Route Setting at Upper Limits with Trey Govero
Route Setting with Trey Govero at Upper Limits Rock Climbing Gym in St. Louis
In this video I get the chance to discuss route setting with Trey Govero at Upper Limits indoor rock climbing gym in St. Louis. Trey is a manager and route setter at Upper Limits Maryland Heights and he walks me through his process of route setting and designing an indoor climbing route.
I have always been curious how to set a rock climbing route and I’m very grateful to Trey for walking me through his process of route setting at Upper Limits. Route setting truly is an art form, one that we as climbers get to physically interact with, which is pretty amazing.
Trey has been tasked with setting a 5.10d climbing route on the slab wall at Upper Limits. He details the steps that go into designing an indoor climbing route and how it's more of an art form than a science. Trey's main goal is to create a route with a good flow, which means, more of an improvisational approach to his setting.
The route is typically based around a specific movement Trey has in mind for the climb. For this route is a walk across with a series of underclings. You might expect Trey to focus feet first when designing the route, but he actually starts with the hands to achieve the movement and then fills the feet in last, because they are so important.
After setting the route fellow route setter Joel Hanewinkel "floor runs" the route - which means climbing it - and gives his thoughts on whether or not the route hits the desired 5.10d grade. Ultimately though, the final grade of the route is determined by a voting process from the Upper Limits indoor climbing gym community.
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