topos and descents, and Taiwan's bouldering areas. Landing technique and ankle injuries are in Bouldering Falls and Ankle Injuries.

How high is high: no fixed answer

There is no agreed height at which a boulder becomes a highball.

• Climbing's highball guide, built around Jason Kehl, calls 15 feet (about 4.5 m) the "gym line": every boulder has an invisible red line, and above it the price of a mistake is a sprained ankle, a hurt knee, or a compressed spine.
• In a Mountain Project forum thread, people answered 10 feet, 15 feet, and 15 to 20 feet. Others used a different definition: anything above the height where falling onto pads is still low risk.
• In the same thread, people pointed out that the landing and the position of the crux matter too. A 35-foot boulder whose crux is around 15 feet, with a good landing and easy ground above, may not count as a highball. A 20-foot boulder with a rock beside the landing and serious climbing after the crux usually does.
• Someone also borrowed rope-climbing protection ratings: a highball is roughly an R, meaning a fall will likely hurt you but probably won't kill you. R and X are explained in Reading Grades and Protection Ratings.

So "how many metres is it" is only the first question. Then ask: Is the landing flat? Are there rocks or a slope beside it? How high is the hardest move? After the crux, could you still fall?

Before your next trip: next time you see an outdoor boulder taller than the highest wall in your gym, ignore the grade and answer those four questions in order. If any answer makes you hesitate, prepare as you would for a highball: more pads, look at the top out from above, or set a toprope. This is experience-based consensus, not a fixed rule.

Why pads and spotting stop working

You can't catch them

Climbing's 2021 reader Q&A column is blunt: unless you're a superhero, you can't catch someone falling from 10 feet, so don't try.

Spotters get hurt too

Kehl's guide quotes another veteran boulderer, Boone Speed: the higher the problems go, the "more dangerous for the spotter". Real examples:

• In an American Alpine Club (AAC) accident report published in 2022, a climber fell about 15 feet, landed about a foot off the pads and partly on the spotter, who ended up with heavy bruising on his torso.
• In an AAC report published in 2025, the climber had told the spotter beforehand to get out of the way once he passed the crux, reasoning that "two people injured is worse than one."

What a spot looks like up high

So spotting a highball is different from spotting low.

• Push them so they stay on the pads. The editor of the 2025 AAC report writes that the general rule in bouldering is to make sure a falling climber lands on the pads and stays on them; on a highball, a spot may look less like control and guidance and more like a hard shove, while protecting the head and neck.
• Get them upright and away from hazards. Kehl says the spotter's job is to get the climber landing feet first and push them away from obstacles or onto the pads; holding under the armpits or pushing the upper back works best.
• Pad-fu. Climbing's 2021 column describes it: once the ground is covered, a spotter holds another pad in the air, the climber hits it, slows down, and then lands. The column also says its effectiveness is debatable and may be more psychological comfort than protection. Kehl's guide reports the other side: on Squampton, his spotters held a pad up "like firemen holding a blanket", and when he hit it the air under the pad acted as a brake that "really cushioned the fall." Both views stand; there's no comparative study.
• Past a certain height, everyone backs off. Climbing's 2022 guide to bouldering safely says that on 55-foot mega-highballs everyone steps away once the climber passes a certain height: at that point they are effectively free soloing, and a spotter would only block the landing roll and put themselves in danger.

Evidence level: magazines, veteran boulderers and accident reports. No study has compared different highball spotting methods.

More pads, laid wider

The climber in the 2025 AAC report usually put six or more pads under this problem, spread wide. On the day of the accident he had five, laid narrower. He fell from about 15 feet, his left foot hit rock and his right foot hit the pad, and he badly sprained it. Afterwards he concluded he should have had more pads covering the landing, thin pads over the gaps, and that he shouldn't have told his spotter to move. The report also notes several sprains on the same problem that season.

Before your next trip: under a taller problem, lay out every pad you have, then ask someone to stand near the top of the boulder and look down (walk up the side, don't climb up) and point to where a fall from the highest move would land. You'll usually find the fall zone is bigger than what you laid.

Top outs and descents: many accidents happen at the end

In several AAC reports, the accident didn't happen on the hardest move. It happened at the end.

• AAC 2022 report, Canada. Two climbers went to scout a new bouldering area. Because they mostly planned to scramble around the hillside, each brought only one pad. One of them climbed an unclimbed highball of about 20 feet, reached the top but couldn't get over it, and decided to downclimb. Two moves down, his right handhold broke; he landed off the pads, and his talus dislocated and came out the side of his foot (an open dislocation). Afterwards he said that next time he'd bring more pads and check the top out from above before climbing anything too tall to fall from.
• 1989, Colorado, USA (AAC 1990). Three people were waiting for another party when one of them wandered off alone to "warm up bouldering" on a nearby face. About five or six metres up, a hold came off and he realised he was higher than he meant to be. Unable to downclimb and unwilling to go higher, he finally jumped, badly bruising his heel; he couldn't climb for several months. (AAC 1990)

A few lessons from these two:

• Look from above or from the side first. Are there holds on the top out? Is the top still dirty or sandy? The climber in the 2022 report got stuck on a holdless, dirty mantle (the press-up move to get over the lip).
• Know the way down. After topping out, where do you walk off? Can you downclimb? Finding the descent on the topo, covered in post 1, is a required step on a highball.
• Outdoor holds break. Especially on new, rarely climbed problems. Test every hold again on the way down.
• Don't climb high alone. The 1989 climber was by himself.

Far from a signal

The two climbers in the 2022 report had no cell service and no satellite device. The partner ran to his car to find a signal and call for help. The injured climber waited five minutes, then scooted on his butt and knees down the talus to his van and drove toward town, meeting an ambulance coming the other way. He says his doctor told him that the sooner the surgery, the better the chance of saving the foot. He also thinks no doctor would recommend walking out or driving in that state.

Many of Taiwan's bouldering areas are in the mountains or in riverbeds. Before you go, save the emergency numbers from Crag First Aid and Emergency Response, and make sure everyone knows where the car is parked and where there's a signal.

Before your next trip: before your next problem with a top out, walk up the side or back and stand on top once: where's the last hold, where do your feet go after the mantle, and which side do you walk off?

Working up gradually

If you decide to climb a taller boulder, Kehl's approach is to practise falls gradually: climb one move and fall off, then two moves and fall off, and keep going up. He says practising those falls first is what gives him the confidence to commit to moves up high. He also always checks the pads and places the spotters himself.

Think through the fall before two kinds of move in particular:

• Heel hooks. On a highball, Kehl's advice is to avoid fancy footwork like heel hooks altogether, because a slipping heel hook can send you down spinning like a helicopter. Lower down, before you heel hook, ask: if my hand slips, can I release the heel in time to land feet first? If you're not sure you'll stick the next move, hook lightly or find a sequence that doesn't need it. Heel hook technique itself is in Knees and Heel Hooks.
• Dynos. The worst case is catching the hold for a moment, your feet cutting, and your body twisting off. Kehl first taps the target hold tentatively and takes repeated feet-first falls from up high, getting to know both the move and the fall before he really goes for it.

Fear of falling is a separate topic, and this post doesn't cover exposure practice. Working up gradually assumes you've already decided the boulder is within what pads and spotting can handle. If it isn't, the next section is the answer.

Toprope it: most people's default

There's no shame in it

Climbing's 2021 column ends with one line: "Toprope, my friend." Its reasons:

• A toprope is safer than spotting a highball.
• It needs less gear and only one partner.
• It usually has less environmental impact. The column notes that building a flat landing for a highball often means flattening or clearing bushes and small trees, digging out rocks, and filling holes.

The column also says highballing suits only a few people: those with a pile of pads who are strong and calm enough to rarely or never fall from above 20 feet.

Kehl's guide also notes that John Gill, the most respected figure in bouldering, toproped many of his hardest problems. Boone Speed says that rather than hauling a hundred pounds of pads and a crowd of spotters to a highball, you can set a toprope: lighter, simpler, and it needs only one other person.

Before you set a toprope

• You need a solid anchor at the top and someone who knows how to rig it. This site's Top-Rope Anchor Setup covers two-bolt anchors; if there are no bolts and you have to build an anchor from your own gear, see Building Anchors.
• Whoever rigs it walks up the side; don't climb up to rig it.
• Belay basics are in Learning to Top-Rope Belay in the Gym.

Or don't climb it

Climbing's 2022 guide, discussing landing preparation, says not every boulder is worth a major effort. If the problem is mediocre and only you will ever climb it, consider a low-impact approach: a toprope, or not climbing it at all.

Before your next trip: agree on a rule with your usual outdoor partners: if a problem is taller than a height you've agreed in advance, or the landing has problems, the default is a toprope or a different boulder, with no debate on the spot.

Helmets: a question, not a consensus

An AAC accident report published in 2017 describes an experienced boulderer who came off a hard highball he had rehearsed several times on toprope. He fell 20 to 30 feet, landed on the pads at a bad angle, and tumbled about 70 feet down a steep slope, injuring his wrist, head, back and calf. The editor wrote two lines: "All bouldering falls are ground falls." And: "A helmet for highballing might be worth considering?"

That's a question. None of the other sources cited here recommend helmets for highballs or discuss their pros and cons. So the question is left with you: on a boulder whose landing slopes away and where you could roll off the pads, how will you protect your head?

Practice: four scenarios

1. The problem is only V1, but it tops out about 6 metres up, and there's a big rock beside the landing.

2. You reach the top, can't get over, and decide to downclimb.

3. A friend under a 7-metre boulder has six people with their hands up ready to spot.

4. You're at Li-Yang, and a friend says, "The riverbed landing is great, I want to try that 8-metre one with four pads."

What's next

That's the end of the series. The four posts in order:

1. Post 0: crash pads and spotting: you'll use it on every attempt
2. Post 1: reading a topo and crag etiquette: finding problems at the crag and keeping it open
3. Post 2: Taiwan's bouldering areas: where to go first
4. Post 3 (this one): highballs, and when not to climb

To move from bouldering to rope climbing, start with Your First Outdoor Sport Lead.

References

• Li-Yang Bouldering (Mountain Project)
• What do you consider highball bouldering? (Mountain Project forum)
• Your Complete Guide to Highball Bouldering (Climbing, 2022, originally in Rock and Ice)
• Should You Spot Highball Boulder Problems? (Climbing, 2021)
• Everything You Need to Know to Boulder Safely (Climbing, 2022)
• Bouldering Fall — Poor Pad Placement, Texas, Hueco Tanks (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2025)
• Bouldering Fall — Missed Pads, British Columbia, Bootleg Boulders (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2022)
• Highball Bouldering Fall, Utah, Big Cottonwood Canyon (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2017)
• No Rope, Climbing Alone, Unable to Downclimb, Jumped, Colorado, Boulder Canyon (Accidents in North American Mountaineering, 1990)
• Reading Grades and Protection Ratings
• Top-Rope Anchor Setup
• Building Anchors
• Learning to Top-Rope Belay in the Gym
• Knees and Heel Hooks
• Bouldering Falls and Ankle Injuries
• Crag First Aid and Emergency Response
• Your First Outdoor Sport Lead