4. Create movements
And now, the heart of the matter: creating a route/problem. It’s quite daunting to be faced with a blank wall, and tempting to put up a ‘ladder’ style route for the sake of convenience. From a learning point of view, this is counterproductive. Climbers’ progress may stagnate, especially in a school environment. For beginners to add to their gestural skills, they need to be able to try a variety of movements. Chloé Minoret says that “Nice, varied routes give pleasure and enable progress.” High-quality setting creates a virtuous circle: enjoyment leads to progress.
So how to place the holds?
Experienced climbers can call upon their own gestural skills. They can create a route/problem intuitively, by visualising the hold and the profile.
Novice setters, on the other hand, are inexperienced and do not necessarily know how to position the holds. The repertoire below details all the traditional moves. You can also enrich your gestural repertoire by watching climbing videos or by climbing.
A route/bouldering problem consists of a series of basic movements (grouped/unbundled, developed) with variations. The variations are obtained by placing the holds off-centre and rotating them, testing the climber on a movement that he/she doesn’t master yet. The more difficult the grade, the more variations there will be, in order to provide a more diverse gestural palette. This is what will make the route special.
Basic moves:
Basic variations:
This type of movement can be performed by beginners. It adds technical diversity to the basic movements.
Basic foot techniques:
Don’t skimp on the footholds, so the climb is more about technical skill than strong arms. Remember foot holds can become hand holds. Foot holds can be used in different ways.
Overhangs:
Overhangs mean you need to climb side on, so you can keep your arms straight, which is less tiring. This requires outside edge foot placement, and rolling around your shoulder as much as possible. Overhang setting therefore involves offsetting the feet in relation to the hands. If the hand holds are on the right, the foot holds will be on the left but not too low, so the climber can stay bunched.