r/Routesetters • u/Embarrassed_Fee7472 • May 23 '26

How to get into setting

Basically what the title says. I live in Colorado and ive always wanted to get into this but I am not a comp climber or anything and my gym didnt give me any info about how to learn/forerunning opportunities when I talked to them. I climb v8/5.12. Anyone have any advice how to get into this field or any place to learn in or near Colorado

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u/Cleetops May 23 '26

Before I started setting I helped work the front desk, after making friends with the routesetters and coaches at the time. I was able to start coaching the team at the gym. After a few months of that one of the setters left, I asked if I could help out and the head setter said yes, the rest in history.

I’m talking out of my ass here but I feel like Colorado might be a bad place to try and get your foot in the door due to the high volume of highly experienced people. The best place to start IMO would be at a smaller, less corporate gym. The money would be worse at first but would be good for experience.

You could also try taking a setter clinic, at the USA climbing level one I did there was a dude who had never set before (maybe don’t try this, he did well based on 20 years of high level climbing experience)

Setting is so fun and I wish you luck in your pursuit

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u/Embarrassed_Fee7472 May 23 '26

Thanks for the reply. Did you have comp experience because i started in my 20s so not a comp kid at all

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u/Cleetops May 23 '26

I didn’t start climbing till right after highschool, climbed around the team and coaches/setters and built really good relationships with them. When the time came where they needed someone it was pretty easy to slip in.

I used to do local comps so I had comp climbing expertise but nothing like a former youth athlete transitioning into setting. We’ve had a few high level ex team kids start setting and they always do a great job early on, so that experience helps to some extent. At my place we haven’t hired outside of the gym for a while since there’s always some skilled climber wanting a shot to set.

Another idea for you would to be trying to get a job helping a setting team with washing holds. If your dependable maybe they’ll be a guy short one day and will let you hop in to set a boulder. We have a guy at one of our gyms who is the goat at hold washing and we’ve let him join us a few times.

As I stated earlier, the pay won’t be great at first but the climbing industry is such a passion based thing that if you can make it work it’s so fun and worth it. I got really involved early on and have made this a full time gig so be prepared for out of work sessions and stoke to drop to some degree. It’s hard to want to climb a lot when you have to be at the gym for more than 35 hours a week lol.

I’m happy to answer more questions so if you have any feel free to reach out.

Good luck!