What is Route Setting?
Indoor rock climbing is an increasingly popular activity; gaining recognition from Alex Honnold’s daring free solo to Olympic competitors climbing for gold, the sport has seen exponential growth during the last decade. Climbing gyms have sprouted up everywhere, and with them is a much-needed and often under-appreciated group of climbers.
These climbers are the backbone of climbing gyms. They are often injured, criticized, and rarely praised, which is why so many climbers experience the wonderful world of climbing. They are called Route Setters.
What is a Route Setter?
They’re the reason for your happiness or annoyance in the climbing gym. A route setter (AKA: setter) is the artist who creates routes or boulder problems in a climbing gym. Route setting requires creativity, inclusivity, climbing skills, and tough skin.
Many folks think route setters have a diagram for which they set new routes, telling them where to put holds on the wall— that’s far from what’s happening. Route setters draw inspiration from other setters, routes they’ve climbed/seen outdoors, or from their creative minds.
While setters may have a general idea of what they want to accomplish with a specific route, their vision creates fun climbs. Some setters even set things they want to work on themselves, such as a particular move.
Steps to Route Setting
Say you’re the route-setting manager, and it’s time for a new section of boulders to go up. Here are the steps route setters take to craft new sets with fun and engaging climbs.
1. Strip the holds – Setters must strip the holds from a wall section where they plan to reset. This included removing every hold to leave a blank wall.
Steps 1 and 2 are typically interchangeable.
2. Choose the grades – The setting manager must decide the grades, how many boulders, and how many boulders of which grades are to be set in the new space.
3. Holds – Next, holds are chosen! A setter will grab a bunch of holds they plan to use and take them to the wall to start crafting their masterpiece. Many gyms will coordinate which colors they use next to each other on the wall to make it easier to distinguish for colorblind boulderers.
4. Forerun – After the holds have been screwed into place and the route setters have a general puzzle on the wall, they must test them. This testing process is called “forerunning.”
Each setter climbs each boulder to determine if it needs to be tweaked. Tweaking a boulder can involve removing, adding, or turning holds to make the problem fit the desired grade.
5. Grade Tags – After each boulder is definitively graded, they will need tags to note which is which! Some gyms wait a week or so before grading their climbs, others use a block-grading format, and others label the grade of each boulder.
How to Become a Route Setter
If you’re interested in becoming a route setter, you may not need as much experience as you think. An entry-level position requires on-the-job training you can’t receive anywhere else!
Contact your local climbing gym and ask about any open positions. While you can work just as a route setter, many people will also work in hospitality or instructing roles at a gym.
You don’t need to climb V-Hard to be a route setter, either! While many setters are incredibly strong, not everyone can climb extremely hard. Sometimes, newer setters are great for creating lower grades because they can accurately set between each grade. (Sometimes, super strong setters can forget what the lower grades are supposed to feel like.
Keep at it; one day, you may turn it into a career! Can you imagine setting for a World Cup or the Olympics?