Comments on: World Cup

By: Quick Sends - 6/12/09 — All Climbing

Quick Sends - 6/12/09 — All Climbing — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:25:24 +0000

[...] from the Teva Mountain Games Bouldering World Cup in Vail from BoulderDiaries, B3bouldering, Carlo Traversi, and ClimbingNarc. The route Mecca (F8b+) at Raven Tor in the UK is falling [...]

By: B3

B3 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:03:30 +0000

Thanks Liz. I’m not sure why you think reason #2 is invalid. Across the board, in America, it would be hard to argue that jobs of a demanding physical nature are not dominated by men. I would love to see some statistics that show otherwise. It is certainly a whole other subject as to the implications of that, but I stand by the argument. I have found that every female setter I have worked with is fully capable to handle the work load, as I am sure all female construction/road/factory. etc workers are, however, for some reason, women do not seem to be attracted to these jobs.
In the end, whether I am right or wrong, I think you and I agree. I would like to see more females involved in all aspects of climbing, as they not only can lead the way (Lynn Hill) but bring a new and interesting perspective that has perhaps stagnated under the dominance of men.

By: liz h

liz h — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:32:18 +0000

sorry jamie, reason #2 above is invalid. your first and third reasons are totally legit, the first likely being the primary culprit (what proportion of male climbers would you say are qualified/certified route setters? now extrapolate that to females…).
kudos for working to avoid stereotypical “girl” problems in these comps – the problems looked great across the board! fun and exciting!

By: B3

B3 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:50:20 +0000

in response to Brian, this is a great question, and I don’t know if I have the answer. Here is my perspective, but i would love to hear from any female readers of this blog as to why there are so few women route setters.
First of all, there are simply less women involved in climbing than men.
Secondly, route setting is simply hard physical labor. Not that women aren’t capable, but for the most part jobs that are hard physically are dominated by men. Route setting seems no different.
Thirdly, it is a huge advantage that I can climb on the problems I set. The strongest climbers in the competition climb V15 and I climb V13. It would take a girl that could climb V10 to be at a similar standard. Besides there being very few of those girls, most of them simply compete.
This being said I have run across a number of women setters, including Molly Beard, who has been involved with USA climbing for a number of years, as has Jackie Hueftle of Boulder. I am sure there are others out there.
One of the biggest challenges of setting is setting for climbers of different body types and strengths. We spend a lot of time thinking about how women climb, their strengths and weakness etc and how these factors will play out in the competition. It is a really interesting challenge and one that I have become more and more interested in the longer I set. As route setters we have the chance to challenge climbers to push their own ideas about movement. We often hear about “girl” problems and I think we work hard to shatter those ideas by setting campus problems, big dynos etc.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:22:28 +0000

Didn’t Fischhuber win last year? I don’t think Paul is the defending champion.

By: peter

peter — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:59:17 +0000

As the old competition maxim goes: “on any given day…”

8a’s remarks are useless, problems look beautiful as always. well done.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:47:43 +0000

I am surprised that when I read about route setters there are never any females in the group. Does having men set for women ever create a problem? What do you think the reason is for the lack of women route setters?

By: B3

B3 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:30:39 +0000

I think 8a is trying to find some controversy. I’m not sure it clearly confirms anything. The scores were very spread out, all of the problems were sent, and there were clear winners. In the eyes of the routesetters, it was a successful comp.

By: 2009 Teva Mountain Games: Bouldering World Cup Wrap-Up | Climbing Narcissist

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:02:14 +0000

[...] Thoughts from routesetter Jamie Emerson [...]

By: EgP

EgP — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:32:10 +0000

What do you think about statements like this “The final result is once again up-side-down from the semifinal. 8a has mentioned this since 2007 and this clearly confirms that it is a big disadvantage to start last out”?

Cheers,