ClimberMayJune2020

How and when did you set your first
international competition, was it
lead or bouldering and how did it go?
The first international comp I set would
have been one of the Birmingham comps

• probably the World Cup in 1996 or 97.
  In those days bouldering comps hadn’t
  really started so it was just lead and/or
  speed. I do remember that it went okay
  and we got a clean result without any
  ties. I think Arnaud Petit beat Francois
  Legrand and Yuji Hiriyama.

BOULDERING COMPETITIONS

What did the bouldering walls
and problems look like in the
early bouldering comps; a line of
small crimps up an overhanging
wall for example?
They were pretty basic compared to what
we get nowadays. Just holds, no volumes,
and very hard powerful climbing. The
walls were very angular and steep with
lots of arêtes and corners, which being a
gritstone climber I liked quite a lot. I set
my first big comp as chief setter in Fiera
di Primiera (Italy) in 2003 and remember
the wall and holds being pretty terrible
and the mats were atrocious.

What have been the main changes

you’ve seen on the setting front at

bouldering comps over the years

and what are your thoughts on

the developments?

The obvious thing is the materials we

work with now are way better than

they used to be. The walls and mats

are so much better and the selection

of holds and volumes we get now is

truly fantastic. The World Cup setters

are a creative bunch and are constantly

trying to find new moves or sequences

to baffle the athletes. I think the sport

is maturing and it’s great to see;

becoming ‘Olympic’ is just the next

step along this path.

The use of volumes has increased

massively in recent years enabling

a huge variety of moves to be set.

Would you agree that this has

been beneficial for both the

climbers and the audiences?

Absolutely. Volumes make the climbing

more ambiguous – that’s why we invented

them. It’s easy to see a line of plastic

holds up a wall and to work out the

sequence of movements needed to climb

them. Volumes make the climbing more

like rock – you can’t see exactly where

you need to grab the things as there are

no clearly defined holds. You need to

climb with feeling and know how to

position your body to make any progress.

I often work with new setters who

put volumes on the wall and then

fix loads of holds on to them – this is

totally missing the point. The volume

is the hold.

Let’s talk parkour next; this style

of setting has been increasing

prevalent in bouldering competi-

tions in recent years, who the

heck dreamed that up?

Not me, that’s for sure.

There’s no doubt that the [parkour]

co-ordination blocs are fun to

watch and make for interesting

watching/TV but do you think it’s

actually climbing?

It’s a style of climbing, that’s for sure.

It’s high risk (very easy to fall off – you

need lots of attempts before you stick

the move) and very spectacular to watch,

so lots of setters like the style because

it works well for them and ticks all the

right boxes. 6

IntervIew – Percy BIshton

Percy Bishton hard at

work setting a problem

at The Climbing Works.

Photo: Band of Birds

http://www.climber.co.uk may–jun 2020 27