Naturefriends routesetting workshop 2025
Since 2022 I am the owner of a Trainer C license for Sport climbing, since 2023 for Bouldering and since 2024 for Sport climbing Inclusion from NaturFreunde Deutschlands e.V.. To ensure that I don't lose these licenses, I have to undergo further training at least every three years. But I actually do one or two training courses every year. Simply because there are so many cool things to learn about climbing. This year I finally had the opportunity to take part in the routesetting training. This training course took place from April 25 to 27, 2025 in the DAV climbing gym Selb.
Routesetting workshop content
We met on Friday evening to kick off the workshop. The following topics have been covered on the workshop kickoff.
- Screwing climbing routes on artificial climbing facilities
- Safety regulations for artificial climbing facilities
- Safety in routesetting
- Route planning
- Creativity in routesetting
My first climbing route
My first setted climbing route had the UIAA grade 5 or French grade 4c. But it was actually supposed to be a 5- or 4b. However, it is not that easy to build beautiful, soft climbing routes. I also wasted a lot of energy coming up and down 5 times. I built my route with white Bleaustone jugs. When I started climbing years ago, these were my favorite holds. My route is right at the front in the picture and starts at the edge.
My second climbing route
My second climbing route was a bit more ambitious. It was a soft UIAA grade 7+ or French 6b+. I built this route with light blue VirginGrip Lagunas holds. You can find it directly in the middle of the picture. Routesetting in the overhang is really more strenuous than I thought. That was a full-body workout. As the good holds became fewer and fewer, the route became more straightforward in the upper section. Up to the halfway point, however, I tried to make the route interesting with little tricks such as a crossing crux and undercling. When I was still working on it, I thought the route wasn't climbable at all. But when I tried it, it worked perfectly straight away.
Acknowledgments
My thanks go to Klaus Rübernsal and Sven Dreß, who led the training, for this great experience. Thanks to the members of the DAV Selb climbing gym who helped to unscrew and clean the holds in the days before. And to all participants of the workshop.