Gripped Magazine
Behind The Scenes of One of the UK’s Biggest Boulder Comps
In a new short documentary called Full Circle, Wedge follows pro climber Jim Pope as he joins the routesetting team behind the final ever Climbing Works International Festival (CWIF), revealing the work, creativity, and pressure that goes into setting boulders for one of the UK’s biggest climbing comps. Watch the film below.
Over the past few months, we’ve been interviewing gym setters to get a better understanding about what goes into the art. Comp-style boulders often take up more real estate and can be contentious, we interviewed two gym setters to understand how they approach setting in this style – read more here. We also talked with Canadian head setters Max Summerlee and Karlo King to learn more about setting for tall and short climbers, visit here for more. And to read about what gym setters think about boards, click here.
UK Climbing editor Rob Greenwood wrote about the final CWIF when it took place this spring, saying: It’s hard to overstate the significance that this competition has had. In the UK, it has for a long time been one of our biggest comps – if not the biggest. It has genuinely lived up to its name as an international event too, attracting not just big names and individuals, but also national teams who’d use it as a training event. It has also produced some of the most memorable moments in competition climbing, with Rustam Gelmanov’s paddle jump feeling like a defining moment, and Toby Roberts’ gravity defying undercut manoeuvre pointing the way towards his future gold-winning greatness.
The winners of the final ever CWIF were Shauna Coxsey and Rei Kawamata. Organisers said the decision was not driven by declining interest, but by a belief that the event had achieved its original purpose. Since launching in 2007, CWIF helped shape modern comps, attracting many of the world’s top climbers. Rather than continuing indefinitely, the organizers chose to conclude the festival while it remained highly regarded, describing it as an opportunity to “finish on a high.” They also cited plans to explore new comp formats in the future, with the retirement of Climbing Works co-founder Graeme Alderson marking the end of an era.
Full Circle
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