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>> Attention long post! Just enjoy the funny video and/or take a moment to read something I
wrote about #routesetting and #jumps <<
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Topic: coordination demanding JUMPS FOR EVERYONE(?)
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Last time I set in a completely unusual way without trying to force a move %. Main reason
for that was to keep a specific dynamic move 'relatively easy' and to make it accessible, thus
possible especially for smaller climbers . In addition it is a good thing for #routesetters to
introduce more and more people to dynamic moves in modern bouldering. Speaking of body
size, gender, age, climbing skills, fitness level etc. I believe that many kinds of people should
try to move and try out those dynamic moves. Nothing special so far, because setters normally
put up all kinds of hard and easy moves for all users of a gym. But what about coordination
demanding jumps?
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As you know some moves like jumping from one hold to another are pretty depending on arm
length and body size. But why is that so? Route setters decide to include/exclude certain
groups of people and their physical size to force those highly dynamic moves for certain other
groups. While I set a jump, I exclude the way of skipping it by pure arm span or body size and
thus force climbers to go for the intended solution - the jump. In doing so route setters
unintentionally have a specific body type/size in mind (most likely their own) for which the
jump is possible. Either route setters force the jump and thus exclude smaller climbers, or they
include smaller climbers like children and lose the 'forced jump' to taller climbers. Really, is it
that way? It's not that black'n'white, because route setters nowadays think about the intended
user and this can be all kinds of climbers. They intend a move for the user's demands
depending on many different factors like grade, size and style. And if the user is in the gym to
celebrate his or her 8th birthday, route setters know how to set something rewarding for a
kid’s birthday party (trust me they hate putting up ladders).
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But still, what about jumps? Should route setters put up jumps for small climbers and accept
that a taller climber easily skips everything? I think yes, they should and they already doing it!
That's the reason why we have awesome kids’ competitions. Those boulder problems are hard
jumps and demanding coordination dynos set with the best intentions to be fun and
challenging for 12-year old’s. Same goes for small adult climbers, but for taller climbers often
either a walk in the park or ugly squeezing into tiny boxes. That's why they're intended to be
climbed by children. Unfortunately, not every gym offers their adult users kids comp boulder
problems in a normal commercial setting. Normal weekly route setting often means setting for
a less or more average body size, age, climbing level and style.
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So, coordination demanding jumps for small climbers and beginners are not quite the
'standard', right? Yes, on the one hand most of the gyms have more than 100 boulder
problems. They could afford a wide diversity of styles and moves accessible for everyone. On
the other hand, many route setters are not willing to set those 'cheatable' boulder problems.
Boulder problems based around a dynamic move tend to either work or not unlike some well-
set sequence boulder problems in which many different solutions work within the same grade
range. Nevertheless, the modern route setter’s holy grail is to achieve forced moves for
everyone. Practically that is impossible, because people come in different sizes and skill
levels such as moves can only be created within a certain group of people.
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Next, I'd like to show you a PRATICAL EXAMPLE of how to set a coordination demanding
jump for the intended user: small(er) and medium tall climbers/intermediate skill level. The
video shows the pink boulder problem from yesterday’s setting session
@bertablockboulderhalle together with @candyclimbing and @fabi_pensel.
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In preparation my main questions were 'what is the essence of a paddle dyno (#cma_paddle)?'
and 'how to set it in the easiest way possible to make it a good challenge for almost everyone?'
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1. A paddle dyno is a jump from the start hold to a certain target hold. Your whole body is not
attached to the climbing wall at some point (otherwise it's not a jump). You can call this
moment or flight - airtime.
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2. You jump into an intermediate hold and reach it most likely with both hands at the same
time or in a fast combination (1st ✋/2nd ✋follows).
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3. At this time your feet have no connection to the wall and just your hands will be able to
grab the intermediate hold for a second. Your whole body is swinging so heavily (centrifugal
forces) and you feel that you lose grip when you reach the intermediate hold.
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4. To continue the airtime, you will pull explosively on the intermediate hold and launch
yourself again to make it to the target hold (feet are still in the air).
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5. The target hold is most likely a good hold on which you can stop the swing.
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The essence of a paddle dyno is therefore the ability of coordination, jumping, explosive
power, speed and commitment. THAT IS A LOT!!!
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NOW - 'How to make it easier, but still exciting with coordination?'
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The fun part of a paddle dyno is the coordination of your hands from the start holds over the
intermediate to the target. The hard part is that you must hold your own body weight + swing
(centrifugal forces) during the whole jumping phase ⚖
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Doing the fun part while still on a relatively good food hold/volume could be a good solution!
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No jump ❌ to the intermediate hold and during the coordination part ✔
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This doesn't make the initial move less explosive or less fast, but without cutting the feet it is
much easier and the climber has just to focus on his hands. Rocking-over the foot hold to the
intermediate is still one fluent move. The initial jump was left out in favor off more
controllability towards the intermediate hold. Sounds like a fair compromise, right?
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You keep the climber on his foot holds until he reaches the intermediate hold and here comes
the trick. You set the whole thing around an edge so that the climber will move in the wrong
direction if he doesn't pull on the intermediate hold and thus pull his self around the edge
towards the target. Basically, this makes it possible to not skip the intermediate hold by just
jumping all the way along the wall from the start position to the target hold. Small detail here,
if you put up a big intermediate hold the climber can't avoid it. It blocks the way around the
edge and there is no other way around it, but to use it.
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The intermediate allows the climbers to pull his body around the edge into another direction.
From there he must launch again to the target hold. At this point it could be exciting to force
him to lose his feet and jump or fall into the target hold. This depends how far away the target
hold is set. Anyway, the change of direction is essential here. Perfect wall shape would be a
140° edge and 90° to make it a blind jump (you can't see the intermediate and/or target hold
around the edge).
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The distance between holds are a crucial factor especially if you want to set jumps for smaller
climbers. Taller people will always make use of their arm span and try to skip something. Let
them! My intended user can't use their arm span, because they are smaller than the taller
climber. That's the reason why you can cheat the start with a huge throw of the right hand to
the intermediate - no challenge for tall guys. I think that is totally legit in a commercial route
setting context. FUN is the topmost maxim.
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That's not the case for bouldering competitions where route setters are responsible to make an
athlete's effort evaluable. But this is another major topic. If you want to know more about
route setting for a comp, than I highly recommend @tobidiedler's posts from the 18th of
December 2018.
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Know it is your turn! What do you think route setters and climbers? Is it always necessary to
force those moves to 100%? Do you like boulder problems that force you to do a certain move
or is it still fun if you can skip something? Are there boulder problems or specific moves
which are 'morpho'? ('morpho' is a climb or move whose difficulty is highly dependent on the
body shape or size of the climber).
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This is an ongoing discussion. Please feel free to come back and leave a comment later! If you
haven't had enough you should definitely check out @fabi_pensel's 8 Setting Tips Every
Climber Should Know posted by @chalked.climber on the 8th of January 2019. Another
highly recommendable article called Routesetting: History and Philosophie written by
Mathieu Elie on the 15th November 2016 is available at blocshop.com
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Cheers Robert
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P.S. I would like to mention @fabi_pensel and @candyclimbing for constantly pushing the
quality of our job and work process! Thanks @fabi_pensel for filming. Thanks
@bertablockboulderhalle for inviting me. Big thanks to all my friends for their honest
feedback.jan.woltering fabi_pensel
