Sport Climbing: how do route setters even determine if a route is even doable in bouldering?

[darkstar]

Total newb fan here watching the Olympics. I mean, the whole sport seems practically impossible to me, but given these are the best competitors in the world, no one can even test it out, right? I’m watching the men today on replay from 2 days ago and of 12 or so climbers so far, none have reached to top of any of the 4 problem walls.

Plus, do they take into account different heights of the competitors? Some walls seem like being on the taller side would be a huge advantage.

Anyhow, super interested in this new (to me) sport.

[ret5hd]

1. I think the process is something similar to this...

(ie: lets just see how hard we can make it for them!)

[AllaN01Bear]

3. lol.

[Marthe48]

4. This never gets old!

[FirefighterJo]

2. I used to be a route setter

How I did it ? You device a route (Above 6a+) with one or more hurdles that need to be taken with specific techniques in mind. The rest is the gateway to those points. And you climb the sucker every time you have installed a small part to get the look and feel of it, and adjust if needed. It was no exception to have climbed a new route over 50, 100 times before you were finished and satisfied.

[darkstar]

6. Thanks for responding.

I looked up the grading scales but didn’t quite understand it all. Are you saying route setters have specific solutions in mind when they design? If so, does that mean if, say, these Olympians knew those specifics they would all likely be able to make it to the top?

In a related question, what grade climber would one have to be to set and test out, say, a 9b route?

Thanks for responding and sorry about the pestering questions. But hey, your sport has a new fan.

PS: I used to be a college swim coach, so if you have any questions there, sling em at me!

[FirefighterJo]

7. It was a former life ;-)

I climbed from my five till my 25 on quite the level. But I guess the gradings have changed as an A8+ was the absolute max.
We indeed have a possible solution in mind but we protect that secret with our life, no telsies! If we did a good job it was the only solution but climbers can be very creative On the other hand, knowing the solution theoretically does not guarantee succes as it can be very physical. My last route, my 'Opus' so to speak, was a short climb of 10 yards, called 'The thin red line'. It consisted of 13 aligned 'grips' where only maximum 3 upper falangae of your hand could hold. It was an 8a+ and only 3 people managed a first timer. It took me 2 weeks behind closed doors I was evil.

No worries, I am glad to respond

Swimming coach . Nice. I swam quite a lot. First competition but I sucked at it. I am more a marathon type, not the speed burst type. Then waterpolo.

Have a nice one.

[JoseBalow]

5. Free Climbers are just a different breed