r/Routesetters • u/IllustratorRound808 • 2d ago

How to start?

/r/bouldering/comments/1xfhlws/how_to_start/

Hey i just did a slab route in my local bouldering gym. The staff says you can use the grey volumes as part of the route. The thing is that i needed to touch a volume before i touched the start holds for balancing myself out. Is that legal in your gym? I dont want the just climb for fun answer. I actually wanna know. And if i can't do that can my chest touch the volume before i touch the start holds?

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u/SentSoftSecondGo 2d ago

In a (USAC/ifsc) comp: no. You cannot touch any non-start-marked fixtures (volumes or holds) to establish.

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u/heldniklas 2d ago

Commercial gyms mostly yes cause we as setters consider plywood as part of the wall. If it’s specifically designed to be part of only one route then most gyms try to have ply in custom colors.

And reminder. Ifsc don’t tell us commercial
Gyms shit. They know knothing so why would we follow their rules? Comps got different rules

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u/SentSoftSecondGo 1d ago

I literally wasn’t telling you what to do—I know tone is hard to convey in text but you sound like a dick Ngl. But I don’t know any gyms where your hands can touch things other than the wall (wood or fiberglass) to establish even if it’s not a 4-p start. I go to probably 30+ gyms per year for work and they all have dif vibes and “rules” (both actual rules and ethics for sends) but I’ve yet to see one that expects you to touch things the setters attach to the wall before starting. Otherwise people would rainbow to the start holds of a run/jump. For example.

Literally doesn’t matter to me though because, as OP said not to say, if you’re proud and having fun that’s what matters. Same reason I don’t care if a bday kid rainbows or a comp kid makes up a dyno.

I do not care what people do in their climbing (I mean maybe don’t lie and no chipping?) but I do care what example professionals in the industry set. This kind of shitty, cowboy attitude and tribalism of “comps vs the real deal hardmen” is why OSHA and CWA have the ability to try to make setters wear helmets for bouldering and two rope spray systems for setting a 12 foot birthday TR wall. You know, instead of being assholes just because the ifsc sucks, we could work together towards a standardization that works okay-ish for everyone before the insurance agencies start dictating span or loose chalk too