Climbing Curated

Jeremy Lane is the creator behind GAMBA SHED, the board and the brand. What started as a longstanding backyard dream of owmning a board is slowly becoming an empire! Tune in for some top notch spray wall setting tips and to hear the origin story behind this beloved grass roots institution!

Jack Busato is an Italian born setter who's worked his way up through the industry in various positions and who now works proudly as an in-house setter and jack-of-all-trades for prolific climbing hold company 360!

Listen in to hear his story and insights from a diverse career in the industry!

Off the back of a recent clinic series run at Urban Climb in Melbourne, I chat with Tonde who co-hosted the clinic and Lee who attended as one of Australia's high performance climbing coaches. We chat about the comp scene here in Australia, the neccesary actions for our Australian athltetes to make more regular appearances on the world cup stage, the value of outdoor climbing for athletes and much much more.

Palmer is the head coach for Momentum Gym's climbing team and spends much of his time route setting for the specific needs of the athletes he coaches.

He has a unique perspective on setting as not only someone who sets but as someone who coaches AND who also competes himself. Tune in to hear his thoughts!

Genya and I chat about her start into routesetting and the evolution of her role at Urban Climb in QLD. We discuss the pros and cons of social media, alterntive sources of motivation, riding the waves of psych, hiring and training new setters and much much more!

I chat with Canadian setter Kaleb Thomas.

Kaleb has worked at multiple gyms across Canada, spanning an almost two decade career as a route setter. In his current role as 'Director of Setting' at Blocshop in Montreal he talks about the challenges and satisfaction that come with training new setters and managing teams across multiple venues.

Kaleb is undoubtedly one of the hardest working and most passionate setters I've spoken to and I have a renewed appreciation for my comparatively easy and undeniably privaliged introduction to setting many years ago.

A follow up chat with @yossiclimbs about the launch of his hold brand OLIO with friend and business partner Cory Cook (@coryupsidedown). We also talked international travel & setting, comps, money and ideas for the future!

I chatted with the UK's Jake Mason! Maybe most well known for his regular features in the popular youtube channel Bouldering Bobat, Jake is also a staple of the London setting scene.

In the last couple of years, he's taken on a role as head setter at Hang, one of London's newest bouldering walls where he's taken on the challenge of 'making climbing fun again'. Hear about that and much much more!

Peter is a veteran routesetter with a unique background compared to many of our previous guests. Listen in to hear his thoughts on safety, the professionisation of our industry, whether AI will ever take over our jobs and much more!

I chat with US route setting veteran Louie Anderson about his life in the climbing industry! We cover the history of US route setting, hold shaping, gym ownership, Louie's involvement in the setter showcase and much much more!

I chat to Emma Twyford, the first British woman to climb 9a, who also happens to be a route setter!

I picked her brain about finding the balance between pursuing optimal athletic permformance and a career as a setter, what it's like being a female in a male dominated industry, past and future travels & lots more!

The big bang

Urban Climbs 'head of climbing' Dan Gordon and I discuss his vision for the future of our industry and how he's going about doing his bit through the work he's doing at Urban.

We chatted about creating a desireable work place through providing real career opportunities and creating culture, about international recruitment and much much more.

Dan Gordon, the director of climbing at Urban Climb has been involved in the Australian gym scene since before the boulder gym boom of the last decade.

Listening to his account of the transformation and the state of the national and global gym scene was really interesting and insightful.

We covered a huge range of topics and am excited for part 2 of this conversation coming soon!

Make sure to check out Joseph's Kilter Grips Setter Sessions video on Youtube.

You can follow him on Instagram @Wetzel_Joseph and check out the element gyms @element.muenchen @element.kassal and @element.essen or see his holds @bluepillclimbing

Ayo and I talk about the intersection of route setting and comp climbing and about how they inform one another, about setting for athlete performance, about the benefits of working in a team as well as learning to work independently and much much more.

Ayo's required reading for setters: Hagakure

Other podcasts with Ayo:

Beyond the Walls - Race and Diversity in Climbing
Plastic Weekly - The Lifespan of a Boulder
Beta Routesetting - Difference between comp & commercial
Power Company Climbing - Form and Function

Alexander is the head setter for Mile End climbing gym in London. He's maybe best known for his levitation antics on various training boards around the UK but it's his enthusiasm and psych for setting and climbing that I think is his true super power! Tune in to hear about his first forays into the climbing scene, his thoughts on what make the climbing community so special, climbing as a tool to boost self confidence and much much more!