ClimberMayJune2020

26 may–jun 2020 http://www.climber.co.uk

PERCY BISHTON

Chief Setter, OlympiC GameS*

the Climber interview

Seasoned pro – It’s not just
route setting that he excels
at. Percy Bishton
commentating at the
Skymasters competition in
Birmingham back on 2008.
Photo: David Simmonite

In conversation with:

Percy Bishton, co-owner of The Climbing

Works, Sheffield’s iconic bouldering wall,

and veteran route setter, has landed

the biggest gig of his life; head setter for

the Boulder element at the Tokyo Olympic

Games. As head setter, Percy’s will be

the voice of reason, the steady hand, the

experienced old sage of the setting team

at Tokyo. Keith Sharples talks to the man

who loves to challenge competitors to

see what he might have in store for the

would-be Olympians.

*Please note: As Climber went to print the Olympics have been postponed until 2021 but we have left this interview in as Percy’s an interesting chap and it’s a great read.

THE BEGINNING

How and where did you first begin route setting

and what was the attraction?

After I left University in 1994, I moved to Sheffield as that

is where Lucy, my girlfriend (now wife) was from, and as a

climber it seemed like a no-brainer [not] to live in Sheffield.

I spent around a year on the dole, which in reality meant

I could spend every day out on the grit. Eventually, I got a job

as a climbing instructor at The Edge climbing wall in Sheffield.

One of the perks was getting free climbing, but the routes

were changed once in a blue moon and they tended to be

pretty boring. I asked if I could set a few routes in my spare

time and the other climbers really liked them, so I set some

more and the whole thing snowballed. Within a few months

the management asked me if I wanted to set for a wage and

I jumped at the chance. Within a year or so I had changed from

instructing to full-time route setter. I think I was possibly the

first full-time professional route setter in the world. I have to

say that Phil Robins at The Edge was pretty switched on when

it came to the realisation that having good routes frequently

changed could really improve the popularity of the wall and,

to this day, I am thankful that he took a chance with me and

encouraged me to develop as a setter.

Did your early setting involve both routes and bouldering?

At the start my focus was mainly routes given The Edge was

predominantly route climbing with a tiny bouldering wall.

Over the years we expanded the bouldering wall and I spent

a bit more time messing around in there experimenting with

stuff. I’d seen a volume at a French wall, so built my own

and started setting with them. The climbers loved it and this

motivated me to try all kinds of weird stuff – making massive

hold-less fibreglass volumes with pebbles glued into them and

so on. Throughout the 10 years I spent at The Edge I probably

spent 25% of my time bouldering, but the rest was always

setting routes. We once worked out that I probably jumared

over 250,000m of rope setting routes at The Edge – no wonder

my elbows are knackered!

How would you characterise a typical route in terms

of both holds and climbing style when you started?

A year or so after I started setting, I got the chance to do the

BMC’s National Route Setters’ course which meant I could

start setting British Lead Championships. I think I set my first

one at the Leeds Wall with Chris Plant and Zippy [Mark Pretty].

The style was largely stamina based, although we tried lots of

different things to spice the routes up. I remember one year we

took the top ’draws out of the routes, so the physical crux was

super run-out too. It was totally safe, of course, but just added

a little bit of extra spice to frighten the pure sport climbers.

Did you have an underlying philosophy behind

your setting?

My setting philosophy has always been the same – I have to

be having fun, otherwise the routes are rubbish. If you have

a good team of setters who are creative and imaginative,

and everybody plays on the routes/boulder problems, that’s

when the magic sometimes happens. When a testing session

becomes like a session at the crag when you’re trying to burn

your mates off that’s when the cool stuff tends to happen –

when you’re free to play around and try ridiculous ideas.

I have been super lucky with my peer group throughout

my career having worked with people like Ian Vickers,

Andy Long, Jason Pickles, Jacky Godoffe, Jamie Cassidy,

Laurent Laporte, Rob Napier, Manu Hassler; the list is long

and illustrious. Without exception, all these people know

how to mess about with climbs to make them special.