It’s almost Spring, and that means route setters are busy preparing for the numerous climbing competitions being held around the world. While this year promises to be one of the busiest competition seasons to date, in Boston one gym can’t get enough and has started hosting a quiet little contest that pits setters and their skill against climbers and their criticism.

Welcome to Metro Rock’s “Setters Comp”.

The setters competition is held every year at Metro Rock’s two locations and features twenty setters vying for the title of “Best Setter at Metro Rock”. This is not a spectator or full-contact event, and happens somewhat glacially over a four week period. But if you’re a setting geek and want to become a setting god (at least in Boston) there is no better place than the Metro Rock route setting competition.

The first ever route setters competition started when the founders of Metro Rock first opened their gym two and half years ago, as a way to generate new routes and to keep up with their 90 – 120 day turnover cycle. This years 3rd annual event at their flagship gym produced 40 new, high quality routes between 5.7 and 5.9.

How it works

The setters have about three weeks to set two routes from 5.7-5.9. Pat Enright, Manager of Metro Rock says “We chose this range as it is the staple of the gym community. We knew that these grades would generate the most judging participation as well.”

In Metro Rocks newest gym they mixed things up for this years event by allowing setters to set in two distinct divisions, 5.8-5.9 and 5.10-5.11.

Only Metro Rock setters can participate, but as they have a large contingent of mostly unpaid setters it usually receives a big turnout. 1st & 2nd place finishers within each grade level get cash prizes of $150 and $75 respectively. This plus the notoriety usually gets their setting crew quite motivated. Note: This purse is more than most climbing comps!

Let the judging begin

So that the event doesn’t turn in to a popularity contest, the routes have no grade or name displayed. Over the course of a week customers will judge each route based on the following criteria:

· Difficulty grade
· Creativity
· “Funness”

For their efforts the climbers will “get a free snack at the snack bar” when they turn in a scorecard with a minimum of five routes. During this year’s week of judging, 150 scorecards were turned in; That’s a lot of snacks!

You can find this year’s winners here.

Could this be the future of routesetting?

This is one of the most brilliant ideas Routesetter.com has heard of to improve and promote routesetting within a gym.

It helps solve several issues commonly found in climbing gyms: How to establish what a quality route is, and how to teach setters what their customers want in a route.

It also gives setters two thing they want more of: money and props. This contest covers both very well. Setters receive a monetary incentive to set quality routes and get the ego boost they all crave.

Picture this

A gym hosting a setting comp where any and all setters are welcome to compete in all grade categories. The winner will receive a cash prize and endorsements from climbing hold manufactures, tool and ladder companies, and of course will be crowned the “Best Setter in Setterland”, with all the rights and responsibilities therein.

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