A Routesetting Blog Begins

As if I needed another blog. But this one is about my experiences with routesetting.

I spend a lot of time hanging from ropes and turning wrenches. Just a quick background on my routesetting history.

I guess it all started in 1992 when I discovered climbing - both outdoor and indoor. In Oklahoma the opportunities to climb outside are somewhat limited (it's about an hour and a half to the nearest rock). So we pride ourselves in coming up with unique ways to experience climbing. I began putting holds on plywood pretty much as soon as I began climbing. I made wood holds. I made rock holds. I glued holds to the underside of bridges. I discovered climbing in urban areas (i.e. buildering). Anything and everything could be a "route." The first home gym I climbed in was at Terry Andrew's house just a couple of miles from home. His gym had the appearance of a wood-shop experiment gone array - but in my mind it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. Nearly all of his holds were homemade. He had holes cut directly in the plywood, he had rocks that he'd drilled himself, he had mud-pie-looking holds made from pouring Bondo into little dug-out holes in the ground as his molds.

Terry's gym, along with a climbing gym in the city, and my exponentially developing passion for climbing spurned me to create my own routes and things to climb on. it wasn't long before I'd built a gym in my Mom's garage (exclusively from scrap wood found behind our shed).

Routesetting for my began and developed from here. In the gym I paid attention to others routes. I paid attention to movement. I took countless climbing trips and discovered many different types of rock and the types of routes that developed from them. Upon returning from a trip I'd have a new way to set - another niche in style. Limestone breeds different routes than granite, and sandstone different from basalt - from here I was able to set a route "like Red Rocks" or "like the Wichitas."

I started a local bouldering series that took place in garage gyms around town. As my climbing got better, so did my routesetting. I volunteered to set for a number of local competitions.

Without going into too much more detail - I've been setting holds on walls and making routes for almost 18 years. It sounds absurd when I write it like that.

Now I have my own climbing gym - Rocktown - where I set routes on a regular basis. For me, routesetting and establishing outdoor routes has always been a part of climbing - a part that I really enjoy.

From time to time people ask, "How do you get good at routesetting?" I guess the answer, more than anything, is practice - practice and time.

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Over the next few weeks I am going to be preparing for our annual USA Climbing Sport Climbing Competition at Rocktown Climbing Gym. I thought I would start this blog and post about the routesetting as things progress.

If you haven't heard about Rocktown I encourage you to check it out - it's a different kind of gym than most and has it's unique challenges that do not exist at other warehouse-style gyms.

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So today I set the first route of the competition - a 90ft 5.11+. More on this route and others in a later post. I've written enough for now.