I decided to go over to the climbing gym this afternoon and map out the middle section of the Boulderland wall. Brian and Emily were there and I talked to Emily for a while. It was good to catch up with her because I haven’t seen a lot of her lately. Just the holidays and timing and all that stuff. I mapped out the framework of the wall and that was good enough for today. Down in the hallway on the bulletin board before I saw Emily, I saw the information sheet for the route setting positions shown in the photo. I had a rush of negative feelings well up inside me and had to go up and begin mapping out the wall. This new gym has such a cookie-cutter view of who and what a route setter just has to be. I can set a V4 that you’re guaranteed to love, but the management pulls out these spreadsheets and pre-assigns you grades, styles, and colors to set with. Route setting is about creativity and should be fun. I’m trying to adapt, but I’m having a hard time with this. I’ll keep trying…
