Route Setting The Organic Way: Nohl Haekel | Climbing Designers

In 2008 the first time I went climbing I went out to Joshua Tree with a couple buddies of mine and they threw a pair of used shoes at me and said go try to climb up this thing and I had a very very hard time doing it but I had a great time doing it and I had to know everything about climbing so then I went to my local gym and I saw guys on the wall route setting and I thought well what are they doing over there I got to know how to do that too and began my route setting career from there. I started when I was very young at 17 and I was in the army for six years as a black hawk crew chief. I flew around on helicopters and fixed helicopters and the military sent me through some schools that allowed me to understand how to break down and teach things. Going forward with this this allowed me to understand how to break down a rock climb or a move and then teach it or then reverse engineer it and teach a route setter how to then set the move and teach the climber how to execute the move. It is a very thought-provoking and rational process to go through when you're starting out. We have a plan in which we're trying to achieve and while we're doing it we open it up to be not very rational and just allow it to become what it is let the route become what it is and then talk to the route and climb the route and see what it wants to become and what part of the member base it wants to become. Today I want to set something that's a very few moves. I like boulders that are between let's say three and six moves and each one of those moves has to be executed with perfection or intent. Who is this climb for rather than how hard is this climb? I ask myself questions like is this move appropriate for the audience? Will the person have fun on it? And then on the back side is when we look at the grades and you know we ask ourselves if we do put a v4 on this would the v4 audience enjoy this type of climb or is this type of climb best suited for the v5 audience in this gym? That's how we come up with the grade. There is this indoor style where you know holds do not mimic limestone. They do not mimic sandstone anymore. They're just blank shapes. It's a pinch. It's a crimp and that goes into the design process of route setting and route setting is more design based than it is art based I believe. Art has no function and design has function. There is a function to boulders. People want to climb them so even though there can be an artistic element to it I'm designing things and there are many ways to set a heel hook or a gas stone but I want to make sure that those ways are the best way for that boulder and complement that boulder the best way. I'm starting with nothing. I'm putting something on the wall that will challenge people and people will enjoy being challenged at the same time and so the whole process in it for me is really the rewarding part of route setting and the fact that when the first foot or handhold goes on and get to the top and they get down and they're psyched and that's the whole process of the climb for me and I enjoy it from beginning to end.