By: Chris Danielson for eGrips

With many years as a phenomenal youth climber, winning events back-to-back and a decade’s worth of competition route setting under his belt; Kevin Branford may have more continuous climbing competition experience than anyone else in the US.

Kevin recently set the 2008 SCS Adult Nationals, 2006 SCS Youth Nationals and the 2004 & 2006 North American Continentals before that. Oh, and Kevin also has what many will consider a dream job – traveling around the world setting on cruise ships.

eG: So Kevin, where to start… how about from the competitor’s perspective… when and where did you start competing? Your reign in the youth comp scene was pretty long as I recall.

KB: I did my first competition in 1992 at the Sport Climbing Center here in Colorado Springs – The Western Regional Championships. At that point, there was not really such a thing as “Jr.” competitions, so any events that I climbed in, I was competing against the adults. From there, I just tried to compete in as many events that I could.

I really enjoyed climbing in comps because I was able to travel and see all of the friends that I had come to know through the years. After the Jr. Circuit started to go nuts, I won the Jr. National Championships 5 times, and the Jr. Continental Championships in 1994. I also had the good fortune to compete in the ESPN X-Games 3 times. It was just a fun way for me to bounce around and do what I loved. I am sure that is why I am a route setter now.

eG: Were you route setting while a competitive climber as well, or learning the trade intuitively through climbing comp routes? Did you have any mentors as a young setter – how did you get into it?

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