We have come to a close of our 2nd rotation abiding by our “10 hold” rule. I usually spend my weekly Saturday session climbing on the Moonboard, but have found myself skipping my scheduled board session to return to some of our current commercial sets.
What does that mean?
As a routesetter, climbing outside of work is tricky. At other gyms it can sometimes feel like a comparison of products. What are they doing differently? How are they utilizing their resources? Why are the climbers choosing to climb here? At your own gym, it can feel like a product audit – thinking of missed opportunities, additional footholds, or clocking a hand just a few more degrees. I’ve gotten better at it through the years, but climbing in a gym feels more enjoyable when you’re not the one behind the drill.
My last few sessions at LIC have begun to dissipate this feeling. As I went around the gym during my last Friday session, I realized I was climbing boulders that I had repeated multiple times, and ones that I was coming back to project. I feel like our team is dialing in on making our boulders simple, stimulating, and sessionable.
I want to take a deeper dive into a few of my favorites, and give a breakdown as to why they stand out to me.
Yellow V7 on the 45
Setter: Hans
Hans would describe this as a “comedy boulder” which someone in the chat can ask him to describe fully. There is something comical about having so many large, juggy fiberglass holds so close together and making you use all of them. At first glance this boulder looks like a ladder, but climbs like the complete opposite of one. Hans utilized the Flathold Borderlines at a slight angle to make their slightly sloped surfaces impossible to hold without a combination of foot and hand compression. The foot tension comes in the form of shuffling heel hooks, which if you misplace your lower body will eject you off of the boulder. In my recording I used 3 different heel hooks, 8 hand movements and traveled a distance of <10 feet on a 6 hold boulder. This thing packs a punch. This was a favorite of ours during forerunning with us betting on who would flash. I have also seen a lot of members projecting this boulder as it is easy to measure progress on and the holds are comfy. This makes it a prime candidate to come back to for multiple sessions.
Blue V9 on the 45
Setter: Laurent
Laurent has been coming up on setting with us for about a year, and has thoroughly experimented and experienced the power of the downpull. This boulder is what I would describe as a “better board climb”. This blue offers board style movement with a higher level of nuance due to a higher variety in hold type. Laurent combined Flathold Damage Control pinches and crimps to create a simple, yet effective, full body power boulder. This lured me in for about 10 attempts over 3 sessions. I didn’t have to think much about why I kept coming back to this one, it’s my style. Pinches, incut crimps, and core tension on a steep wall – a bit meatheaded for sure, but it’s classic hardbody rock climbing. Similar to Hans’ boulder, one of my favorite aspects of this is that if your feet cut you will be sent straight back to the mat. The combination of heel hooks and bicycles throughout makes the downpulling feel engaging, while not making you think too much. The finish move eluded me for two sessions as I had to keep my last bicycle in for just long enough to slow my momentum when cutting feet on the finish move. This thing is clean, lean, and gratifying to top.
White V7 on the Buddha
Setter: Ayman
This is an Ayman classic. During setting, we divided up some of our new white fiberglass holds and Ayman picked 3 of the Flathold Borderlines. A few glances over at his work while setting had me a bit baffled as to where he was going with his idea, as there was barely anything on the wall. Forerunning this thing proved to be a funny and humbling experience. Flexibility and jumping are not my strong suits, so wedging myself into a corner and leaping out of it was not something I was too keen on. I tried it a few times, but got a bit frustrated and went to work on some of the other problems we had to finish up on that day. The reason I came back to it is the amount of people I saw lining up to try it. This boulder is graded on the higher end, but not because of an elevated barrier to entry. I saw multiple v5/6 climbers work through the lower stem section and stick the dyno because it isn’t physically difficult, but complex. The large feet and multiple hand options give you a relatively stable platform to catch your bearings, and let you think about what you are going to do next while you are still on the wall. These slow motion moments of real-time problem solving don’t happen all the time, but Ayman is exceptional at making them happen. The top section of the boulder offers an advantage to shorter climbers that might’ve had trouble with the lower section. A high gaston stand-up move can prove difficult for taller climbers (I still am having trouble doing this move) to get their feet up and gain opposition against the third Borderline. The video shows Tomomi doing this boulder with ease (thanks for the footage).
Pink v6 on the 3D
Setter: Maggie
Maggie is a setter at Movement in California and stopped in to guest set while she was in town. While I can’t pin down her setting style after one day, she was able to match our aesthetic and team energy in her short stint with us. This boulder is a prime example of how the direction of holds can influence a boulder. Maggie paired the Flathold Creatures of Comfort with some of our favorite slopey Kilter Jugs (can’t seem to find them on the site, maybe discontinued) and turned them all sideways. I am always a fan of a theme, and this one works like a charm. Utilizing positive holds and putting them in an unlikely position is a great way to create a sequence without making holds worse of moving them farther apart. You spend most of this boulder trying to get your body opposing all of the right sidepulls. This requires you to push through your feet to maintain control of holds that are the “wrong way” until you are able to shift your hips rightward to feel “the right way”. There is even a cheeky palm press on the back of one of the larger features to bring your foot up for the final move. A complex boulder that gets the “aha” moment once you figure out the body positioning.
Black v8 on the Bulge
Setter: Blu
This boulder embodies Blu’s rubber band-like setting style. You find yourself a little tightened up and need to bounce out of it to keep moving. The Damage Control Crimps and Squadra Sick Slopers offer contrasting grip types, but equality in the amount of each hold type on the boulder. Blu bookends this boulder with her signature style, while offering an easy to digest mid section. The first move of the boulder requires you to smear on dual-tex (this is the world we live in now) and cross back over your head to a positive downpulling crimp. However, once you’re in this position, you’re stuck. What do you do? Hit a light pop to an even better crimp and hold the swing. This is followed by a technical foot smear on the sidewall volumes and a committing, full body move to a sloper that requires precise tension between the left foot and left hand. My favorite part of this boulder is that the penultimate move is the reverse of the first move – evening out your sides is a necessity! . A high left hand with a low right undercling sets you up to slowly unwind and float to the finish hold. This is another example of utilizing comfortable holds in conjunction with body positioning to create something that feels challenging, but achievable.
Pink V6 on the Bulge
Setter: Patrick
A campus start, need I say more? Patrick utilized some of our favorite macros the Bluepill Fiber Impressions combined with a discontinued set of super ergonomic Metolius Pockets. This boulder manages to span nearly the entire wall with a mere 7 holds, which is no small feat. The idea for this boulder was requested by our youth team coach Jon for a mock competition round that will be running this week. This was an attempt to mimic the campus move shown in this final boulder of the Youth World Championships. Patrick was able to take creative liberty for the remainder for the boulder and opted for a straightforward power testpiece. These types of boulders can be polarizing as there is often a pass/fail element associated with them. I think Patrick tiptoed this line well as the first move of the boulder is easily repeatable/learnable and there aren’t any significant difficulty spikes throughout the remainder of the boulder. You know exactly what you are getting when you pull onto this one and there is comfort in that. Patrick also took advantage of the volumes and sidewall to forgo the use of any footchips to preserve a clean and streamlined aesthetic.
The Verdict
I’m enjoying climbing at LIC right now. After a few sessions it’s become clear to me that our team is really honing in on how to keep the climbing nuanced, without it being too cluttered or visually confusing. We are reaching a balance of simplicity and complexity and I’m personally enjoying the direction we are moving.
As I’ve been writing this I’m reflecting on some areas we could improve:
The lowest grade on my list was v6. While I think this has something to do with the grade range I climb comfortably in, my list would’ve felt more rounded out if I was compelled to have 2-3 boulders between v0 and v4. If you’re particularly enjoying certain climbs in this range, drop them in the comments.
We could set more climbs in the v0-v3 range with more “wow” moments. This could be learning a new skill, utilizing macros or volumes in new ways, and making the climber feel confident on the wall.
We are lacking a few crimpy trainer climbs in the v6-v8 range.
There were a few boulders I wanted to include on this list but had their quality impacted by us using too many high profile holds around them, making them dabby or uncomfortable. This comes with the territory of setting so dense and I think we have improved on this a lot over the years, but there is still room for growth.
The climbs in the v8-v10+ range could be more comfortable and less complex. This could come in the form of more “strength tester” boulders, where body positioning is less at the forefront.
With our rotation being faster, we are able to modify direction and address pain points much quicker than we used to. The things we don’t like become more ephemeral as we can move through a full rotation in just 4 weeks, compared to our previous 6 weeks. We’re still figuring out if it’s beneficial to move with this speed, but the ability to refresh our minds quickly allows for more opportunities to reflect and grow our setting offering.
What do you think? Are you enjoying the fast rotation? Do you like the current selection at LIC? What boulders are in your must-climb circuit?
> There were a few boulders I wanted to include on this list but had their quality impacted by us using too many high profile holds around them
Another argument for more problems with micros!
I think the Blue V4 on the new slab set is a particularly fun easier problem: a little puzzly, varied movement, and overall completely logical.
if the white V7 on the 45 isn't a crimpy trainer climb then what the heck am I doing wrong.
I enjoyed the yellow v2 with the dualtex crimps on the vert wall last set
maggie's pink v6 was awesome but did make me wonder why it didn't feel like the style of LIC climbs, now I know!