This past week two hundred gym owners, managers, route setters and wall and hold manufactures attended the first annual Climbing Wall Symposium in Boulder, Colorado hosted by the Climbing Wall Association. The attendees represented over 117 organizations from the US, Canada and Australia making it the largest gathering of industry professionals in history.

The organizers pulled off a successful conference with not a single hang-up or set back. All pre-conference workshops and clinics ran right on schedule. Most workshops during the actual conference were standing room only, with several route setting workshops attended by over 45 people.

Though the workshops and clinics were meaningful and well thought out, for many in attendance the most valuable part of the conference was the networking opportunities. After each workshop small groups of people could be seen huddled together in the halls and lobby of the Boulder Outlook hotel, sharing some of the personal and professional tricks of running a successful climbing gym.

Route setting - We want more!

Route setting was one of the hottest topics during the symposium. The clinics and pre-conference workshops included:

• Managing Your Route Setting Program taught by Dan Hague of Climbing Wall Management was filled to capacity with over 40 gym managers and setters. The participants had so many questions regarding their route setting programs that Dan could not get to all of them in the short (50 minutes) amount of time and had to ask people to hold their comment for after the clinic.

• The Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Route Setting clinics taught by Charlie Boas of the Boulder Rock Club, were also well attended. Boas concentrated his three hour effort on basic theory and easy bouldering movement, which is the quickest way to teach climbing movement. For the setters, many wanted more time and more in-depth clinics though did come away with valuable skills to take home. Orginizers hinted that at next year’s conference attendees could see more route setting workshops, and one to two day setting clinics.

• Route Setting and Technical Operations in Your Facility was presided over by Matt O’Connor of Eldorado Wall Company & Chris Danielson of Thread Climbing and held in the yoga room of The Spot bouldering gym. The clinic attracted mostly experienced managers and was a bit too basic for many of the participents. A more detailed description of the workshop coupled with a tightened down cirriculum would have been helpful and could have garnered better results for attendees.

With six workshops directed specifically at route setters the organizers did a good job of addressing the issue of quality setting. Many, however wanted longer setting clinics and even more setting-related workshops.

One topic that came up regularly during the conference was the lack of quality setters available to climbing gyms and competition organizers. Though nobody seemed to have an answer of how to rectify this dearth, there were meetings between USA Climbing representives, gym managers and route setters about creating more setting certification clinics.  And perhaps another way would be with more setting clinics at next years symposium, combined with a more concerted effort to court route setters to attend. Several gym managers said they would have brought their setters this year but were unsure of the quality and content of the clinics.

When asked about what the CWA is doing to promote route setting, board member Rich Cook said, “We’ve seen here this weekend that there is a desire for route setting information, and we’re going to take that to heart”. Bill Zimmerman, president of the CWA added that a route setting “handbook” would be published this year.

Could this be the next OR?

The Outdoor Retailer show (the OR) is historically where the climbing industry gathers to schmooze and see what is new in the world of climbing. The climbing wall symposium could usurp that distinction. With four climbing wall manufacturers, five hold companies, two pad and flooring specialists, three climbing wall consulting companies and all three American climbing magazine publishers in attendance it just might be the next big “show”.

Overall the symposium was a smashing success and most people left the conference with good ideas and a renewed vigor to improve their gyms back home. Zimmerman said he expects next years conference to triple in size and will again be held in Boulder, Colorado.

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