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Welcome to The Rock Face
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Route Setting  ROUTESETTING AT THE ROCKFACE We take routesetting very seriously at The Rockface. We spend over 20 hours per week setting approximately 30 routes per month, across a wide range of grades. Our aim is to give everyone climbing at the centre, at whatever grade, the opportunity to find climbs that excite, inspire and challenge. HOW LONG DO ROUTES STAY UP FOR? A route is changed (completely stripped and new holds put up) every 3 months on average. Popular routes may stay up longer than this and conversely unpopular routes will be taken down sooner. Holds are cleaned after they are taken down to remove the chalk and rubber. The bouldering walls are reset every 4 or 5 weeks depending on the time of year. HOW ARE ROUTES SET? Hold placement is not planned beforehand - a setter uses his or her imagination and knowledge of specific moves and techniques to create the route. Routes are usually set from the top down as this ensures footholds are in the correct position. Some walls, for example hard slabs and corners, are set from the bottom up. This is because it is harder to gauge how far the average person will reach, as they can stand completely upright on their feet. WHO SETS THE ROUTES? The Rockface has a dedicated team of in-house route setters covering all heights, shapes and sizes. This ensures that there are a variety of routes on offer, set by a range of people in different styles. Occasionally we use guest route setters: previous guests have included Ian Vickers (Former British Team member and European Champion) and Graeme Alderson (International Routesetter and BMC Climbing Wall Officer). HOW ARE ROUTES GRADED? A route setter has a rough guide on what grade should be set. All route setters have the experience to set to a grade. A competent climber then climbs the route as soon as possible to assess the grade. This combined with feedback from customer’s means that grades can be revised if necessary. Therefore if you disagree with a grade let us know! ENGLISH OR FRENCH GRADES? The two most common grading systems in this country are the English and French systems. English grades are more commonly associated with traditional, outdoor climbing whereas French grades are used on bolted sport routes. In theory indoor climbs should be graded according to the French system, however customer feedback has suggested that English grades are more easily understood. Accordingly, we use English grades on all routes; French grades are shown alongside these for all Lead routes. Click here to see a comparison chart.
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