#routesetters

[the-jin-to-my-tonic]

All the women's boulders being topped? The men could never

[wawek]

They dont name climbing routes like they used to...

[phagodyke]

yeah im watching the ifsc womens final world cup for the plot (=so many women with tree trunk forearm muscles.....)

[chellsiememmel]

being an olympic routesetter would be so stressful like. hi it’s up to you to set the perfect problems to separate the field so only a couple people can top each but everyone can give it a good college try. also the routes can’t favor athletes of a certain height or skillset. you have to test them on everything. oh and make sure the lead routes are hard but not too hard. if the olympics suck it’s your fault and everyone knows that. anyway have fun!

[mactiir]

New set at the climbing gym today. The problems are new enough they don't have grades yet so me and partner are just throwing ourselves at whatever looks doable. There's this tallish slab problem with a HUGE muscly move up to the end hold but I'm looking at it like. Yeah, I can do it. Which, if I think I can do it with some practice, usually means it's no higher than a v4-v5 (intermediate range, for non climbers). Girl comes over to ask what grade we think it is, we tell her v4-ish. She can't do it either. Then her boyfriend comes over and flashes the problem with the BIGGEST, SHAKIEST power move accompanied by the loudest power yell I have ever heard. Then he hops down and goes "that's not a v4, that's at LEAST a v6 or v7 (start of advanced ranges), especially at this gym because their setting is so soft." And we were like, ok sure dude, but I'm still eyeing this problem like "...but I could do it though?" And granted I'm good at slab, but I'm not like. V6 good at slab.

Anyway, I looked that problem up on my gym's app when I got home and it's a... drumroll please... v3 (aka lower intermediate/tough beginner range).

Moral of the story: the confident power shouting white man at your climbing gym in fact does NOT know everything, even if he thinks he does, but hey, that might have actually felt like a v6 to him the same way it felt like a v4 to me. Similarly, my v3 might feel like a v5 to my partner, who is nine inches shorter than me, or vice versa, because she is much stronger. Grades are ONE PERSON'S thoughts on how hard something is -- almost always the setter. They don't reflect the varieties of skills, body types, and sheer motherfucking audacity you will encounter in a group of climbers. You're way better off listening to your body and taking advice from people with skill sets and body types like yours than letting your confidence be dictated by beta-spraying randos at the gym OR routesetters themselves.

[conexaoamerica]

Route 66 🇺🇲 🌵

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✔️ Credit 👉🏆🎥 @500america

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✔️Alliance @america_states @guimellousa @enjoy_la_

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#conexaoamerica

#redwhiteandblue #godblessamerica #patriotic #patriotism #america #usa #usa🇺🇸 #americandream #iloveusa🇺🇸 #usalove #americanfreedom #motivation #americanlife #americanstyle #usapatriot #usacity #usacitys #AmericanIdol #americanflag🇺🇸 #AmericanFlag #americanhero #american

#route66 #route #routesetter #gardenroute #66

[sportsallover]

Routesetters: This boulder, we've made it so that you have to go at it with your feet first

Jessica Pilz:

[stillseeitallinmyhead]

My gym’s new routesetter fucking loves high feet moves that involve holding massive amounts of tension. Dude is killing me

[junewild]

if the commentators aren’t better this year it will be HEATED. my god. highlights from last time: got all the Asian names wrong (didn’t know or ignored that surnames come first & mispronounced everything), knew absolutely nothing about the sport or the athletes and sounded like they were reading every jargon word out of a book, kept calling beta “wrong” instead of “not what the routesetters intended,” & that’s just to start

might. fucking. live-tweet the sport climbing at the olympics. yes i’m aware its happening from 1-5 next monday. i have two weeks off it’s full gremlin mode from here on out

[deuceishiphop]

wow. what a week to look back on. the path of a professional routesetter I have taken has not been an easy one, and it most certainly was never a clear one...but now more than ever, I have so much gratitude for the depth it gives my life as an artist, a student of human nature, and most importantly, a climber. I came to @tonde_san seeking answers about this crazy career, and left with more questions...but I also left with a TON more inspiration, and a new hope for my future. thanks to one of my biggest role models, and every other awesome person who I met through this experience! may our paths cross again 😊🛠🧰 🧗🏽‍♂️ #routesetting #climbing #rockclimbing #rockclimbers #climbers #blackclimbersmatter #minneapolis #learning #itwasagoodday #teamwork #mbp #routesetter #routesetters #bouldering #ohwow #soinspiring (at Minneapolis Bouldering Project) https://www.instagram.com/deuceishiphop/p/BwasvNBDTL_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=l5dxn2d67g6a

[kojiishibashi]

- Prologue - This climber portrait series is dedicated with love and respect to Philip Schaal, 1981-2016. My homie, climbing mentor and good friend. #Repost @kojiwankenobi ・・・ #cigarette #tobacco #thethingkillsyou #blackandwhite #brooklyn #gowanus #bkb #climber #routesetter #gif #swaggyp #chari&co #portrait #photography #nyc #photographer #strong #climbing #rockclimbing #community #kojiwankenobi #kojiishibashi @theprincep @chariandconyc (at Brooklyn, New York)

[psycoartholds]

❤️ On sale, news for a Psyco Art Holds. Forget the paper or plastic labels, and identify your Boulder problems holds start,finish and bonus zone. TECHNICAL Material Europur Polyurethane Weight 450g Recommended Screws (Not included) Wood Screws 5x40mm Designer Ferran Guerrero Number of Holds 3 Screws on Brand Psyco Art Holds Training Tool Type System Holds. • • • • • @psycoartholds @hitoholds @rokodromo_climbingholds @levierholds @alamo_wood_climbing @3aholds @mwholds @movementfactoryholds #climbingholds #design #designinbarcelona #europur #euroholds #routesetter #routtesetting #climbing #boulder #bouldergym #climbinggym #tools #presasdeescalada #klettergriffe

[bouldiaries]

I was able to get my start holds to touch so flush on our 45 degree lead wall. The impressive part of this is that it's really hard to find a way to do this on a 20 year old wall.

[katienightrider]

Throwback to that one time I set a super fun knee bar.

[stepinadventure-blog]

Entre-Prises Bomber Jugs the name says it all, you'll be yanking on these all day. Classic mix used for artificial handholds providing a natural, dry texture. Know More about these jugs online: https://www.stepinadventure.com/in/p/Entre-Prises-Essential-Jugs-Bomber-Jugs/1170 #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #timetoclimb #climbingtraining #boulder #routesetting #climbingholds #climbingnation #indoorclimbing #routesettinglife #routesettersofinstagram⁠ #routesetting #routesetter #routesettersofinstagram #climbingtraining #climbers #climbingholds #climbinglovers #timetoclimb #climbing_lovers #holds #holdshaping #climbingworldwide #climbingislife #indoorclimbing #entreprisesholds #climbing_lovers #entreprisesholds #entreprises #freecake #climbingforeveryone #entreprisesholdsindia #stepinadventure #getagriponadventure #influencers #rockclimbingwall (at Stepin Adventure) https://www.instagram.com/p/B44DXVXA3S4/?igshid=1hdoopq8jgrjn

[curestardust]

if you want: sport/competitive climbing focus / female main cast / minimal fanservice / actually interesting characters? / (the art/animation are... far from great tho)

Even before I started watching this anime, I was already starting off this review with my usual “why can’t we have sports anime with girls that’s not oversexualized” rant but “IwaKakeru” actually... surprised me? Now, don’t get me wrong, the anime does suffer from problems (mainly technical) but there was way less fanservice than I thought it’d be and I got to experience an actual coherent story. Low standards? Maybe so, but when it comes to this sub-genre, I think it’s acceptable.

As the title says, the anime focuses on “Sport Climbing” or more specifically competitive climbing. You know, those indoor climbing walls with the colourful rocks on them? That’s it. Now, in big competitions there are actually 3 disciplines: speed, bouldering and lead. Bouldering is what the anime mostly focuses on and it’s the most known type of climbing cause it’s just... climbing. Get from A to B. But this sport is actually more complex than I would’ve thought. With routesetters designing the walls so scaling it would involve dynamic moves, difficult to grasp edges and so on.

Our main character, Konomi, is looking for a club upon joining High School and runs into an indoor climbing wall (I mean, it’s outside but you know). She meets a club member there, Jun, who seems very rude and stand-offish. Skipping forward, Konomi actually gets to join the club and we meet the 2 other members as well as other affluent climbers at the first competition.

Konomi is an interesting character but not very relatable. She seems to be a prodigy in everything she does. She used to be a prima ballerina when she was young, then became a puzzle game focused gamer, winning multiple competitions. These 2 previous experiences, the posture, balance and core strength from ballet and her analytical skill for how to tackle a wall from gaming, make her an incredible beginner. All is left for her is to gain physical strengths.

In my opinion, Jun’s story is more relatable. She started climbing very young and got obsessed with the sport, to the point where it was her whole focus in life. She lived with the mentality that climbing can’t just be taken up “willy-nilly” and that it wasn’t a “game”. Yet, seeing Konomi not only get to where she was but surprass her in mere months when she has pured her soul into this sport for years, destroys here resolve and in the end has to go back to her roots to find out why she was even climbing at all.

Well, as you can see, the characters are a big factor in what makes the anime good. While Nono and Sayo, the other team members, have less screentime they still have their own story in the background. Some of the background characters also play important roles in helping our protagonists grow, in a way that I particularly enjoyed. The introduction to the specifics of the sport is also very clear and easy to understand, with the anime going from low-stakes to high-stakes, failures and victory.

The BIGGEST problem this anime faces is its visuals. But I’m not really talking about the art itself, while it’s nothing spectacular, it’s perfectly watchable. 2 things really stand out though, in a bad way: one is the symbolic representation for characters. For example, one climber is called “the spider” and one “the black panther” and sometimes these characters are portrayed as these animals (like when Fujita makes a big jump and she “turns into” a panther). Sometimes the way Konomi analyzes the walls, these Candy Crush-like very lame looking blobs appear and then “light up” showing the correct solution like in a puzzle game. I think these were supposed to look good but they looked very goofy. The second problem is the way the climbing is animated. As in, it’s not. It’s mostly just still shots or a blur. The ending to the anime was also a little jarring and some of the side characters ended up ultimately being completely pointless in the grand scheme of things.

But! Did I enjoy “IwaKakeru” despite all its flaws? Yes! Maybe because my expectations were below 0 from the get go but I actually was immersed in the characters’ stories and progression. Also, did the anime make me want to try the sport it focused on? Also yes! If I’m ever in better physical condition, I’d definitely like to try indoor climbing now that I actually know a bit about it. 

Don’t go into this expecting a jaw-dropping anime but if you’d like to know more about this sport, watch a somewhat decent female focused sports anime with minimal fanservice and don’t have anything more pressing to do, give this a go.

[7/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | There was actual money spent on this