This article was first published in issue #17 of Urban Climber magazine.

It is reprinted here with permission from CS Danielson.

By: CS Danielson

As Routesetters we are always trying to imagine and then manifest variations of specific movement that create interesting and enjoyable climbing for the people who engage our routes. At our most inspiring moments, we deliver intriguing new lines that get people doing moves from one hold to another in some relatively fresh way that looks and climbs more excitingly than the average route.

Sometimes our routes are climbed by hundreds of people in a matter of hours in competition, and if we’re lucky, seen by hundreds or thousands more spectators at an event or in a video. But a much greater percentage of our work is climbed more often by far less people – our own climbing cliques and small communities – at our commercial home gyms, bouldering hangouts, or recreational and fitness walls on which people are often being introduced to climbing for the first time.

One of our goals is to inspire climbers to get psyched about the movement we create – to want to come back to work the moves, send the route, or… if they on-sighted it, to tell their belayer how fun it is and that they should hop on it themselves. Yet reaching this goal everyday is hard to maintain, and we often need inspiration ourselves.

Needless to say, the grind of everyday setting has put most experienced setters through patches of boredom, creative blocks, and a yearning for insight to something original or innovative. For new routesetters the challenge is often not simply how to keep the creative energy flowing, but how to tap into it in the first place and how to consistently learn to create climbs that our friends, members of the gym, and newcomers to climbing will enjoy.

Some setters may just be learning how to select and manipulate holds, turn wrenches, and force movement, or others may have set so many routes that when it comes to naming them, we just free associate. Regardless of experience we all find ourselves creatively blank on occasion, and when we do, it is helpful to remember that although turning a wrench and tightening a hold may sometimes seem simple or redundant, the implications of each choice we make are much more complicated.

Imagine this sequence…

Right hand crimp on slightly left-turned flat one-pad side-pull Voodoo crimp with left hand down and left four feet, pulling upward on sloping under-cling pocket. Turn head down and step left foot through right on geometric flat horizontal e-Grips edge, while left knee is turned outward and center of gravity is gradually raised over the left foot. Once solid left foot pressure is established, extend right leg out diagonally right and post foot delicately on wall texture until center of gravity is well balanced over left foot. Focus head movement upwards to re-adjust crimp and insure right thumb is wrapped tightly over corner edge of hold. Pull body in towards the wall and slowly raise right leg vertically to sloping Franklin disc foothold. Pull tightly with left hand fingers in pocket against hold texture to maintain body tension. Lock-off right hand crimp by pulling with forearm and bending elbow out while increasing pressure over right foot and releasing left foot to flag against wall behind right leg. Keep as much body weight as possible over right foothold and raise body vertically through extending right leg and gradually flagging further up and out right with the top of left foot. Hold body tension to release left hand from pocket and reach slightly up and left three feet from right hand crimp to left hand Etch gaston. Turn head down to reach high on gaston and work fingers up into the hold slowly but with power so pressure can be applied strongly and hold is controlled with left hand.

The lengthy and detailed paragraph above describes one single left hand movement that incorporates five climbing holds in the progression of a route. Depending on the size of the holds and the degree of wall overhang, the movement described above might be 5.9 or 5.13, and regardless of the level of difficulty, for a climber trying at his/her limit, it actually involves more like 25 – 30 distinct body movements.

It may have taken the routesetter five minutes or less to imagine the movement and bolt these holds to the wall, but it may take a climber weeks or months of struggling through the sequence to complete the moves, and eventually, the entire route. For beginner climbers, learning and then trusting the body movement above can be a serious challenge, and even for strong, talented, and experienced climbers who understand the movement – learning how to do it most efficiently in order to maintain strength, power, and balance to complete the route can be incredibly difficult.

As routesetters, every time we put a hold on the wall there are diverse results. Climbers will love the route. Climbers will hate the route. Climbers will think the moves are reachy. Climbers will think the moves are scrunchy. Climbers will say it was boring, or the crux sequence seemed out of place, or the holds were greasy or the texture was great, or it hurt their fingers, or it flowed with absolute perfection.

Climbers will flash or fall, send or get crushed, and they may return to do your route the next day as a warm up or never get on it again.

But among all the various results, one will be that every climber that pulls on that hold, whether they know it or not, is learning something about climbing movement.

Beginners may be learning general techniques like how to trust their feet or high step.

Intermediate climbers may be working on flexibility and understanding the dynamics of drop knees or opposition strength.

The best climbers are often those who are always intent on learning more, and may be focusing on how to complete intensely difficult single moves. Sometimes even those who never get on the wall are learning from you having put that hold on it. If you watch a bunch of climbers trying to work out a move in a serious session, you will find that even those who have not tried the move are learning something by watching the others. They are learning what to do, or not to do when they try it, or sometimes they are learning to understand someone else’s movement just through watching them, and then they might help their friend to succeed. Either way, they are learning about climbing movement – whether learning what to do positively to succeed, or learning what not to do, in order to prevent failure.

Regardless of our experience level, we share our own basic or complex understandings of climbing techniques and styles through a unique endeavor. We sift through piles of holds for just the right grip, tweak the angle of direction to create the desired movement we imagined, and turn a wrench to finish the product.

Right now thousands of climbers are learning through movement we created. When we are bored or tapped out or trying to think of something new, just remembering that we have the ability to teach someone something about their movement every time you turn a wrench can be good motivation.

In addition to improving climbers’ abilities, we also have the potential to create strong relationships between climbers and the gyms they climb at, and inspire them to come back the next day to send. And the better the relationships we create, the stronger the communities that are built around climbing facilities.

Furthermore, the more we think about building routes as the potential to teach something about climbing, the more we can understand as routesetters about climbing in general – how the dynamics of movement work, and how to create new, challenging, and enjoyable sequences. Through remembering that every movement is a lesson, we can keep motivated to create a great product for climbing communities, and be inspired to learn more ourselves.

© CS Danielson 2007

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