Route Setting

Hey there,
My friend and I have been tinkering around on a bouldering wall setting problems and what not. I was wondering if you guys have any tips about setting problems up.
Right now we just kinda check out the holds and whip stuff up on the wall and try to make some interesting moves and hard problems with it. I was just thinking that some people might have a strategy on how to approach the situation.

Any help would be great.

I've seen some of the route-setters at gyms do this:

Sitting in some bottom holds, find a position barely in balance, then chalk your fingers and reach way out and swipe at the wall to leave a streak as you fall.

At the point you come off, put a hold just beyond the chalk mark if you can.

Enjoy.

I set for several years at the Boulder Rock Club and for a few big comps.

Here are a few things that I learned about quality setting:

- Make them fun!

- Set to your weaknesses, and make every move target them.

- Don't set one-move wonders unless you are trying to simulate a particular move on an outdoor route, and when you do set simulators, make them harder than the move on the actual outdoor route.

I usually set short problems at five to seven moves, and I set power endurance problems at fifteen to twenty moves. Setting some problems with left/right sequences is also a good way to force a particular type of movement. This is great for working your weaknesses.

Don't worry about the size of your wall. I used to set really long problems (twenty to thirty moves) on this
wall. They circled and zig zagged the wall up and down, which worked antagonistic muscle groups. That is very important for developing balanced strength those opposing muscle groups.

Watch this trailer of Malcolm Smith training on a small wall. It will give you some ideas about how to train for specific movement.

Hope that helps.

Read some of the articles on routesetter.com .

Thanks for the awesome info guys.

yeah a second on routesetter.com, an great site with a ton of info.

Depending on how big the wall is try to get the crux of the move a couple moves in so you are a little higher and it makes you try the whole sequence many times.

We also reset the wall every 2-3 months or so to mix it up and when we do that we take everything off and layout all the holds. Start by setting a few quality routes and build off that until you get a ton of possible variations with a few clear lines throughout the wall.

Lastly having a shit-ton of holds makes setting way easier and with so many hold companies out there it makes it easy to buy a set and completely change the current dynamics of your wall. We buy a new set usually every couple of months (happens to correspond with the wall reset quite frequently) and after a little bit you gain a sizable and fun hold collection.

A few recommended hold companies:
soillholds.com
nicros.com
epusa.com/
metoliusclimbing.com/
etchholds.com/ (if you sign-up for their newsletter they will send you a free set of holds)

a ton more, actually hard to remember what is all at the wall.

IMO these are the most important things to remember as a routsetter (in no particular order):

• Use your outdoor climbing as inspiration for setting indoor problems. Think of your favorite moves on your favorite climbs - replicating them is rarely difficult - and always be looking for inspiration when out at the crag.
• Remember to use the medium of plastic to your advantage - the moves you can set are not limited to those that appear outside. In fact, one of the things that makes plastic climbing interesting to me is the possibility of climbing a route that contains movement that would probably never exist outside.
• One of the easiest ways to make routes interesting is to remember that you don't have to pull down on holds, and that ladder (L R L R ...) sequences are frequently boring. Use a variety of different holds in a variety of orientations, but at the same time, be sure the route has some semblance of order and continuity.
• The easiest way to make a route easier, harder, more interesting, etc. is to add/remove/move feet. Sometimes, routes that track feet force the most interesting sequences.
• The more time you put into climbing (outdoors or indoors) and the more time you put into setting, the better a setter you become.

Hope this helps.

~Ben

Here is an interview with a route setter:
youtube.com/watch?v=yNGF3K6…

Ha ha! Yes. After 8 years, it is still number one in search results when looking up route setting forums. That means that there are not enough route setting forums. Probably because they mostly moved to Facebook groups.

If you want more info on route setting, check out this blog: awesomeroutesetting.com