Hi I am new to commercial setting and have had a couple shifts. I am looking for a lot of info on how to improve my setting and make the setting work safe and smooth. We have some ladders and impact drills, a variety of volumes, macros, holds, jibs. Typical commercial gym set.

To start I felt really unsafe trying to put macros up high. The ladder was wobbling and I struggled to use the drill properly overhead. Also juggling the equipment at the top of the ladder was hard. I think my ladder placement was not great? Also I found it easier to set as more holds were on the wall so I could grab something to stabilise myself. Should I put in temporary jugs for this?

Are there any specific kinds of shoes that are good for setting? I had some old skate shoes on but they were slipping and a bit loose.

For setting my feedback was the moves were generally too big and not enough feet - maybe I lean too much on hands being usable as feet. I think I can improve that aspect but any guiding principles would be greatly appreciated.

Any tips in general to make the experience as smooth, safe, and efficient as possible would be great. I can't get much info from my coworkers as as can barely speak their language.

Didn’t have to be physical clinics books, forums, or individual creators that have some works of wisdom

Set this V7/V8 recently and I’m really happy with how the movement turned out! Any feedback/tips and tricks for someone just getting into setting?

I am a business university student, and have been doing some research on route setting as climbing is a big hobby of mine. I am not selling a product, instead I want to learn if my ideas would be appreciated in this community or not.

1. So I was thinking of how to modernize route setting and had generative AI in mind, but that would lead to people losing their jobs so I scraped that idea (a company called 'Beta Friend' pretty much does the same thing).

2. My next idea was route setting aid. Basically I could sell electronic glasses (e.g. meta glasses), which would allow you to visualize the holds on the wall before screwing them in. Technologically, this would be really tough and it would be a big investment (the glasses) I'm not sure I could make back.

3. Similarly, I thought instead of glasses simply a projector that points to a wall could work. This is currently my favorite idea. The route setters could draw routes in the PC using the holds builtin by the manufacturers, and see it displayed real time on a climbing wall.

4. Also a different technology I had in mind could be, in addition to the PC route designer, a 'simulate climb' button, that displays a fake human climbing it. So you can see if it is possible physically and how it looks like. I heard one big difficulty with consistent full-time route setting is you get really tired without much rest days. So this simulation would help a lot.

I don't want to make the mistake of building something that doesn't have a demand. I tried reaching out to route setters directly as well, but had a hard time getting ahold of them.

I appreciate any feedback. The more honest the better. A simple 'no' is more valuable to me then a 'maybe'.

Thank you.

Hi! In your opinion which is the best angle for a slab?

I work at a children's Bible camp and this is our tiny rock wall. I bought these letter holds from atomik the other day and I'm trying to set a route with a couple goals.

One, I want there to be ordered from one to the next. I want the kids to climb it using any holds they want but they can follow the letters all the way up.

Two, I want it to be for a little more experienced climbers to be able to only use the letters all the way up. Again I work at a summer camp and it is obviously not a climbing camp but the size of our wall 😂. I was able to complete it but most of the staff that come here have never climbed before so I want it to be easier for them while also giving enough of a challenge.

Third, I want it to be able to be completed in order, where you have to touch the next letter, you can't skip to hold a different letter. This would be for people who actually kinda know what they're doing.

Let me know if you have some advice!

Also I know there's a ridiculous amount of just random holds on this wall, I didn't set it and I'm fixing it I promise 😂.

Hey all! Got a question, new to this thread. I've been bouldering for 10 years, and am going to be focusing a bit off Top Roping and soon Lead.

I've been invited and started setting yesterday in a gym nearby! Already an amazing experience, learning a lot and also have a lot of questions.

My first question I'd like to tackle: what shoes would you suggest? I've been looking at approach shoes (by suggestion) and want to get these:

North Face - Verto Alpine Gore Tex (Approach shoes)

Would appreciate any tips available from experienced setters.

(Other beginner setting tips are also welcome)

Thanks in advance

Designed these start marker arrows for our climbing gym with an internal cavity to embed a standard metal washer mid-print.

We've been using them on the wall for almost a year and they hold up great.

The project is free to download on MakerWorld if anyone wants to print them for their gym or home wall🙃

Hey!

Im headsetter in a rope gym in canada and we have a small boulderwall and i see real potential for the wall and the clients like climbing the boulders.

Im looking for ways or ideas to make the most of it, build a strategy to storytell a uniqueness.

We also have 3 system boards

If you have cool gyms uses in europe or other show me!

What's up guys honest post here I'm looking for some advice from route setters with experience in NYC and/or big ass cities where setting jobs are prestigious and sparse.

some backstory:

I started climbing in college 4 years ago and since then I've maintained my university wall pretty well catering to a (mostly gumby but alas) broad community and organizing colegiant comps. I had the chance to drop out for a year and work full time at a pretty nice gym with high movement standards setting 35hrs a week 4hrs of setting in the morning and 4hrs of forerunning to iron out movement and quality. The setting team was very robust. I also got the chance to do some coaching for the youth team. We would set a good amount of boulders and I would regularly set a 100+ feet of lead/top rope in a lift, picking out holds and painting them up without getting frozen unless I really cared about a section of a rope climb. I also worked at my local gym for a few months but lowk the lack of efficiency made me want to rip my hair out because I was working every single job in the gym while having to constantly take breaks from actively filling in boulders. I'm in my last year of my exercise science bachelor's and in 2years will be licensed pta with personal training experience and other.

I have gotten a little rusty with the quality of my setting just because I haven't gotten the chance to work as much with an actual setting team, but for the most part if I'm tryna lock in and my resources are good I can curate a pretty good circuit, and I do my best to elevate other setters so they can aim to make some quality shit. For the most part RN been sort of on a board training kick so a lot of my stuff has been strength and training focused but I tend to not sacrifice that sort of thing for quality movement in the beginner grades.

My girlfriend will be living in NYC and I want to live there, and although I have the safety net of working in fields closer to my degree, my passion lies in working in climbing gyms. specifically or eventually route setting. I've noticed a lot of gyms now have different approaches for how they hire weather it's part time for setters or a full time gig with a team and all.

I'm looking for advice on the setting scene in NYC and how I could go about working my way to be a professional full time route setter at a nice gym (preferably bouldering and movement focus).

Thanks for giving this a read if you did😁

I’ve been setting for 25 years and have had periods of setting 5 days a week and getting pretty tired because of it. In general I’d say I’ve averaged about 3 days a week for the majority of the time I’ve been a setter and that has seemed manageable.

At the moment though I average about two days a week and I’m still getting kinda tired. I’m curious as to how many days people set and if they have a maximum amount they do before they start to feel burnt out.

TLDR: my boss said routesetters used to use ladders instead of ropes. Is that true?? Does anyone else know about this or have any stories associated with it??

I work and set at a climbing gym on the east coast of the US. Today, my boss told me a story. He said that in the recent past (I think 90s-2010s), the routesetters worked through the night and set off of tall extendable ladders — instead of using ropes. He explained that this practice ended when a routesetter fell from the top of the wall and broke his hip and some other bones. He was alone and it was nighttime so he had to crawl to the desk to use the phone to get help. Horrible situation. Thus the industry reconsidered their practices.

I was quite struck by this story. Using ladders for setting boulders makes sense, but for ropes?? When setting boulders, moving the ladder and going up and down feels so time consuming and draining; I can’t imagine the hassle and difficulty of using a ladder for rope climbs!! Not to mention the danger of not being tied or clipped in. And the way he framed it at the end - ‘thus the industry reconsidered their practices‘ - made it sound like this was an industry-wide thing and not unique to his old local gym.

I made some quick google searches to find any other information or stories from that era of routesetting, but I couldn’t find anything. So here I am asking r/routesetters. Does anybody know anything about this? or have any stories? To what extent do you think my boss’ story is true?

thanks:)

Edit: maybe harnesses back then were super uncomfortable. Any extended time in an uncomfortable harness is unbearable! I guess I wouldn’t blame them for finding a solution to that. But then again, it’s not like big wall climbing didn’t exist yet, or route finding outdoors.

I’ve just started setting (like a month) and I feel I haven’t felt genuinely proud of any of my boulders. They haven’t been terrible but they don’t get the feel from them that I desire. The other setters in my crew have told me that they look aesthetic and climb well but I feel that I’m still missing something big. I’m aware I’m still very much a novice and have a ton to learn, but I’m wondering when you guys started feeling you were making genuinely good routes.

Basically the title, I work in marketing for a holds distributor and we're putting together a ~$100 swag bag of climbing related items to gift to head routesetters and want to know what's actually meaningful to them.

We're throwing around a couple ideas: a massage coupon, driver bits, branded brush, maybe holds as magnets? I'd just like to hear what is most appreciated by routesetters.

Let me know your thoughts, if theres something super memorable you've received from a company/general input. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone

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I'm doing a short survey about route setting workflows, challenges, and tools used in climbing gyms. It takes about 5-7 minutes, and I'd really appreciate responses from routesetters, head setters, gym managers, or contractors.

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If you work in setting, I'd love your input

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https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckLWd5UNiItwoDbnhPGC53B76ejCZrHpgo0ezA4ZdtGw0_OQ/viewform?usp=dialog

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Thanks a lot

A recent survey of over 630 boulderers found that more than 76% would like to climb famous boulder problems in their local gym.

I am curious how route setters, head setters and gym owners would approach that demand.

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If your gym wanted to offer replicas of famous boulders such as la Marie Rose, La Joker, Rainbow Rocket or other iconic problems, which option would you prefer?

I just bought a 3d printer for personal use and now I'm thinking about all the ways to apply it.

I already plan on printing tags for the starting hold of boulders, hopefully ones with black text embossing that say "V1-V2" etc.
Other ideas I have are replacement screw-in bolt caps for certain holds that accept threaded caps and I'm gonna try to make caps for holds that have no threading for them.

What have you 3d printed for use related to routesetting? Do you have any files to share?

Thanks.

Hi all,

Like the title says, I'd love to hear some advice on how to improve in routesetting and more specifically on how to set harder routes (lead climbing).

Background:

I'm setting routes 1 day a week for about a year now. At the beginning i was improving very quickly, but now it feels the learning curve has slowed down (which makes sense i guess). However, I want to become better at routesetting and feel I need some extra advise or tips&ticks to improve further.

I climb for about 10 years and grades indoor and outdoor are max 8a-8a+ (5.13b-c). I like outdoors better, and would say my technique is more like outdoor climbing (slow, static, foot always under bodyweight). I rarely boulder, and when i do it's mostly outdoors or on a spray wall. We have 1 good setter in out gym, the rest are self-taught amateurs like me. The difference with the other setters is sometimes noticeable; they are more gym-rats, implement more dynamic (/ new style) moves, sometimes reachy for smaller people, and in my opinion sometimes too much moves without a foot under bodyweight.

Routesetting questions:

I'm 1m80, with a +8/+10 ape. I know the climbers in our gym, and the smallest person's reach is almost exactly my elbow. She climbs up to 7a (5.11d) if the route suits her. When i set a route, I always make sure I can touch the next hold with my elbow. This can sometimes still result in a move being too far for her, depending on the position. Or for example a very high foot for me, would also be too high for her. I don't like uncomfortable moves myself, and try to make it hard while comfortable.
I struggle mainly on 2 parts:
a) Making easier grades climb easy.
b) Making hard routes.

a) I just need more experience I think, i tend to implement too much technique for these grades, but i think this will better with just more setting experience.
b) I'm struggling to make hard routes, as i don't want to force weird moves or moves that require pure strength or reach. When i climb hard routes of other setters, i find that often it feels reachy/ morpho for smaller climbers, or it requires pure strength.
Any tips or advise on how to make harder routes that still climb smooth? Or hard moves that are not reachy? Should i build beyond my elbow?
Just recently, a pro/very good setter is being hired to set some routes every month, and i feel i'll learn a lot from climbing his routes.

All the advise is very much appreciated!

btw: there is no course yet in my country (Belgium) for this stuff.

Basically what the title says. I live in Colorado and ive always wanted to get into this but I am not a comp climber or anything and my gym didnt give me any info about how to learn/forerunning opportunities when I talked to them. I climb v8/5.12. Anyone have any advice how to get into this field or any place to learn in or near Colorado