UKC

I am contemplating doing an introductory course to route setting to see if it is something I would like to pursue.

However, after talking to a friend who manages a climbing wall, they said the only way to really get into route setting is to start working at a wall and hope that you can eventually be trained up under the in-house route setting team.

As I do not have any interest in instructing or having to take the qualifications related to this, I would be interested to hear from those who have managed to get into route setting by a different path?

I'm not a routesetter (other than on my home board!) however i am sure that the BMC courses or those run by commercial companies, see links below, would give you a good introduction to the skills required. 

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-route-setting-workshop

https://www.impactroutesetting.co.uk/courses

I'm sure that the person running these courses would also be able to offer further advice regarding how to get into routesetting without also instructing. 

I did a boulder setting course that had no requirements for me to have SPA, CWA or any kind of instructing quali's, I just paid and turned up. It was an RSA course I think.

Just hunted through my old emails, it was with this company: https://www.climbingwallservices.com/

Without doubt the RSA courses will give you a piece of paper saying you know how to route set.

You try getting a job with a piece of paper and no experience...

I don't know if this would work but this is what I might try. First get the RSA qualification and then offer to set for free at a local wall to gain experience and to get your face known. Obviously helps if you know a few people. Good luck.

Thanks all.

In reply to Oceanrower:

Thanks, I appreciate that. How did you go about getting your experience if it wasn't originally working for a climbing wall after doing CWA/SPA etc?

Slightly different approach. I work in climbing walls but the other side of the desk. I do maintenance, safety checks, equipment checks, any new wall build required and (very, very occasionally!) Set the odd route.

It's a very niche market though and virtually the only way to get setting work is to know someone. Nobody is going to let you loose on their wall without getting to know you first.

There isn't much of a crossover of skills between setting and instructing, if you are only interested in setting I wouldn't bother following instructional qualifications.

I do some setting and it seems to me knowing the right people is the way to get started. Walls can be worried about safety and quality of routes and it takes time and investment on their part to train good setters, so it's hard to gain experience initially.

I started with a background in construction so using a drill etc was no bother, I've seen some people who want to set really struggle with his aspect, so it's worth not overlooking the practical part of actually putting holds on the wall.

Offering to strip and clean holds is a good way to get practice in a setting environment, if you put in the effort here it's more likely someone will let you have a crack at a setting. I've had a few people set under supervision whilst I'm setting and it's good learning for them, but it's time consuming for me.

Some of the challenges are efficiency and creativity. When you first start setting it's very hard to set quality creative routes in a timely fashion. I could only set 15 or so boulders in a day when I started, I was testing all the time to see if moves worked etc and I was knackered at the end of the day. Now I can set 25+ boulders and test them in a day and I'm less tired than I was before and a lot of that is down to experience.

Setting for tr and lead lines brings a load more complications (and legislation).

It's tiring but can be good fun, especially if there is a good crew setting.

I’m a full time routesetter. As has been mentioned to you the only way to really get into the industry is through working at a wall. The one exception to this is if you are British team/a very high profile climber. But even then most walls will be wary of giving you work before you have proved your self. 

Its essentially an apprenticeship profession so you need to go through the process of stripping and washing holds etc, which does actually teach you most of the rope work and how to use the tools etc. Being able to use a drill is one thing, being able to use it to put 600screws in the wall every day 5 days a week is something else and it takes time to build up the physical stamina just to do the manual labour side of the job before you’ve even started trying to think about which hold goes where. 

RSA courses are good and will teach you the basics of the safety side of the industry but the reality is if you have done an RSA course but have no experience no one is going to give you work. And no one is going to let you set for free to gain experience. Route are the product that the walls sell and having a novice set them is more hassle than it’s worth. This is way so many walls are reluctant to host route setting courses, even if they are paid to host them. Would you let someone who was thinking about being an electrician wire your house for free to gain experience?  

Some of the London walls are now starting to run apprentice schemes for their in house routesetting. This is currently the best way into the industry if you have no previous experience. 

Yep - if you want to set get a job at a climbing wall. It takes a long time though; if you say on your interview that you want to get in to setting you will 100% not get a job. Every man and his dog wants to 'get in to route setting' and it's a lot of hassle for gyms so they're not going to hire someone who's going to prioritise something they're not hiring for. 

You need to do a ton of work for free (stripping, washing, helping other setters) and be really keen. 

Qualifications mean pretty much nothing.

You need to be climbing really well, generally (if you're not bouldering >7+ then you've got work to do first). 

Thanks all.

if you say on your interview that you want to get in to setting you will 100% not get a job. Every man and his dog wants to 'get in to route setting' and it's a lot of hassle for gyms so they're not going to hire someone who's going to prioritise something they're not hiring for. 

Yes, I realise that and the fact you need to climb hard to set.

I'd love whoever disliked my post to share why.

I'm a manager at a climbing wall, so my advice is largely based on fact. 

Hmm. I don't know about route setting, but I think offering your services for free is in general a bad idea, regardless of your level of experience. It reminds me of all those ads you see wanting work done in return for "exposure".

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/exposure

Do you mean 'it's a bad idea' or more that you object to people perhaps being taken advantage of? I think it's a sad reality that experience, often gained by working for free, puts that person at an advantage in a job seeking situation. I don't like it but think it's something worth considering. 

This is a bit of a myth, if there’s enough of a stream of people willing to do a job for free then there’ll never be a job to be paid for. As soon as you decide you want payment they’ll move on to the next chump making his or her way up the ladder and willing to do it for free. See it all the time in the photography ‘profession’ sadly. 

Must be different in different professions. I work in mental health and a certain amount of experience, which may be gained through unpaid work, is increasingly necessary; there is also a requirement to do a certain number of hours, in my experience all unpaid, whilst gaining the qualification. I don't like this trend and agree that people need to be careful not to be taken advantage of.

I don’t know what profession you are referring to but a lot of mental health nursing students get paid work as nursing assistants while they are training..

Yes I can appreciate the difficulties in the chronically underfunded mental health services, but in this instance we’re talking about commercial, profit making enterprises. Yes, a newbie maybe shouldn’t be paid as much as a time served setter but if you’re going to profit from their work then they should be remunerated to at least the minimum wage.