adventures in routesetting

This past Sunday night, I was in the gym after hours helping to strip the walls when I had a realization: it has been about a year since I very first helped strip and set my first boulder.

I checked my photo library and sure enough, August 14, 2022 was when I first picked up a drill (like actually, I have not worked much with power tools in the past 😅). 

(pictured below is the first boulder I ever set)

While I could sit here and say, "let me tell you how experienced I am after this last year" that would be deceiving.. The truth is that I've set a total of 9 boulders over the last year (lol), the majority of which have been in the last 4 months. 

So.. amateur at best but more accurately, I feel that I'm more a student (at an elementary school level). Therefore, my musings about the past year are going to be less about becoming experienced and more about what I am continuously learning. 

Before I get into all of that, I want to first acknowledge that I am extremely privileged to even have this opportunity.

My partner, Davis, is the head setter of the gym I climb at and was unexpectedly down a setter last year. He started going in the night before setting days to strip and lighten the workload for the following day. Wanting to help, I offered a hand. It became the routine to go in together, strip the walls, then each set a boulder.

An unusual circumstance and opportunity, and as I said a major privilege to be able to learn to set in a nonprofessional (as in, it's not my profession), low stakes, and low pressure environment.

The hurdles to get into setting can be an email in and of itself, so I'll leave it at that for now.

(pictured is the boulder I set last Sunday [not in its final form])

The thing that I find coolest about this opportunity is the fact that I'm learning brand new skills but in a field that I'm familiar with.

Climbing isn't new to me, but finding the right bolt length for a hold, screwing holds onto a volume, and making sure the drill is spinning the correct direction (you'd be amazed how many times I've messed this up 😂) are all new.

Being on this side of of the process is such a great learning experience for my coaching, my creativity, and my own climbing. 

I will leave you with this: routesetting is an incredibly taxing job, both mentally and physically. Many of us (I've done this myself) are quick to blame routesetters for any perceived mistakes, unfairness, or our own lack of success in our climbing.

While some of these concerns may be valid, please keep in mind that our setters are people and we can afford to give them grace. Feedback is important and if you do have feedback you'd like to give, please try to give it kindly.