Extended Basics with Steve Wong

Almost two weeks ago, Steve Wong came in to challenge 11 of our aspiring setters in the Extended Basics Clinic. The format of the clinic  focused around two setting competitions to inspire people to set exciting routes. Since this was a setting clinic I took the opportunity to try setting a type of move that I had never set before - a dyno.

I had recently been watching the ABS Nationals and many other comps online and I was definitely inspired to work towards being able to set solid dyno routes. Unfortunately, I definitely overestimated my potential ability to dyno -which I struggle with and I set a pretty hard dyno. I was pretty surprised by how hard a route can become when it is built around a dyno.

I wasn't able to get a video of anyone doing the route, but here is a picture of the route. The holds I used were blue and red.

The dyno was definitely the crux of the route. It forced the climber to dyno diagonally out from the corner. For climbers who like dynos and are good at them, they really liked it. For everyone else, it wasn't well liked though I got complaints that they couldn't static the route and that the holds were so far they had to dyno. I didn't win the first setting competition, but I did get to learn about setting a dyno. 

Ian came in Second place by setting a really cool route with a high hand foot match and a deadpoint from an undercling to a pinch. 

Sarah came in First place by setting a crimpy technical route with a dihedral mantle near the end. 

The second comp was equally exciting and a bit more challenging since we were provided less time to set. The route I set forced the climber to go directly over the boob. Unfortunately during the judging process, one of the climbers slipped and hit is head on the boob. After this, I think a lot of people were too scared to climb my route. After this, I named it Cuidado. This didn't win either, but received a better score than my first route as well as a higher place in the comp. 

Hristos came in 2nd place with a pretty reachy V4. The moves were cool though. 

Paul came in 1st place with an overhung V5. I wasn't able to send it, but the movements looked really cool. 

While I didn't win either of the competitions, I definitely challenged myself by trying to set something I had never set before in a style unfamiliar to me. I definitely learned a lot from the setting clinic and will learn how to tweak my routes more.