Got a routesetting question you’d like answered? See if we’ve covered it already in a past Ask a Setter, and then email us your question here. For more routesetting coverage, be sure to check out the Behind the Wrench interviews, Truth Behind the Trade series, and more routesetting content here.

QUESTION: How much do USAC certifications matter for commercial routesetters?

ANDERSON: I’ve been asked variations of this question many times over the years. It seems as though everyone has an opinion, sometimes a strong one, either in support of the USA Climbing (USAC) Level Certifications or against them. To really understand the significance and value of these certifications, we need to first understand them better.

First off, they were never really intended to be the training vehicle for commercial routesetters. As with any professional sports program, it’s important that the professionals governing, organizing and executing affiliated sporting events comply with a set of rules, standards and expectations. Since routesetters shape much of the playing field at climbing events, they are no different. They need to understand the many facets of these events, and they need to be able to perform their roles in a consistent, efficient and expected manner from event to event. The Levels program provides an avenue for setters to learn the basics, progress through different phases of exposure to the criteria required by these events, and then move on to the next phase only when they’ve shown adequate proficiency at a given level.

If this is the nature of the program, how can the USAC Level Certifications have value to setters working in an everyday, non-competition gym environment? I would argue that they have a huge amount of value—to a point.

Fundamental Skills

The first two Levels (L1 and L2) are obtained through successful completion of clinics led by USAC National routesetters and by showing a good understanding of the skills expected of that level during the clinic. Although in general these clinics are geared toward teaching setters the skills needed for Local and QE-level competition events, there is a wealth of basic setting and rope management skills discussed and taught at the clinics. These skills translate directly and well to commercial setting environments.

Aside from shoring up the basics, you will also work as part of a group of up to 20 other setters from around the country at Level One clinics. Witnessing the habits of so many other similarly skilled setters can also go a long way toward fortifying a wide range of setting skills. Level Two clinics provide a 1:6 instructor to setter ratio, giving an even greater personal training experience.

If you are interested in attending one of the Level One or Two clinics, there is an application process. More information on these clinics can be found on the USAC website here.

There are no clinics for Level Three (L3) and above. These certifications are achieved by working at the required number of events as an Intern, Apprentice or Assistant. Level Three and above are further divided into either a Bouldering (B), Lead (L) or both (B/L) certification. These levels of certification do not translate well to commercial environments and really only make sense to pursue if your desired career path includes setting for championship level competitions.

So, why should a commercial setter pursue USAC Level certifications? I would argue that, aside from the above benefits, there are a handful of other benefits as well.

Employment Requirements

Some gyms prefer or require setting position candidates to hold Level certs. Even if the gym you’re hoping to work for does not require them, holding certs can help you to stand out from other applicants. The certs show adherence to and possession of an accepted standard of experience in the setting arena. They are also indicative of a person who is invested in advancing their skills and has a desire to become better overall at their craft—something that every employer likes to see in the members of their team.

In-House Event Chiefing

If your gym is going to act as a host facility for a USAC-sanctioned climbing event, there will be a requirement to have a Chief Routesetter of a certain Level to oversee the setting for that event. Having a setter of that Level on staff will help avoid the cost of paying for the travel and lodging of an outside setter. It might also make your facility more attractive as a potential host facility when the competition schedule is planned by USAC.

Management and Organizational Skills

With the Level Two and above certs, a fair amount of emphasis is put on competition and event planning, organization and execution. Development of these skills can benefit routesetters greatly and directly transfers into planning a gym’s routesetting efforts and events. These skills are especially relevant if the setter in question acts as a Head Setter and is interacting directly with facility owners and other management staff.

Financial Benefits

Often, holding certs of a different Level will allow a setter to command a higher pay scale. Another benefit would be if you work for a facility that pays for trade development of its staff. Having your gym pay for you to attend a Level clinic, or to be a part of a setting team at an event in the pursuit of your next Level, is a great way to expand your experience, skills and professional status without having to pay the associated costs out of your own pocket.

Networking and Travel Setting

Whether you are looking to possibly change gyms down the road or not, going through the Level clinics gives you the opportunity to meet new setters from different parts of the country. This networking can lead to personal references attesting to your skill level as well as opportunities for guest or competition setting at your colleagues’ worksites. It also provides those other setters with similar benefits through their association with you.

Other Educational Opportunities

While the USAC program does have benefits for commercial routesetters, there is definitely still the need for a similar program in the U.S. that can focus more specifically on the job duties and demands of commercial routesetting. There have been many groups and individuals over the years who have talked about and tried getting something along these lines going, but there’s not a comparable program in place yet. I would imagine that we will see something put in place in the coming years, given all the advancements being made to further professionalize the trade—the CWA Routesetting Committee, for instance, has been developing various new resources for commercial setters, such as the Intro to Routesetting clinic that debuted around the 2023 CWA Summit and the new Routesetting Guide—but until then I would encourage all interested setters to proactively seek out opportunities to push your personal setting forward.

There are lots of private setting clinics, courses, workshops and other offerings being organized each year by gyms, individuals and groups of setters—such as Louie Anderson Climbing, the Routesetting Institute, Syndicate Routesetting, Thread Climbing, The B.I.G. Initiative and Siege Climbing—as well as other trade development opportunities like the Setter Showdown and the Setter Summit. Not only do these events provide hands-on training, but they also allow you to work with setters from other areas and to regain motivation and passion to do the best that you can in your own setting environment.

The post Ask a Setter: Why USAC Certifications Matter appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Got a routesetting question you’d like answered? See if we’ve covered it already in a past Ask a Setter, and then email us your question here.

QUESTION: It seems like there is always someone who is climbing and setting harder than me, and I want to be able to set for climbers at all levels. What advice do you have for setting climbs that are harder than you can climb?

ANDERSON: Everyone will undoubtedly have a situation in their setting career where they are called upon to set something harder than their normal climbing level. There’s no need to be apprehensive about this challenge, as there are a few ways to approach the task that will help make the resulting climb the best it can be.

Start With What You Know

Slightly downsize hand and foot hold sizes from what you would normally use on a climb that’s at your personal limit. The same movement patterns set with harder-to-use holds will for sure get you a harder version of your climb. How much less positive the holds are that you select will equate to how much harder the final climb is than what you might normally set.

Aside from the positivity of the holds selected, you can also choose to play with the orientation of the hand and foot holds. Making things a little more directional, or moving them a little out of the optimum orientation for the proposed movement, is another great way to bump up the difficulty.

Finally, consider using less-supportive footholds, or moving them into a position that does not provide the same degree of opposition for the intended movement that they are paired with.

Repeated Crux Sequences

Sometimes harder climbs will have singular moves or sequences that make them more challenging to complete, but often the difficulty will come from a sustained series of moves and sequences instead. These latter challenges are perfect for someone like yourself who is trying to set harder climbs than you are used to.

When setting this type of climb, you can set a series of mini cruxes throughout the climb. Each of these crux sequences would be comparable to the single crux of something that you would normally set at the upper end of your own personal ability level. Once you have these sequences set, you need only ensure that there are feasible and logical transitions connecting them all. With more cruxes, your climb should be more likely to hit the target of an upper grade level.

Work With a Partner

Work with another setter who sets harder climbs to co-set the climb. Ask questions throughout the process when things don’t make sense or when you aren’t sure why certain things are being done. This is a great learning opportunity, when you still have a voice in what is being set.

Make sure that you aren’t a passive participant in this team effort, that you’re not just along for the ride. Unless you are actively suggesting holds and sequences and being a part of what is proposed to the climber, the benefits to your development as a setter will be greatly diminished.

Visualize What Is Possible

What moves are you almost capable of doing? What harder moves do you see your friends succeeding on? Focus on trying to set these types of moves, or something similar to them, and see where you end up difficulty wise. Once you understand what is possible and likely, it’s usually just a matter of experimentation and tweaking to make it all work.

All of the setters who routinely set harder climbs start with an idea, and then they make adjustments until it works. Not many people throw holds on the wall and have it work on their first try with no modification. Accept the process, and don’t hold yourself to such a rigid expectation of success.

Forerunning

Every modern setting team should have a system in place to forerun what is put on the wall before it is released to the general public. Talk to your Head Setter and share with them your desire to set harder climbs than you might normally be assigned. Once you have an assignment, do your best to put something valuable on the wall, and then rely on your team and the forerunning process to make the tweaks necessary to get the climb where it needs to be. As with any collaborative effort, make sure you understand why tweaks are being made and how they affect the climbing in question. The more you can become an active participant, the more you will understand the principles involved, and hopefully the less tweaking of your climbs will be required in the future.

Sample Harder Climbs

Whether at your own gym or another facility, getting on harder climbs will help you realize how other setters are achieving certain grades. Be specific in your critiquing of the climbs you get on. How positive and what size of holds are they using? What kind of sequences do they demand? How sustained are they?

Once you have some first-hand examples to relate to, try to set your own version of (or a variation of) that climb on your walls and see what kind of success you achieve.

Be Honest With Yourself

Finally, be honest with yourself regarding your strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself why you can’t do the climb. If it’s just a lack of flexibility, body tension, finger strength, etc., and that is an area of weakness for you, then it’s likely that someone stronger in those areas could succeed on the climb.

Conversely, if the style matches your strengths and you still can’t do the moves, it might be harder than you think for people without your strengths (even if they climb at a higher level).

There is often a very fine line when setting outside your range, and it’s very easy to cross it. The more you practice finding the right balance, the more you will become aware and comfortable with what the moves should feel like, even if you can’t personally do them.

As I said in the beginning, don’t be afraid of the opportunity to push your setting levels. It’s a chance to see what you’re capable of, to learn some new tricks, and to gain confidence in your overall abilities. Throw yourself out there and see what you can do. Like any other new pursuit, seek out feedback from trusted peers: How well did you hit the grade? What did they like about your setting? In what ways could you improve or better hit the target grade?

Routesetters around the world set outside their comfort zone on a regular basis―there is absolutely no reason that you can’t do the same with consistent success.

The post Ask a Setter: How to Set Harder Than You Climb appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Got a routesetting question you’d like answered? See if we’ve covered it already in a past Ask a Setter, and then email us your question here.

QUESTION: You’ve talked before about tricks for keeping easier climbs interesting and not just jug ladders. On the flip side, what are some tricks for setting harder climbs?

ANDERSON: Setting harder climbs isn’t as challenging as it sounds, really. As with any setting skill, practice makes perfect, and it helps to break it down into its parts. When setting harder climbs, we just need to look at the different ways of approaching our propositions to the climbing community. There are several areas that we can focus on (and modify) that will have a direct impact on the overall difficulty of the climbs we set.

Movement Complexity

In easier climbing, basic movement is usually very intuitive and natural. One way to engage the climber more and to challenge them in a more difficult manner is to break away from the obvious norms of climbing movement. Consider utilizing more directional hold placements that require the climber’s body to rotate and engage with the holds in a more complex manner. Sometimes introducing bumps, cross-overs, rose moves, gastons, underclings and toe/heel hooks can be enough to radically change the way in which a body will move through a given set of holds or sequences within your climb.

Oftentimes the opposition required to use handholds is found in the relationship between the foot and handholds themselves, where the feet are driving the body into the handhold and providing a stable feeling of support through the skeletal and muscular system. Feel free to experiment with where that needed opposition comes from. Perhaps introducing more of a compression sequence (compressing with either the hands, the feet, or both), or expansion sequence (think stemming or opposing gastons) will provide a different challenge and engage different muscle groups, resulting in a different type of fatigue, pump, or general physical challenge than what a given climber might be used to or expect to encounter.

Hold Orientation

Every movement has an optimum hold orientation for comfort, ergonomics, and ease of use. Consider rotating the holds slightly away from this optimum orientation. Sometimes even just a few degrees of rotation will drastically change not only how the hold is grasped and utilized, but will also force a climber into a different body position to allow for adequate use of the hold. Rotating the hold clockwise or counterclockwise can also require the climber to find a different way to obtain the necessary opposition to engage and use a hold positively. The more the hold is rotated, the more pronounced these effects will be.

Relationship Between Foot and Handhold Placement

On less challenging climbs, the footholds are often situated in exactly the best spot and orientation to support the proposed move. By moving the position of the holds higher and closer to the body, you can often force the climber into a slightly more dynamic approach to the move at hand. Conversely, by keeping the footholds further to the side, or possibly a little lower than optimum, you can introduce a more static and core-intensive approach to the same move. Be careful though with this latter approach as you will often walk a fine line between your intended effect and introducing some height dependency into your move.

Another approach for affecting the difficulty of a move or sequence with footholds is to orient them in a way that requires the climber to push a little more into them (instead of just standing on them) or to wrap and pull with their toes to engage with them. These changes can be achieved with small rotations of the footholds, even if they are still in the optimum placement in relation to the handholds and the body’s position on the climb.

Foothold Size and Security

An obvious other option when looking at footholds as the tool to increase difficulty is to make them lower-profile or less positive overall. A shallower foothold (even if it’s still positive) will require the climber to more precisely place their foot and edge onto the hold, or to use less of their foot to engage with the hold―both of which offer a far less stable platform from which to move. Using a less positive foothold will change the climber’s body position and usually require a much slower movement through a sequence, promote a quick exit from the foothold, or encourage dynamic movement off of it―all of which again affect the climber’s sense of stability and support through a move or sequence.

Hold Positivity

Perhaps the easiest way to directly affect the difficulty of a climb is to use less-positive holds. This strategy doesn’t necessary mean replacing jugs with the worst slopers or smallest crimps in your hold inventory; there are lots of degrees of positivity between those two extremes. A hold can be less positive and harder to use if it’s less incut, larger radiused, or if it has more complicated and harder to read gripping surfaces or sweet spots. You can sometimes also experiment with requiring the climber to use two (or more) holds together to get the security needed for the move. Explore how introducing changes in these aspects affects the overall difficulty of your climb.

Play with subtle changes in hold positivity throughout the length of your climb. Perhaps the holds will gradually become shallower or flatten out as a climber progresses through the climb, increasing the challenge in a progressive way. Or maybe it makes more sense to give a climber fairly positive holds and to then hit them with a similar looking hold that is drastically less positive, making the crux of your climb more pronounced. This especially works well if the move to that hold is dynamic or long, thereby taking away the expected reward that the climber is used to receiving when executing these types of moves. Or maybe give the climber less-positive holds leading to a complex sequence that is hard to execute, but that provides the climber with a more positive target hold to give that reward. Both of these tactics are ways in which you can introduce mental stress into the movement challenges of your climb, upping the difficulty slightly as a side effect.

Blocking

Another common trend recently is to block holds. This can be done with either footholds or handholds, and is usually achieved in one of two ways. The first way is to stack a blocker hold directly over the usable portion of the intended hold. This stacking generally makes the hold less usable and positive, by blocking the deeper portion of the hold. The other usual method of blocking a hold is to space a blocker a short distance away from the usable portion of the hold. This often creates a type of slot feature, where more precision is required to grab or step on the hold. It will also often limit how much of your hand, foot or fingers can gain purchase on the intended hold.

Dynamic Complexity

Some will argue that this style isn’t “real” climbing, but we are all now familiar with the more complex and “parkour” approaches to dynamic climbing that we’ve seen in climbing competitions recently. When you first start setting this type of movement, it can be challenging to achieve the desired outcome, but I would suggest partnering with another setter who does this well and adding it to your setting repertoire. At its core, setting more dynamic moves is just a tweak on the normal concept of opposition. Instead of applying a more static and consistent support for a move or use of a particular hold, this style of setting allows certain holds and movements to temporarily support and redirect the climber’s momentum and movement through the holds and sequence.

Once you start playing with the concepts, you will find that there are underlying patterns and formulas to making it all work. Especially if you work in an older or more traditional facility, introducing this type of movement and proposition to the gym’s clientele is a great way to not only provide an alternate type of difficulty offering, but to also allow the facility’s climbers to progress in their understanding of climbing movement. Common types of this movement can include paddle dynos, multiple target holds, presses, swinging toe or heel hook catches, run across sequences, etc.

Momentum Generation

Providing comfortable and stable body positions from which to initiate a movement is common in lower levels of climbing. Conversely, taking away that stable and comfortable box for the climber’s body to operate in is a good way to build subtle difficulty into your sequence or climb. Forcing the climber to find the correct way to gain that missing oppositional support and generate momentum for a move can often be enough on its own to gain the difficulty you’re looking for in a climb. Sometimes this can be described as a climb being “funky,” but it usually is more about taking away a climber’s stability, or not providing the driving hand or foothold positioning that they would normally expect and rely on to start a movement.

Hard to Use/Control Finishing Holds

There is another trend in both competition and commercial setting to require a match on a finish hold (or set of holds) to successfully complete a climb. Making this hold hard to match, or requiring a unique body or balance position to unweight one of the hands to allow for the match, is a great way to introduce a final difficulty challenge into your climb. This does not always mean using a bad sloper or less-positive hold as the final hold. Difficult matches can also be achieved by having to press over or up into a more positive and higher profile hold to get the stability to match.

In a nutshell, harder climbing is generally more challenging, less stable, more cryptic, and requires a greater arsenal of movement awareness to succeed on than easier climbing. The more you can introduce unique and different ways of making your climbs challenging and difficult, the more your setting will be appreciated by more climbers. Anyone can grab “bad” holds and place them far apart to achieve difficulty. To some degree, that trick can still be worth trying from time to time, but overall it’s an outdated trend.

As we continue to understand body mechanics and climbing movement better, the setting industry needs to do better. We are the ones teaching indoor climbers how to progress and become better climbers overall. We should be proposing sequences and moves that make our climbers scratch their heads from time to time, before they decipher our sequences and expand their own skill sets. Show them what you’re capable of and allow them to also realize what they’re capable of as a result.

The post Ask a Setter: Tricks for Setting Harder Climbs appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Got a routesetting question you’d like answered? See if we’ve covered it already in a past Ask a Setter, and then email us your question here.

QUESTION: How is routesetting different for a locals comp, a bouldering league, and the usual gym turnover? Any specific tips?

The setting focus for all these scenarios can vary slightly, but there are also similarities. Regardless of which purpose you’re planning to set for, special attention should be placed on understanding the climbing levels and styles of your customer base and the competitors coming to the event. Knowing your audience more fully will allow you and your team to set appropriate challenges for the intended user groups, and will allow for a greater involvement with, and satisfaction within, your clientele.

We will talk more specifically about each situation below, but in general the setting focus for all of them should always include diverse climbing challenges, a good blend of aesthetic variety, and some attention to making the climbing accessible to all climbers.

Regular Gym Setting

A good setting team understands the facility’s customer base. This not only includes the climbing levels that climbers in the gym regularly succeed on, but also their interest in training, learning new styles, or pushing themselves on harder challenges. Based on this information, a disbursement plan can be created that suggests how many climbs of each grade or circuit could be set in the gym at any given time. This plan will usually have fewer climbs in the lowest and highest grades, and more climbs at the levels where most of the gym users spend the majority of their climbing time. These levels will vary from facility to facility, but the peak of the bell curve on the plan will usually fall around V4 or 5.10+/11-.

When first creating this setting plan, it’s important to monitor climber trends, solicit feedback, or otherwise check to see how appropriate the plan is. You can then make adjustments as needed. Oftentimes, gyms that have multiple training boards and equipment will opt to set fewer harder climbs on their walls. This strategy can sometimes be acceptable, but make sure that climbers are actually using the training options, and would not rather see more challenging climbs set also.

In general, I like to see a very diverse offering of climbs. This can include diversity in movement styles, hold types, crux styles (single crux, sustained climbing, multiple short cruxes, and differing RIC scale values), wall angles used, etc. Climbs at all levels will ideally be set all around the gym and include all options in these categories. The goal should always be to provide the facility’s climbers with the most diverse experience―regardless of their climbing level or current strengths.

When looking at everyday gym setting, there should also be a focus on accessibility. For example, no one size of climber (short or tall) should have undue advantages or struggles due to their size, which is especially pertinent when setting for children. This is not to say that every climb needs to be equitable. I believe that having reachy, scrunchy, or other types of climbs can often provide challenges that help climbers grow and progress into different styles of climbing than they might otherwise be exposed to or develop skills in. Unless your gym is very small, it’s perfectly acceptable to have outliers that do not appeal to everyone visiting the facility. But it is important that most climbs in a gym are fair and equitable; having 80% of the climbs falling into this category is a standard goal across the industry.

Bouldering Leagues

Since there are generally fewer problems involved in each session or round of a bouldering league than usual gym turnover, it’s even more important to ensure that you are providing a good diversity of climbing challenges for the participants. Different leagues are set up differently, and I would encourage you to try and do something unique with yours to set it apart and make it appealing to the broadest number of climbers as possible. Bouldering leagues often present a great opportunity to draw climbers from surrounding gyms and spark interest in your facility. If those climbers like what they climb on, it’s entirely feasible that some of them may become members at your gym as a result.

When planning your league’s “season,” there are a few ways to approach things. If your season only spans a short number of sessions, then you’ll probably need to keep the climbing proposals diverse and representative of the cross section of climbers participating. Conversely, if your season is a long one, you may be able to play with themed sessions, where a particular set might focus on specific styles of climbing (i.e., dynos, compy coordination problems, volume-heavy challenges, or super techy boulders). When doing this, it’s generally best to not give advance warning of what climbers should expect, as an added challenge. This approach takes the focus off of specific sessions, and shifts it even more than normal to a team’s performance over the entire season and a variety of intensified stylistic sessions.

Because league sessions will usually involve a limited number of problems, extra focus should be given to making the problems accessible and equitable for all sizes and groups of climbers. Remember also that these considerations do not just apply to height or reachiness, but also to elements such as hold radius sizes, specifically with regards to pinches and less positive holds.

In general, bouldering leagues are a great way for groups of friends to come together in a friendly competitive environment. Oftentimes the participants are climbers who may not normally compete in a more formal competition event. Because of this it’s important to keep the mood light and fun. Consider doing something cool and unique with the hold patterns, signage, or the styles of climbing you propose.

Additionally, league sessions are often a good time to introduce competition-style problems that folks might not normally be exposed to. The climbing could be slightly more progressive in difficulty than what your team might normally set, and can start to introduce slightly more complex challenges across the board. If your league sets different problems for different difficulty categories, it’s very important to nail down the grades and make sure there’s a good progression between different grades and categories. This is especially the case if you allow climbers to try problems outside their category.

A final thought on bouldering leagues is that their primary focus is usually on building community and providing a competitive environment in a more light-hearted way than a local competition event. With most setting considerations, the bouldering league standards and goals will fall somewhere between regular gym setting and competition setting. While you still want to see separation of successes across the different climbers and teams, this separation will come from the entire session or season of problems, instead of from a much smaller sampling of problems in a local competition.

Local Competitions

When setting for a local competition, it’s vitally important that the Head or Chief Setter understands the ability levels of the different climbers expected to participate. This understanding will help ensure that the team has set appropriate difficulty levels for the competition’s different categories on the big day.

The primary goal in these events is to separate climbing performances across each category to determine the winners in each one. The best way to achieve this objective is to propose vastly varied challenges to test the competitors. The climbing should be somewhat more progressive than that found in bouldering leagues, and there should be multiple fall points along the length of the climb. The climbs should also present different hold types, movement styles and wall angles across a given round, in order to test as many different facets of climbing mastery as possible. In a perfect event, the winner will be the one who has succeeded across several different styles of climbing, rather than the climber who is really good at just one or two styles.

Because there are usually far fewer climbs involved in a competition, it’s even more important to have an awareness of accessibility and fairness in the setting you put on the wall. Primarily, the climbs should be equitable to all sizes of climbers in a given category. Knowing your competitive field will help you better understand the size ranges you’re setting for. As mentioned earlier, this is particularly important when setting for youth climbers, since there is often a wide range of heights in a single category.

The current trend of competition setting includes a lot of coordination, presses, and jumpy movement. By all means these events provide an opportunity to set those styles, as the density of holds on the walls are generally much lower. Remember too, though, to include other challenges and movement styles. As said above, we want to determine the best all-around climber, not just the one who has mastered these “comp-style moves.”

Often the focus in competitions will be on the better climbers in the Open category, but care should be taken to allow for a similar level of focus when setting for the Recreational, Intermediate and Advanced categories as well. These climber groups are often much more representative of your gym’s usual clientele, and this event is an opportunity for them to shine as brightly as the strongest climbers in the region. Make sure to give them flashy climbs too, and an expertly set round that’s fair and fun.

The post Ask a Setter: Competition & League Setting vs. Regular Gym Turnover appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

It’s no secret that users of relatively easier climbs make up an important part of any gym community, and that keeping them engaged and coming back to the gym―especially providing options for new climbers to visit and enjoy the gym―is a large part of running a successful climbing facility. Because of this, it’s very important to aim for the same diversity in what routesetters offer to these users as is provided for users of relatively more challenging climbs. So how can we avoid setting the same old, stale jug ladder and provide better routes for this often underserved part of our gym communities? In this month’s article, we’re going to look at some good ways to do just that.

Got a routesetting question you’d like answered? See if we’ve covered it already in a past Ask a Setter, and then email us your question here.

QUESTION: What are some tricks to keep easier climbs interesting and not just ladders?

The historically standard formula for setting most easier climbs revolves around a more or less straight up and down ladder, set with jugs and chunky footholds. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with this, as it’s very accessible and gives beginning climbers in particular an easy entry into an activity that is new to them and something that their body is not yet used to. Most new climbers understand the thought of climbing a ladder and have the mobility to do so, and duplicating that kind of a challenge with holds on a climbing wall usually equates to instant success with beginners. Keep setting those by all means, but realize also that it’s important to challenge the users of easier climbs as well, and to give them and all climbers avenues towards not only improving physically, but to learning new techniques and movement. Providing this kind of route diversity should be our goal as well.

There are a few main areas that we have to work with when pursuing this goal: the holds used, the wall angles set on, and the movements proposed. Choosing one or more of these areas and straying from the routesetting norms in your facility are sure fire methods of mixing things up and obtaining the route diversity that is often lacking on easier climbs.

Holds

Add Variety

The standard “easy” climb is made up of the most positive jugs a setter can find in the hold room, but this does not need to be the case. Depending on the angle of wall that you’re setting on, you can often propose very secure and easier movement using large-surfaced flat holds or in-cut slopers as well. You can also sprinkle slightly less positive holds in with the jugs to add an element of commitment or pump throughout the climb. Adding some variety into the holds you choose to set with is a great way to mix things up and get away from the expected norms on less challenging climbs.

Use Volumes

With the state of the industry these days, most gyms have a healthy collection of volumes in their inventory. Consider using these on your easier climbs as well. Not only will it help users of these climbs to develop the skills related to climbing on them, but it will allow you to present a very different visual offering to this user group than what they are used to seeing. You can just about always get away with using less positive holds on the volumes as well.

Don’t Reserve Grips

In a similar way, you should not keep back all the biggest and most expensive holds for use on harder climbs. Instead challenge yourself and your setting team to use them across all difficulty levels, including the lower grades. Users of these routes will enjoy climbing on holds that they may not otherwise be able to experience, and they can add a lot of aesthetics to a possibly otherwise visually boring climb.

Play With Patterns

Consider also making patterns with the holds you use to provide more visual appeal. This can revolve around a cluster of similar looking or similar feeling holds, nesting several positive jugs into each other to create a fan feature, or using in-cut edges and other holds end to end to simulate a flake or tufa system. Usually such things are not included as often when setting easier climbs, and doing so will help to bump up the diversity of setting hugely for this too often underserved group of climbers. It also gives them the chance to feel special and be treated as such, in that the setting team is making a dedicated effort for their enjoyment beyond what they might enjoy at a competing facility elsewhere in your market.

Mix and Match

As with all difficulty levels, you can also play with the relationship between the hold sizes of the hand and foot holds. Easier climbing can often still be achieved by pairing more challenging to use hand holds with huge, secure foot holds. Similarly, you can introduce an element of subtle insecurity into a climb by pairing very secure, positive holds with more challenging to use foot holds.

Climbing Terrain

Set on All Angles

Considering the whole facility when selecting the wall terrain on which to set your climb is another tactic for keeping things interesting on lower grades. Challenge yourself to sprinkle easier climbs across all wall angles and steepness. This will help new climbers especially become more comfortable with climbing on those angles and keep the entire gym open to their use, instead of relegating their climbing to the lower-angled walls only.

Don’t Avoid Features

You should also be sure to set less challenging climbs on features like arêtes and corners too. This will often allow you to create easier movement without using such positive holds, and will help new climbers to learn techniques like heel-hooking and stemming that are basic components of climbing. Practicing these movements will help them progress more quickly, and become more well-rounded climbers.

Movement

Introduce Lateral Movement

Although beginning climbers specifically may be somewhat limited in the movement styles and techniques that they will be able to instinctually read and execute, we can still mix things up a bit and distance ourselves from the classic “ladder.” Sometimes simply introducing some degree of lateral movement will be enough to challenge them with having to shift their center of gravity and weight in a different manner. Besides up-and-down and side-to-side movements, think about setting in-and-out climbing as well, which larger shapes and wall features can help achieve.

Sprinkle in Challenges

As another challenge, we can also add intended hand matches, cross-over moves or hand bumps. These should all have built-in penalties if they are not executed properly to reinforce properly reading your intended sequence. Perhaps adding an undercling or two will spice things up enough as well, as they tend to engage the biceps more and to require a different body transition over the holds. None of these are overly complex movements, and all should make sense on appropriately sized holds to keep things accessible for the climbers using them.

My personal thought is that we should put an equal amount of effort into setting relatively easier climbs as we do into setting relatively harder climbs. Even more so with users of the former, their ability to advance through the grades and to develop as climbers rests firmly in our hands. We owe it to them to take that responsibility seriously and to provide a diverse and interesting offering of climbs for them to enjoy and challenge themselves on. Anyone can set a jug ladder―we need to do better.

The post Ask a Setter: Tricks to Keep Easier Climbs Interesting appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Got a routesetting question you’d like answered? See if we’ve covered it already in a past Ask a Setter, and then email us your question here.

QUESTION: As a routesetter or head setter, how can I help build community engagement through my work?

One of the best things about climbing gyms is their ability to build and strengthen climbing communities. As setters, there are multiple ways we can contribute to community engagement. Setting can be so much more than just putting holds on the wall, and involving yourself in efforts beyond that work can make your role in the facility more fulfilling―and provide challenges that will help keep you motivated and putting your best product on the walls. I’d challenge you to try and introduce some of the things discussed below into your regular setting experience.

Build a Friendly Setter’s Board

One of the most basic ways to build community revolves around getting to know someone else. Consider a place in the gym that can be set aside to introduce the members of the setting team to those who regularly visit and climb in the facility. A head shot (or climbing shot, or both) listing the name of the setter and their basic interests (in climbing and otherwise) can help the climbers get to know the setters better. Typical inclusions here are height, ape index, climbing levels and stylistic preferences, and adding some humor and fun questions can go a long way too. People are much more likely to start a conversation with a member of the setting team if they feel even a small connection with that person already. It’s also a good way to give your team a little recognition for all the hard work they do.

Be Intentional About Feedback Loops

Try to create opportunities for the facility’s climbers to interact with the setting team. Many gyms have begun involving the public in the rating of the climbs set on the wall, by adding a rating card and pen at the base of each climb for instance. This promotes more of a consensus rating of the climbs, and is a great way to encourage discussion among climbers about a particular climb. These discussions can go a long way towards developing connections between the climbers; connections that will hopefully lead towards a broader connection with other folks in the gym and a greater sense of community overall.

Another thing that every gym should have is a feedback box. Many gyms will have something like this in place for general feedback and customer experience comments, but having a comment box that is specific to routesetting should be done as well. This gives the public the chance to share their thoughts, criticisms or applause for the job you and your team are doing. It also positions the individual climber to be more pensive about what they’re climbing, and how they feel about it. These (often anonymous) comments can also be a great source of feedback for your team on how well they’re doing.

As a commercial setter, all types of feedback should be encouraged and appreciated in the quest to improve your personal and team setting. One of the most important aspects of any comment box is implementation. Take the time to discuss the comments as a team. If they are valid, consider making changes to your approach to implement them. It may also be a good idea to post the comment cards on a bulletin board (maybe next to the Setter’s Board?) along with a reply from the setting team.

Consider also creating and displaying an overview map of the gym. The main purpose of this map would be to show what areas of the gym have been newly set, and what areas are the next to be stripped (and when that will occur). Letting the public know your setting schedule will help them focus their efforts on climbs they want to attempt or succeed on before they get taken down. This map can also direct them to what’s new in the facility so they can test themselves on the newest challenges. Some gyms will also highlight standout climbs from the recent set, and offer thoughts on why that climb stands out from the others. Again, the goal with this map is to encourage communication and discussion―both of which can lead to a stronger sense of community.

Collectively, all of these tactics can be incorporated into a Setter’s Board somewhere in the gym.

Set Social Climbs of the Week

It can be fun to occasionally set a climb that has a unique challenge or gimmicky style. Encourage climbers to attempt this climb and to make posts on social media about their experiences. Some gyms even set aside certain sections of their walls for these types of climbs. One example of this is having a dedicated World Cup section of the wall, where members and visitors can test themselves on styles of climbing that may not routinely be found elsewhere in the gym.

One gym I know of has what they call a World Cup Weekly problem of this type, with a new problem set at the beginning of each week by different members of the setting team. The difficulty of these problems would rotate throughout the month, so that climbers of different difficulty groups could experience them. This effort would culminate in a difficult problem that would be introduced as a Bounty Problem and unveiled at a public event on a popular evening, where people would sign up to attempt it in rotation with others. One of the setters would MC the climbing and whoever did the problem first would win a small prize―maybe $20―and get featured on the gym’s social media pages.

Get Active on Social Media

Some gyms have created social media pages for their setting teams. This is a great way to post information or photos the team would like to share with the public. This could be photos or videos of highlighted climbs, more in-depth introductions of setting team members, notifications of upcoming events―really whatever you’d like it to be. In today’s age of digital connectivity, this is another great way to integrate the setting team and the existing gym community, and to encourage new discussions.

Help Organize Comps, Leagues and Other Events

The tried-and-true form of developing community engagement has always been competitions. While full-blown competitions usually only occur a few times per year (and can involve a lot of work), we’re seeing bouldering leagues happen with more frequency these days. These can take many different forms, but in their basic iteration new boulder problems would be set on a regular basis (every week, every other week, monthly). The gym’s climbers would form teams and compete against other teams on these problems, culminating in a “season” winner at the end of the league period.

These prolonged events generate a lot of good will, friendly competition, and an overall engagement of the gym population. Some gyms create trophies for the winners with a new team name added after each season―or maybe a small banner or something similar―that will be displayed in the gym for all to see.

Another easy option is a dyno competition. For this comp, a section of the wall would be set with several different overlaid dyno options of different difficulties. On the event night, winners would be decided in a few different difficulty categories and the event could be coupled with raffles or other community engagement options to involve more than just the climbers participating.

Finally, a potluck BBQ has been a good way to engage the community at some gyms. Members of the setting team would run the grill and cook whatever is brought by the climbers. Anyone who brings something could participate, and items brought could range from fresh fruit, chips and salsa, meat and veggies to grill, desserts, beverages, etc. The intent is to just bring everyone together to celebrate the gym, the community, and the setting team.

Communicate With Gym Management and Coaches

Perhaps the best way to be involved in a facility’s community engagement efforts is to have regular interaction with the management team and other gym staff―especially the coaching department. They will bring their own ideas, and will often get feedback or comments from facility users that you and your team will not be exposed to. These departments can also work together to identify the best direction and focus for engaging the community, and how best the setting team can be a part of that process. The more the efforts of these groups can be aligned, the more effective and focused those efforts can be.

Any events planned will surely need to involve the management team, and together everyone can ensure these events are as impactful and rewarding as possible.

Set With a Purpose

At the end of the day, take pride in what you set. Try to make sure you are setting with a purpose. That purpose might not always be building community engagement specifically, but if you routinely try to set with the end users’ enrichment in mind, you will undoubtedly impact the existing community and the overall enjoyment of those who frequent your gym. That effort alone will provide an environment for community to flourish.

The post Ask a Setter: Building Community Engagement Through Routesetting appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

QUESTION: “Outside of the normal certification process, how would you recommend I show possible employers my setting skills on paper or in an interview? What do gyms look for in setters, and what would set me apart from the general field of applicants?

Certifications

First off, let’s talk about certifications―or certs―a bit. Here in the US, these largely exist in the form of Level certifications from USA Climbing. The Level One cert is usually a very high-level overview about the setting process and is generally the pre-requisite to continue on to higher levels of instruction and certification. The Level Two cert starts to dig deeper into the entire process and offers a huge amount of relevant information on setting both boulders and roped climbing. Both these certs are valuable and should be pursued by those that have chosen commercial setting as their career path. The instructors are usually high-level, experienced routesetters, and exposure to their thought processes can be very valuable.

The Level Three and above certs start to veer away from the normal commercial environment, and to focus more on competition and competition setting experience. While valuable, they may not be as impactful or directly relatable to the day-to-day setting of a commercial facility.

Clinic Attendance

There are several experienced routesetters that offer single or multi-day clinics. Every setter brings different approaches and viewpoints to the activity, and exposing yourself to their clinics shows a potential employer that you’re looking to expand your training and skill set accordingly. When attending these events, go into it all with an open mind, and soak up every little tidbit that makes sense for the direction of your personal setting journey. Sometimes you’ll learn something new, and sometimes you’ll simply gain validation that you’re approaching things correctly – either takeaway has value in your development as a setter.

Setter Showdown

Another opportunity for trade development that has gained legitimacy in our industry is the Setter Showdown series. On the surface it’s primarily a setting competition, but from the first event the organizer has tried to diminish the actual competition element, and to magnify the opportunity for a large group of diverse setters to work together, exchange information and approaches, and to generally expand their exposure to different setting styles and challenges. It has evolved into a wonderful trade development opportunity and networking session, and many new guest setting gigs have come from the new friendships that grow from the Showdown. Those that do well, or win the competition itself, have also used that recognition to negotiate higher compensation, or to obtain positions at different facilities. Every setter can learn new things, and participation in the Showdown again shows your employer a mindset of growth and ability advancement.

Guest Setting

Many modern facilities will offer guest setting opportunities for traveling routesetters, or those that work in the surrounding area. I would encourage newer or developing setters to take advantage of these opportunities. To that end, don’t necessarily wait to hear about them – instead be proactive and reach out (by email, or even better in person) to Head Setters of gyms in your region showing an interest in guest setting. Not every gym will respond with an opportunity, but many will if you’re willing to show up and work with their team at an affordable daily rate. This in and of itself may lead to an employment opportunity, but at the very least exposes you to new work practices and setting styles or techniques. Different wall angles and terrain, different hold inventories, etc. can prove to be hugely valuable in the diverse development of your own setting capabilities.

Personal References

Include personal references from reputable setters on your resume or job application if at all possible. This gives your potential employer the ability to talk to someone who’s worked directly with you. They can speak to your work habits, safety awareness, general demeaner, and personality. All of these areas are every bit as important as your actual routesetting talents when a facility is looking to add a new setter to their team.

Good Fit for the Team

While it’s good to show your setting experience and abilities, it’s also beneficial to give folks a window into who you are. Most modern teams will invariably value experience and setting talent, but also have realized that they are assembling a team; one that will function far more impactfully if all of the members mesh and work well together. If your resume is lean on experience, make it shine with a depiction of who you are as a person. Explain your work ethic, desire to learn, ability to work well with others, and a willingness to take direction and to do whatever might be needed to make the team shine. Remember that Teamwork Makes the Dream Work, and show them why you should be part of the team they’re assembling.

The post Ask a Setter: Tips for Getting Hired appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

QUESTION: “What common mistakes do you see with beginner routesetters?”

ANDERSON: As with any new practice, there are several job-specific things that must be learned with experience and time spent making mistakes. These include proper tool usage, safety practices, and other technical considerations. These will come with time, and by working with more experienced setters as mentors. Let’s instead focus on a few that are more fundamental and have greater impacts on the final product and how the end users (climbers) experience what is set.

Difficulty: Maintaining Internal Consistency Is Not Easy

Certain assumptions, personal opinions, and misunderstandings on the part of the new routesetter can greatly impact the difficulty of the climbs set and how they are received by the gym community.

Every gym seems to have their own interpretation and opinion on how grades should be presented in their facility. Sometimes they even have their own grading scale that steps away from traditional grading systems in use for outdoor climbing.

As a new setter, it may take a while to fully understand the grades in your workplace. Until you learn to better understand movement and the difficulty presented by your hold inventory on different wall angles, you will surely miss the mark from time to time.

Consistent Grading Keeps Regulars Happy

Perhaps nothing upsets gym climbers more than climbs not being graded appropriately. I don’t personally care much if a gym chooses to grade stiff (sandbagged) or soft (easier) compared to outdoor grades. What I do think should be the goal in every gym though is achieving consistency with how climbs are graded and presented to the public. And even more challenging will be maintaining parity over time, as routes changeover at different intervals and by different hands.

Learn to rely on the opinions of the other setters on your team and make the necessary changes to your climbs during the forerunning process to get them where they need to be. Regular gym visitors and members will make an adjustment (if needed) to their personal interpretations of grades, and will come to know what to expect at a given facility.

Use Movement to Teach Beginners

Easier climbs do not need to be absolute jug ladders. This (to me) is lazy setting. How will your climbers learn to move better and read sequences if you don’t present them with challenges?

Push yourself to produce quality climbing on easier grades. Maybe a flat or sloping hold can still be used securely if it is paired with large footholds that support your climber’s weight better. If the walls are steep enough to make jugs your primary hold choice, consider a line that includes some lateral movement.

Remember too that beginning climbers don’t usually have a broad understanding of movement, and that introducing matching, crossovers, underclings, sidepulls and other non-ladder movements may be enough to introduce some variety and challenge to your climb―and to allow it to stand out as different and more rewarding to those climbing it.

Good Climbers Want More Than Big Spans to Small Holds

In a similar way, harder climbs do not need to be comprised of small and hard-to-use holds, spaced far apart. More advanced climbers understand movement very well, and they will not be put off by more intricate sequences, big sloping holds, or pairing huge holds with small and hard-to-use feet.

Challenging climbing does not need to be relative to the size of the holds used. The more you can break away from generic ideas of what makes climbing hard, the more your setting will be appreciated by better climbers.

Size Dependency: Setting for Other Body Types Is Not Easy

Size dependency is often simplified as a climb being “reachy,” but it’s so much more than that. Tall climbers can get bunched up, climbers with small hands cannot use wide pinches and slopers with the same security as those with larger hands, and of course shorter climbers may not be able to make the span to the next hold.

In general, it’s likely that much of your first setting experiences will result in climbing that is comfortable and offers well-spaced movement in relation to your own body size, spans and preferences. Especially if you are a taller person, you may inadvertently set climbs that have built-in size dependency until you learn not to.

Setting climbing movement that is relatively fair to different-sized climbers is a talent, and usually takes some time and the making of mistakes to be able to do well. Again, a good starting point for developing this awareness and the requisite skill to succeed will likely come from discussions with your setting teammates, and targeted tweaks during the forerunning process.

Learn from Others Climbing Your Routes

Many gyms make an effort to employ setters of different body sizes and types to allow for a greater consensus skill level across the setting team, in the hope that these issues can be avoided (or resolved easily as they occur).

If you find yourself challenged in this way with your setting, seek the feedback of climbers in your problem size range, and listen to what they have to say. It’s also very helpful to watch people on your climb. Where are they having issues, and why? Ask them what could be done to “fix” the issue.

A big part of developing and progressing as a setter is honest feedback. If you want to improve, set your ego aside and listen to this feedback. It can come from your teammates, Head Setter, the gym community, or your friends. Whatever the source, listen and absorb what makes sense to move your abilities forward. If size-dependent setting is an issue for you, pair up with someone of a different size and set climbs together, with a special intent to avoid replicating your past mistakes in this area.

It Takes More Than an Extra Foot

Some setters throw extra feet on a climb and call it good. While that may be the right approach in some cases, you can usually avoid a line of foot options with some extra thought and a better understanding of movement and other possible solutions.

The post Ask a Setter: Avoid These Common Mistakes appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

QUESTION: “What skills should a brand-new routesetter learn on Day One?”

ANDERSON: If you are setting in a commercial gym environment, the chances are good that your Head Setter will have some training lined up for you that addresses many of these topics, and USA Climbing provides clinics for various levels of routesetting certification as well. Each facility also has their own preferences when it comes to some of these topics, so don’t be afraid to ask questions to ensure that you’re doing things properly, and as expected. In my opinion though, there are a few things that should become standard practice from Day One.

PPE and Safety: For You and Those Around You

There are lots of ways that you can get hurt while setting. There also lots of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) items and some general common-sense practices that can be employed to lessen your chance of getting hurt. Ask your Head Setter what the normal practices are in your gym. Many gyms will provide safety gear for you, but you can always buy your own if they don’t.

Eyes

Eye protection is a big one for me. While most setting activities don’t necessarily expose your eyes to danger, installing holds above your head, tapping bad T-nuts, running bad bolts through a die, or any type of grinding or sanding can throw debris into your eye faster than you can possibly imagine. I’ve had two bad eye injuries due to setting, both requiring surgery, and both could have been prevented with proper eye protection.

Ears

If you are on a large team, or work in a small facility, the sound of multiple impact drivers can really add up to being very loud. A lot of setters choose to wear ear plugs, or full-coverage earmuffs to lessen the noise and possible damage to your ears over time. If you choose to do so, be extra aware of what’s happening around you as either of these options can make it more challenging to communicate with others, or to hear possible warnings.

Ladders

Setting often involves the use of ladders. Make sure you use the appropriate length of ladder for your setting environment. It should be long enough so that you are not standing on the top few rungs. If using a very large ladder, consider asking for help when moving it. There’s no pride in handling a big ladder on your own if it results in a dropped ladder that could easily mean injury to others, or damage to whatever it lands on.

Ropes

When setting on a rope, there are countless ways that things can go wrong. Make sure that you seek training from experienced setters, and take the time to learn what to do, and what no to do, to keep yourself safe and working efficiently while on the ropes. The Climbing Wall Association’s work-at-height certification program includes various levels of training and certification, which is a good step for all climbing wall workers to take. Ask your employer or the CWA about certification, and certified providers like the Petzl Training Institute also offer courses.

Proper Tool Usage: Is It Securely Attached?

There’s more to setting than just installing bolts and set screws. You’ll end up using a lot of different tools, for a lot of different tasks. Make sure you learn how to properly use them all, and use the correct one for what you’re planning on doing. There are inherent dangers to just about every tool we setters use. Proper tool usage can avoid or limit these dangers.

Along these lines are selecting the correct bolts and/or screws for the hold you’re installing. Are you using the correct bolt type and length? Is the set screw long enough? Did you use enough set screws on that feature or volume? Did you just snap the screw without realizing it by using your impact at the highest setting, or not releasing the trigger in time? These are all common mistakes that could have detrimental results.

If you’re new to setting, make sure someone is watching over your shoulder for a while, and listen to the advice and training they offer you. It could mean the difference between you, or a climber on the route you set, being injured.

Importance of Working as a Team

Setting can be a lot of fun and a great creative outlet, but it can also be a lot of hard work that can break you down over time. Learn to work well with your setting team. Listen to their advice and be quick to offer yours where it makes sense to do so.

If you hit a road block and aren’t sure how to move forward, or to address a certain issue, ask. Especially when forerunning, relying on and listening to each other usually results in a higher quality of climbing product; something that we should all be aspiring to set. When it comes to heavy lifting and moving ladders and such, help each other out. If you’re up on a rope and forgot something on the ground, ask someone on the ground to get it for you.

Everything you do as a setter will be easier with your teammates helping you – teamwork makes the dream work.

The post Ask a Setter: Skills to Learn on Day One appeared first on Climbing Business Journal.

Every climbing gym business that has ever existed has been powered in no small part by routesetters. If climbing routes are the primary products that climbing gyms offer, then setters are the rock stars ensuring the show goes on. Skilled and often charismatic, diverse yet sharing similar dedication to their craft, setters working hard behind the wrench set our businesses up for success and set the stage for community building. Their routes make us better climbers, and their friendship makes us better people.

When I started routesetting, there was no career path for a setter. We volunteered our labor for the love of it or received a modest minimum wage. Now, setters can receive certification of their expertise, obtain a full-time salary with health benefits at some gyms, and progress from part-time positions to Head Setter jobs in gyms and Chief Setter roles for elite competitions, at-home and abroad.

Yet for all the progress made in an industry that has grown up, there’s still a long way to go. 70 percent of setters responding to a 2019 survey cannot make a living from setting alone. This was before the pandemic. Like so many gym staff during the last year, setters have been significantly impacted by the pandemic crisis. It’s on us to help. Gyms, tell your members how their dues keep setters working; and homewallers, consider investing in setting consults. Prioritizing setters is always a priority worth setting.

Beginning next month, we will be starting a new series called Ask A Setter to assist those in the routesetting world that may be finding their way in a new environment, unsure of how best to approach a specific aspect of their work, or are just curious about someone else’s opinion when it comes to a certain part of our industry. We hope this new series helps in a small way as you continue building your career and honing your skillset.

We’re fortunate to be able to work with Louie Anderson as our resident expert in this area.  Similar to our Ask A Lawyer series, these articles will respond to questions and topics that you suggest and send in. If you aren’t familiar with Louie and his impact on the indoor climbing world, allow me to introduce you to my longtime friend and mentor.

Louie has been climbing since 1974, having been introduced to the sport through his father. In the years since, he’s been involved in just about every pursuit that is a part of the climbing world. His work in our industry began in 1980, when he first began to do that thing we now call routesetting. After four years or so of this, he began shaping artificial climbing holds. Fast forward to 2021 and Louie now may be the most prolific climbing hold shaper ever, with over 14,000 designs produced commercially for a wide variety of companies around the world. This is a passion that he continues to this day, having shaped over 500 shapes this winter.

He’s been a big proponent for education in the setting world, having written a book titled The Art of Coursesetting in 2004. That book was updated and re-released in 2014 under the new title, Fundamentals of Routesetting. (It was my privilege to write the competition organization section of these books with Louie). He also acts as an administrator for online setting groups, and leads custom setting courses around the world.

Aside from this, Louie has designed and built climbing gyms for 25 years and continues to be very involved as an industry professional, providing a range of consulting services for new and existing gyms. In 2012, he and his wife opened a large bouldering gym called The Factory Bouldering. They sold that business in July of 2020, and Louie’s setting these days is done on a freelance basis. You can find out more about the services he offers or purchase his setting book at louieandersonclimbing.com.

So routesetters, what would you like to hear more about?  Email your questions or topic suggestions to info@climbingbusinessjournal.com and look for our first installment in next month’s newsletters.

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