Touchstone Routesetters

A common question we get as setters is how we get inspiration for our climbs, and if we take inspiration from outdoor climbs. The answer is, sometimes!

Those of us who frequently climb outdoors certainly get ideas from what we find in nature, which may show up in our choices of the style of the climb or certain unique moves. Less frequently, we decide to replicate an entire climb!

In this case, two of us collaborated to create a replica of a boulder called Molly, which is in the Sads outside Bishop, CA. We chose this climb because the height and angle of the wall was very similar, and we knew we had the holds available that we needed for the movement (specifically those pockets!).

We’re very pleased with how it turned out! It took watching a lot of different beta videos to try to get the nuances down, but in the end our climb ended up quite accurate, including the many different beta options for the beginning!

The Molly replica is still up at , if you want to give it a go! If you’ve climbed the real boulder, let us know how you think the two compare.

There’s a very special climb up at right now!

Last summer Bay Area local .herson put up the first ascent of Drifter’s Escape in Squamish, the world’s first 5.15a trad climb, and therefore hardest trad climb in the world currently!

Last week he worked with our setter CDC to put up a replica of the crux section of the climb at Hyperion. While the replica is easier than the actual climb, he says the movement is remarkably accurate! So if you’re one for ringlocks and terribly blocked holds, get your but over there and give it a go!

First Open rope competition in a decade!!
Huge thank you to everyone who made Battle of the Bay, Ropes Edition a huge success!

We had a very big week getting ready for the competition. Balancing the time and resources for citizens and open rounds for ropes was a new challenge for all of us, and it really hit home how important it is for everyone to work as a cohesive team. Because when there are so many things happening all at once, you really need to be confident that everyone is on the same page! It was an exhausting week, but we are so pleased with how it all turned out. Lots of very good climbs up on the walls, and the finals for the open competition was a fantastic show!

All the competition routes will stay up for a while, so make sure to get to Mission Cliffs and check them out!

Are you ready for March Madness at ?? 🏀🏀🏀

Each color has its own no-hands position. Can you find it??? Knee-bars, bat hangs, foot-jams, straddles - they’re all there!
Once you find it, get your buddy to pass you the ball, and try to make the shot!

Coincidentally, are you ready for some brand new holds at for Battle of the Bay??

What are some unseen considerations in routesetting?

So much more goes into setting than just making a climb that goes! There are lots of things that we have to think about to create a good gym experience.

1. Safety! This looks like not putting large, protruding holds at the bottoms of busy slabs, considering fall zones and fall angles, trying to ensure that holds aren’t positioned in a way where you could get a limb or finger stuck between them, etc.

2. Avoiding Interference! Making sure that holds from one climbs don’t interfere with the movement of another climb (ex: not putting a huge hold in the path of a delicate climb that requires you to stay really close to the wall).

3. Diversity of climbs! Whether you love crimps or pinches, static moves or dynamic flow, we want everyone to have climbs that they’re psyched on!

4. Wall Flow! We all know the importance of paying attention to where people are already climbing nearby before you hop on. When too many climbs traverse back and forth and overlap, this can cause bottlenecks during busy times and frustrations for climbers just trying to get on the wall.

5. Wall Aesthetics! There is an art to making a wall that looks good and climbs well.

There’s a lot to think about, and that’s not even getting into the setting itself!

How do setters force certain movements in a climb??

For this boulder we were trying to create an introduction to heel-hooking. We wanted the heel hook to be very obvious and intuitive, and comfortable for even fairly new climbers.

A huge factor in this was making sure the hold we were asking people to heel hook on was large enough and stuck out from the wall enough that it was comfortable and easy to use. Because the wall is slightly overhung and we didn’t have any larger holds that were the right shape available in black, we had to use a volume with the ledge hold on it to achieve this.

From there, it was all about setting people up in the right body position. The starting hands (one up and left, one by the foot to help people set the heel) we’re placed and angled so that your center of gravity was to the left of the foot, not right above it, and the next hands you’re going to is up and right from there. This makes the climber want to use the foot to pull themselves to the right, which is something that a heel hook is great for! We also angled the ledge foot to make it harder to just stand on and to encourage people to find that pulling-with-the-heel movement.

Lastly, by not giving you any other foot to use below the heel-hook ledge, it eliminated any possibility of someone skipping that part entirely by generating off of a different foot.

What do you think? Not bad for a beginner-friendly heel hook! We think it’s a fun little climb, and it’s currently up at !

We’re looking for an Experienced Routesetter to join our LA-area crew! You’ll get to work with a fantastic, knowledgeable crew and across multiple diverse gyms. This position is full-time and offers comprehensive benefits!

We want our staff to reflect the communities we serve, so we strongly encourage BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folks to apply.

Link to the application is in our page!

We strive to make climbing fun for everyone, and that includes the littlest children!

Last week we reset the kiddie area at , which gave us a chance to exercise our creativity in a very different way than normal. Rather than thinking about grades and testing movement, we got to focus on creating a space that was inviting and accessible to all children, especially the smallest. And having silly fun! We have some holds for the space that are cute shapes - castles, animals, plants, silly faces, etc. - and it was fun to figure out how to use them to create scenes.

My personal favorite is the old blue volume used as a lake, complete with turtles and a river flowing into it! 🐢

So if you’re in the Bay Area and have a little kid who wants to try climbing, go check it out!

Another Battle of the Bay done and dusted! We hope you all had as much fun as we did!

The crew worked hard all week to put the best assortment of climbs up on the walls, and we’re overall really happy with how it turned out. First competition in a new gym is always a bit of a building-the-plane-as-it’s-flying situation, but it all came together so smoothly! is such a great competition location, and we’re so excited for more to come!

Huge thanks to all the & staff who put in tons of work to make this competition amazing. And thank you to everyone who came out and competed! Watching folks have a great time at the competition is just the best 💖

Hey we got something 🎃👻🦇 for you too!

Pockets, smearing, stemming, composing…
Face your fears with this challenge route!
Can you get to the last hold of each color:
🟢, ⚪️, 🟣, 🔴, & ⚫️
The less black holds you use, the spookier it will be!