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Alex Irvine

@alirvtoset

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Learning and loving to create climbs

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It’s been a while!

Thanks @climberjeremy for crushing this paddle yellow I set at Blochaus Leichhardt.

So much has changed and so much has been learned since my last post, but what truly prompted me to return to this account was a recent conversation I had with my two head setters @bluu.rock and @thecoolestkid.

Since beginning setting I have constantly battled my own insecurities. Imposter syndrome, feelings of weakness, of inadequacy, and these feelings have been amplified by a decreased focus on my climbing, time away from work, and weight gain.

It was this conversation with my headsetters (but more importantly my good friends) that brought into focus the truly important qualities of a good setter. Adaptability, eagerness to learn, and not being averse to failure. Embracing a growth mindset and understanding that failure, and learning from it, rather than being terrified of it, is what makes us good setters. Sometimes we need a little reminder.

#boulderthanmost #bouldering #boulderingsydney taken in BlocHaus Leichhardt by @alirvtoset

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a year ago

Last weekend I had the privilege and fortune to work at the new Blochaus gym in Mitchell, setting in preparation for Canberra’s 7th birthday competition. It was a whirlwind couple of days, visiting new places, meeting new people and climbing and setting on new terrain.

Along with being just an incredibly enjoyable and overwhelming experience, this trip was such a huge boost to my confidence, both in my own abilities as a setter and my choice of career. There is such an amazing sense of satisfaction in seeing people enjoy the boulders you’ve created, and in being part of such a strong creative team.

This boulder shown here (climbed by @ommydays_) was my first ever attempt at creating a comp sim boulder. Working with some really interesting dual tex holds I wanted to create a funky, boxy climb that challenged the climber’s mobility and ability to keep tension. It was awesome watching people figure this one out and seeing their eventual sends.

Thanks so much to Blochaus and all the Blochaus Mitchell crew for having me and giving me this opportunity!

#boulderthanmost
#bouldering by @alirvtoset

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2 years ago

Sets No.39 and 40:
This was absolutely the toughest set of my career so far. A 40 degree day, with a 24 degree dew point, in the cave, setting a yellow. The only thing that saved me from heat stroke was the water pistols whipped out after lunch.

This was one of those days where the mental difficulty was just as high as the physical difficulty. Remaining positive and creative and inspired on a day like this proved almost impossible.

Fortunately, I had @thecoolestkid and @ryan___henderson there to save me from myself. With their help the yellow climb we created this set day is my favourite climb to date. Working with new holds, in the cave for the first time, I could not be happier with how this climb turned out. Visually distinct, sequency, physically intense. For me, it ticks all the boxes that a cave climb should.

It’s on days like this one where I learn the most. About myself, about my team, and about the wonderful and challenging job that is setting. I’m so happy and proud to be a part of this squad.

Thanks @slab__boy and @claregoodfellow for the sexy sends.

#bouldering
#boulderingsydney
#boulderthanmost taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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2 years ago

Sets No.37 and 38:
This day was my first experience working with our new setting process. Diverting away from setting individually and then testing all together, we instead worked in pairs with the occasional assistance from the butterfly (or less attractively named floater), deciding amongst our pairs our intentions, difficulty levels, climb placements and testing times.

Adapting to any new process is a unique challenge in itself, but despite this, this proved to be one of the least stressful setting days I have experienced.

This, however, did not mean I didn’t experience problems with this set. The first was my hold set selection. Originally I wanted to use entirely yellow mega boards to accentuate the arete. Unfortunately we only had the one, so I opted to use the long flatholds, which i thought might do a similar job. With the adjustments necessary to encourage the intended beta the aesthetic changed dramatically and I’m ultimately very unhappy with the end visual result.

Maintaining quality of movement and quality of aesthetic is still one of the biggest challenges I face every set day. Aesthetic, while it should always be secondary to movement, is what makes people want to climb a climb. It should lure people in, entice them, spark their curiosity.

Over time, I know I will become more familiar with what shapes work together, what colours work together and how to use the already existing wall assets to create climbs with distinct visual identity.

Thanks again @disciple_of_pain and @tallydoye for the inspiring sends.

#bouldering
#boulderingsydney
#boulderthanmost taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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2 years ago

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3 years ago

Sets No.33 and 34:
The nugget always poses the same challenges to set on. With so many lips and aretes within arms reach of the tall boys, creating climbs that give the same experience to people of different anatomies becomes seriously difficult.

With my positioning on the back of the nugget, the main obstacle I was contending with was making using the holds more attractive than simply campusing across the lip the entire way. This was easier to force in purple, as most purple climbers will naturally gravitate towards holds than horrible sloping colourless edges, but forcing it in yellow was more of a challenge.

Often forcing climbers to do a certain beta is impossible, but using different tools to manipulate a climber’s psychology, we can make the intended beta the most attractive. By starting climbers low, on poor holds and by placing juicy pockets and jugs within sight, traversing across the holds becomes the most intuitive beta.

With this climb I got the opportunity to use the new olio holds. This has quickly become one of my favourite hold sets to set with. On this day I couldn’t resist the urge to slot one of the knobs into one of the pockets to create a strange slot you could grab in several different ways.

Thanks Jac and @selcouths.spices for the awesome sends!

#boulderingsydney
#bouldering
#boulderthanmost taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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3 years ago

Set No.32:
With free rein to create whatever my heart desired I decided that now was the time to fulfil my dream of setting a bat hang.

This was an absolute blast to set. Forcing the bat hang proved relatively easy, and the angle of the wall meant mantling the bat hang foot hold was practically impossible.

I wanted this climb to be a journey, a physically intense traverse underneath and then a balancy technical traverse back across. As a result this sits firmly in upper yellow, both sections of the climb proving challenging in their own unique ways, anxious to spit the climber off the wall at the smallest mistake.

I felt super inspired setting this problem and am ultimately very happy with both its aesthetic and its feel. Watching people figure this out and attempt it is without a doubt one of the biggest highlights of my setting career to date.

Thanks once again @adam.v70 for the amazing send!

#boulderingsydney
#boulderthanmost
#bouldering taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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3 years ago

Set No.30 and 31:
The brief for this day was to create a “situation” using features to add dimension and complexity while inspiring our own creativity as setters.

With my area in the corner I immediately knew that I wanted to incorporate pressing movements, and to challenge both myself and the climbers I elected to use poor slopey features for the feet as well.

A piece of advice from my former head setter Jono has stuck with me throughout my setting career and I feel it has greatly assisted me in making my climbs more interesting and unique. He encouraged me to use holds in ways that you would not normally think to use them. I really tried to lean into this idea with both climbs in this set. As a further challenge to myself I wanted to use as few down pulling holds as possible, encouraging the climber to put their weight in their feet and press with their hands.

I am particularly happy with the way the purple in this set turned out, providing an experience that isn’t physically intense or scary. This hopefully encouraged newer climbers to try it and hone their technique with a lower barrier to entry.

Thankyou @itsmeeks and @leah_climbing for the sends!

#bouldering
#boulderingsydney
#boulderthanmost taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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3 years ago

Sets No.27, 28 and 29:
On this set day I got the opportunity to set my first solo white problem. On top of this, it was the first day I set three problems without assistance. I’m super proud of the way I faced these challenges to create three distinct, interesting climbs that utilised the slab space in different ways and taught the climbers various techniques.

Starting with the white, I originally intended to create a dynamic transfer from a left toe hook to a right toe hook, catching the arete with the left hand to create tension. With how slabby the wall was, it was very difficult to encourage the fast beta, so I leant into the slower more technical beta, with challenging slippery feet and careful movement required to traverse around the arete. With the top I wanted to encourage careful navigation back around the arete with a high heel to finish.

The black I put up very quickly with large slopey holds to contrast against the small holds of the white. To encourage a run up start I placed the start holds further up the wall and the starting right foot at a height that would make it difficult to start statically. The end was designed to be scary until the press is secured where the climber will feel a lot more stable and comfortable once committed to the two handed press.

The purple aimed to teach smearing and body positioning to newer climbers. While not difficult using the correct technique, the orientation of the holds made navigating this climb challenging without the correct beta.

Thanks friends for all the epic sends!

#bouldering
#boulderingsydney
#boulderthanmost taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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3 years ago

Sets No.25 and 26:
For these climbs I attempted to create a skeleton first using the two features. I always had it in my mind that it would be fun to create a moment of instability where the climber perched on the larger feature with the angle of the wall pushing against them.

With the size and positioning of the larger feature, it only made sense to create a mantle. By adjusting the positioning of the black and purple start holds I could dial the difficulty of the climbs while achieving a similar feeling for both.

With the black, the climber starts below the lip of the feature, forcing the climber to mantle up and over. With the purple, the climber already begins above the feature making the mantle far easier.

The second question asked of the climber, is how to traverse over to the next holds while perched in an unstable position. For both climbs, this consisted of a press and then a controlled fall into a jug. I really enjoyed the feeling of relief that came from falling out of my the scrunched press position into the big juggy hold.

The final portions of the climb were ancillary to the questions asked earlier. I attempted to make them interesting while adhering to the grades, with the aim of creating a lower end purple and a lower end black.

Thanks @braddyjay for the sick black send.

#bouldering
#boulderingsydney
#boulderthanmost taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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3 years ago

Set No.24:
Super serious send by @hayleyclimbs_.
This set day’s brief was to create sit starts. I originally had ideas to create a bat hang start, but decided it would be too difficult and uncomfortable on the wall angle that I was working with. As it turns out, I would have the opportunity to set a bat hang in a later set.

I received a secondary brief to create a climb that utilised both a left and a right heel hook. As a result, I decided to opt for a heel start instead. Originally both start tags were where the heel is. While I enjoyed the challenging position this put the climber in from the get go, it made climbers less inclined to go out left hand to the feature. This would make the subsequent moves feel clunky and less intuitive. To solve this issue, the feature became the start hold for the left hand.

For the heel start to work I needed to create depth from the wall and provide a a good hold to crank off. Because this starting heel hook was so good, I decided to build the sequence around it, forcing the climber to keep it, and then later change it from a heel to a toe. Attempting to create a sequence that didn’t make continued use of the starting heel would have been extremely difficult due to how large a foothold it was. Leaning into its use saved me time and made for a really interesting sequence.

In solo testing, I decided using just the arete as a hand for later in the boulder was too bad, and placed several more positive volumes on the wall. However, this took complexity away from the boulder and felt less intuitive and comfortable than going to the arete. It also took away from the minimalistic aesthetic, muddying the negative space. Shifting everything slightly to the left allowed for more weight to be taken by the left heel, thus making coming into arete easier.

In order to prevent climbers from going straight to the lip of the top out, I placed a volume to act as a blocker on the far left. This would also act as a hand hold for the top out later on.

This boulder really came to life in the final group test of the day where I received some really great advice from my fellow setters in regard to the changes I’ve talked about above. taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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3 years ago

Set No.23:
I couldn’t choose between these two great sends from @jeremy.balding and @alexkiechle. This is without a doubt the hardest boulder I’ve ever set at Blochaus and these two made it look easy.

The brief for this set day was to create a project for myself while utilising hold sets and types that I am comfortable with. I decided to split the climb into three distinct sections, pockets, pinches, then back to pockets.

I wanted to encourage the climber to come across their body multiple times in the beginning section. Throwing behind their head into a pocket once with the right hand, coming into a tiny mono pocket with the left and then bumping over their head once again into another slightly better pocket.

I am super happy with the overall sequence. The difficulty is sustained from beginning to end, and the holds, while good, are challenging due to the steep wall angle.

The real challenge of this day was the red climb (which I unfortunately do not have a video of). Creating a lower grade climb on this steep a wall was an infuriating trial. On this particular day I allowed frustration to cloud my judgment, and rather than taking a break and allowing myself to mentally recharge, I bashed my head against a wall trying to make something that would never work work.

The red needed to be simple, as the angle of the wall was already asking a difficult question of lower level climbers. But my misinterpretation of what simple is contributed to massive time waste and further frustration. In this case simple didn’t necessarily mean basic. Creating a sequence that was still mentally engaging while reducing the questions asked to the climber was what I should have been aiming to achieve.

Creating this distinction between basic and simple is an important lesson I am still working on learning. Understanding this distinction will, I think, drastically improve my overall ability to set lower grades that are both more interesting and faster to set.

#boulderthanmost
#boulderingsydney
#bouldering taken in BlocHaus Sydney by @alirvtoset

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3 years ago