Routesetting Trends 2024

A routesetter planning the next move of a new route — *Routesetting as a profession continued to level up in 2024, through changes both on and off the wall. (All photos are by Bailey Beltramo at the CBJ Grip Showcase in Portland, unless otherwise noted)*

If there was an overarching trend in routesetting over the past couple years, it was arguably increased professionalism. This evolving trend was noted in CBJ’s previous Routesetting Trends 2023 report as well, but the additional resources made available to routesetters—from new certifications and clinics to expanded safety measures—all added up to make it feel like 2024 was in many ways a breakout year for professionalism in the routesetting trade.

Within that umbrella of increasing professionalism has been a number of associated trends: innovations centered on making climbing grips more sustainable; new equipment designed specifically for setters; shifts in the styles of movements most often set on the walls; and other changes driven in large part by the goal of better serving today’s growing gym clientele.

In addition to conversations with routesetters at commercial facilities of all types, this year’s Routesettting Trends report was informed by a new set of trends-related questions in last year’s CBJ Grip List Survey, which ran from July 18 to 31. Thank you to the hundreds of routesetters who took the time to complete the survey and share your observations with us! The full results of this portion of the survey can be found at the end of this article.

Now, here are four trends that have been standing out in the routesetting profession of late, as professionalism within the field increases. (Got an idea for a routesetting trend we missed? Be sure to keep an eye out for CBJ’s 2025 Grip List Survey this summer!)

A routesetter on a ladder, wearing eye protection and gloves, prepares to drill a hold into the wall — Personal protective equipment—and eye protection, especially—is becoming more commonplace in the routesetting profession.

1. More steps are being taken to make routesetting safer

The increased focus in recent years on improving routesetter safety—a trend identified in last year’s report—if anything became more pronounced in 2024. Among the routesetters who answered the trends-related questions in CBJ’s 2024 Grip List Survey, 35% indicated new safety measures have been implemented at their climbing gym workplaces in the past year. The most common safety measure to be adopted at these gyms was making eye protection required. Today, 59% of climbing gyms now require eye protection, based on the survey results.

Accompanying that sense of progress on one hand, though, has been a feeling on the other that there’s still more to do to make routesetting a safer, more sustainable job—and a push to usher in those changes sooner rather than later. Last year, as gyms and setters worked to elevate their programs, they did so with heavy hearts following the tragic death of Lee Hansche, which may have been the first death of a routesetter on the job in the U.S. (Results of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s inspection into the accident can be found here.)

Heading further into 2025, there are multiple areas where there’s room for improvement, when it comes to personal protective equipment (PPE) and other safety procedures in routesetting. In the 2024 Grip List Survey, only 23% of respondents indicated their primary climbing facility requires both eye and ear protection; and among routesetters whose primary climbing facility is a roped facility, only 43% of respondents indicated their gym requires the use of a two-rope system with a dedicated fall arrest line—meaning it’s more common for gyms to not have these requirements than to have them. As more gyms implement new safety measures, time will tell whether these figures see an uptick in CBJ’s 2025 Grip List Survey.

Rather than a trend, “Safety should be a standard practice designed to keep setters safe,” longtime routesetter Tonde Katiyo said in 2023, and those words still ring true today.

Routesetters preparing their gear at The B.I.G. Initiative's first workshop on setting roped routes, held at Rock Oasis — New certifications and clinics—such as The B.I.G. Initiative’s workshop on setting roped routes—have been expanding professional development opportunities for setters. (Photo by Geneviève de la Plante, courtesy of The B.I.G. Initiative)

2. Commercial certifications are becoming standard

Complementary to an increased focus on safety in the routesetting trade was an increase in professional development opportunities—certifications, clinics, webinars, etc.—last year devoted to routesetting. Following the release of the Climbing Wall Association’s (CWA’s) Routesetting Guide in 2023, the big news in North America in 2024 was the CWA’s launch of its Professional Routesetting (PRS) certification program, which includes tracks for setting on ropes and boulders. Whereas USA Climbing has long provided its Level certifications with a focus on competition routesetting, the CWA program was created with commercial routesetting in mind.

According to Garnet Moore, Executive Director of the CWA, “In 2024 the CWA committed to quarterly Certification Summits where our key certification courses are available. Prior to 2024 industry professionals had to wait for the annual CWA Summit, schedule training at the Petzl Technical Institute, look forward to a nearby USAC Routesetting L1 or L2 course, or wait for any workshops to pop up to get any professional development.”

This year, at the 2025 CWA Summit last month, the CWA held a PRS Direct Entry course, where experienced routesetters could demonstrate their skills to earn a PRS certification. Also in the CWA’s plans is hosting more PRS Provider certification courses, allowing gyms to train and certify the routesetters at their facilities on their own (like the CWA’s Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI) Provider and Work at Height (WAH) Provider certifications). “All of this effort is being made to create resources and a culture of professionalism that improves the risk exposure, career opportunities, and overall success for all industry professionals and gyms,” said Moore.

The CWA certainly wasn’t the only entity expanding professional development opportunities in the routesetting trade last year; there have been continued efforts from a wide variety of industry stakeholders. The third annual Setter Summit, for instance, took place at The Front Climbing Club; Bolt & Revolt organized more clinics for women and non-binary setters; The B.I.G. Initiative in Canada hosted its first workshop on roped setting for women and non-binary setters; Catalyst Sports and The Crag both held clinics on routesetting for paraclimbing; and CBJ grew its podcast for routesetters as well as expanded its webinar offerings to include conversations with Vortex Routesetting and other experts in the routesetting field—to name just a few examples.

VTF translucent Binary Holds being set at the CBJ Grip Showcase in Portland — *More VTF holds made with recyclable ABS have been hitting the market, including some translucent varieties, like those made by Binary. (Photo by Bob Richter)*

3. Equipment is getting more sophisticated (and sustainable)

As the routesetting profession evolves, so too have the tools of the trade, and one tool that has been hitting more setter closets recently is vacuum-thermoformed (VTF) grips, such as those manufactured by Binary Holds, Blocz and Euroholds. According to Scott Eveleigh, Product Design Specialist at Binary, these holds are becoming more commonplace today in large part for sustainability reasons. “The exact timing isn’t for any specific reason other than the realization that the current state of the industry produces an immense amount of waste,” he told CBJ.

With more climbing gyms in the industry, more climbing holds are needed than ever before, but currently most holds can’t be recycled at the end of their life. In CBJ’s 2024 Grip List Survey, 22% of routesetters indicated their facility decommissions over 100 holds per year, and only 32% of facilities recycle or upcycle their holds. While it’s more common for facilities to sell old holds or give them away for free, 20% of facilities simply throw them into the trash, per the survey results, and often holds that are sold or given away eventually end up there too.

VTF holds, on the other hand, are typically made with a thermoplastic material called ABS that’s sourced from industrial and plastic waste and can be recycled several times. “[ABS] has a long list of benefits…but the most important factor for us is the recyclability of the material and the ability to produce holds from 100% recycled material,” continued Eveleigh. Besides the recyclability factor, ABS holds are often more durable and lighter than many other holds, making them easier for routesetters to haul around and mount onto the wall. Some of the ABS holds setters were using in 2024 were even translucent, adding a playful element to routes.

Recycling isn’t the sole way to reduce our waste footprint—other businesses have decreased plastic use in the industry through innovations like hollow-backed holds, for example—and VTF isn’t the only way to produce recyclable holds. Currently one drawback of VTF holds is that they’re often larger and less incut, but other manufacturers like Greenholds in the Netherlands and Ghold in France have been filling that gap with some of their smaller recyclable holds. (More background on the history and processes behind recyclable grips can be found here.)

And the proliferation of recyclable holds isn’t the only way routesetting equipment has been leveling up in 2024, either. Today more brands than ever—Trango, So iLL, Organic, Escape and many others—are equipping routesetters with a full suite of products aimed specifically at the routesetting craft. This gear includes harnesses made specifically for routesetting, hold buckets with all the bells and whistles, specialized bit holders, and much more. One thing that didn’t change in 2024: the presence of a Makita drill on many a routesetter’s toolbelt. 75% of routesetters in CBJ’s 2024 Grip List Survey voted Makita’s impact drivers as their favorite.

Climbing on a route set at the CBJ Grip Showcase in Portland — *Setters have been catering movement styles on climbs to today’s gym clientele, who are climbing with much different expectations than those of prior decades.*

4. Movements are adapting to the modern age

Perhaps nowhere has the growing professionalism in routesetting been more observable to climbers than on the wall itself. Styles in movement have shifted dramatically since the first climbing gyms in North America opened in the late 80s. Back then, there were no commercial bouldering gyms, the World Cup circuit was just getting started, and social media was nonexistent. Today, climbing gyms serve a more diverse clientele, and setters have a plethora of avenues for sourcing ideas for new movements. In CBJ’s 2024 Grip List Survey, 69% of routesetters indicated social media influences the setting at their primary facility somewhat, a lot, or a tremendous amount; similarly, 63% of routesetters said the same for World Cups and other professional competitions.

One of the expressions of that shift has been an increase in more dynamic movements. By a substantial margin, dynamics/dynos have been soaring in popularity the most, according to the routesetters surveyed in 2024. Some of the dynamic movements on the rise last year included paddles, laches, 180 or 360 spins, and skate moves. “Skate-style,” as a description for a boulder’s physicality, is fairly indeterminate and subjective, but there’s no denying that “parkour-esque” moves continued to spread from the comp scene and proliferate in commercial gyms in 2024. Dynamic palm presses took center stage, too, and were featured in World Cups and local gyms as well. For the most part, this trend meant that more gyms utilized larger holds, macros and volumes, and often dual-tex or sometimes no-tex varieties arranged in ways that forced multi-step coordination.

Routesetting crews have also been bringing heightened attention to setting climbs that welcome beginners, as more people discover the sport, and that trend is not isolated to North America. “Participants in our courses as well as gym operators repeatedly underline the need for easily accessible climbing terrain,” said Julius Kerscher, a routesetter and routesetting trainer for DAV, the German Alpine Association. In practice, for Kerscher creating accessible terrain has at times looked like “prioritizing a fair chance to reach the top over forcing a move,” especially for easier climbs. “Yes, we still need hard and challenging climbs, but that comes out during setting typically anyway, whereas I realized that quality easy terrain needs dedicated focus,” Kerscher explained, adding that as the community gets more diverse, so should the product offering.

In short, routesetters are laser-focusing on providing climbs that are perfectly tailored to fit their audience, thinking deeply about how hold selection and specific movements serve their various audience segments in ways that support the community they want to help build. Alongside improved safety standards and education, that’s one of the true signs of a maturing profession.

Survey Results

Who took the survey?

Only currently working professional routesetters who have been paid for this work in the past 12 months were included in the analysis.
There was a total of 352 qualified responses, totaling approximately 2,800 combined years of routesetting experience (on average 8 years of experience per routesetter in North America, 8.5 years of experience per routesetter in Rest of World)

2024 Routesetting Trends Survey Results: Geography and Position — *Routesetters who answered the trends-related questions in the survey primarily set in North America (54%) or Europe (35%), and they were more likely to work in a managerial position than not.*

Routesetting Experience — *70% of respondents had at least 4 years of routesetting experience, and 24% had over 11 years.*

Facility Type and Climbing Type — *Most of the setters indicated they work at a commercial climbing gym (87%) that offers both roped routes and bouldering problems (57%).*

Climbing Wall Surface Area — *The most common amount of climbing wall surface offered at the primary facility where they set was 1,000-3,000 square feet (31%).*

Number of Facilities — *Typically, the setters were regularly setting routes at one climbing facility or a few of them, although in some cases it could be more.*

Facility Grading Style — *61% of those facilities had some form of circuit grading, whether with or without an accompanying grade number range.*

Safety Trends

New Safety Procedures — 38% of bouldering facilities and 33% of roped facilities had implemented a new safety measure in the 12 months prior to the survey, with required eye protection (18%) or ear protection (10%) being the most common addition.

Eye and Ear Protection — *Eye protection was required at most of the primary facilities where the routesetters work (59%), whereas ear protection was typically not required (24%).*

Safety Systems — *Among full-service facilities with roped routes, 43% used a two-rope system with a dedicated fall arrest line, 49% required the use of helmets, and 29% required the use of full-body harnesses.*

Movement Trends

Influence of Social Media and Professional Competitions — *Only 7% of the setters indicated their routesetting work is not influenced at all by social media, and only 13% of setters said the same for World Cups and other professional competitions.*

Popular Movements and Styles — *The setters observed dynamics/dynos increasing in popularity the most in the six months or so prior to the survey.*

Hold Purchasing & Equipment Trends

The current economy has changed a lot since this survey was taken, so take hold purchasing data with a grain of salt.
Routesetters indicated the average annual hold budget at the primary facility where they set was about $7,440.
The average number of holds that are decommissioned annually at those facilities was about 135.