The 2008 Climbing Wall Association Summit kicked off last week in Boulder, Colorado. This second annual conference is where climbing wall operators, managers and routesetters from around the world are able to get together and discuss the plastic world we inhabit.

During the three day event attendees were able to take workshops on a variety of subject ranging from legal to employment & routesetting to industry standards.

There were two pre-conference workshops dealing specfically with routesetting: “How to spice up your routesetting” and “Training your routesetters”. Both of these were well received with good participation.

There were also two routesetting workshops during the conference. A roundtable discussion on whether or not customers care about climbing on quality routes or not. That question didn’t really get answered but there was a lively discussion about how to create routes that customers will enjoy.

The other setting workshop, “How to be an effective head setter” was attended by over 50 people, one of the fullest of the entire conference.

The conference organizers saw a 50 percent jump in attendance from last years summit. To accommodate the increase in people, a fourth session was added to each day of the conference. This enabled a motivated person to have a full day of workshops, presentations and lectures.

This however, limited the amount of time one could network with other operators, managers and setters. Networking was the number one thing that last years attendees said they appreciated about the conference.

When attendees did get together, routsetting, insurance, programs and member management software were the hot topics of discussion.
There was also in increase in the number of manufactures displaying their wares. Six hold companies, three wall manufactures and three gear makers were on hand to showcase the newest tools for climbing gyms.

Perhaps one of the strangest moments of the summit was the keynote speaker, Phil Powers, Executive Director of the American Alpine Club (AAC). Even at first glance The AAC might not be the most applicable organization to address a gathering of climbing gym owners and this was re-affirmed during Mr. Powers speech.

Only once during the speech did Mr. Powers mention climbing walls and this was to tell us that he only uses them when he is unable to go climbing outside.

This perhaps lead to the disconnect that attendees felt; with many leaving the room scratching their heads and feeling belittled. We hope next years keynote speaker actually has an interest in climbing gyms.

But all in all the conference was a huge success with attendees going home full of great information to make their facility better!

Routesetter.com encourages every body to think about attending next years conference.

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