Climb-crafting, climbing design, "On-setting," and the upcoming comp
From Adventures in Routesetting I've grown to dislike the term "routesetting." Yes, I know it's in the title of this blog and it's used a lot, but in a sense the term is a misnomer for what goes on at our climbing gym. I spend more time designing, building, crafting, drilling, and constructing from scratch (meaning nothing but a solid sweep of concrete) a climb. Not just a "route," but a real climb. A route, in the typically understood gym-speak is transient. A gym route typically comes and goes. Ours is perhaps one of the few gyms in the country, for better or worse, that keeps many of its routes up for a prolonged period of time. (Perhaps with the exception of the bouldering wall at CATS in Boulder.) Our routes tend to become treated as outdoor climbs do. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not as I like to see routes change often. But I think people get very attached to our routes and think of them as their own. Take for instance Quarry Daze