How Do You Set An Indoor Climbing Route?
• Understand that in order to set an effective and reasonable climbing route you need to know how an indoor climbing gym works, and how the walls work. • Know how the rating system works: Difficulty ratings in rock climbing are based on the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS), which uses a two number system to differentiate between the difficulties of different climbs. The first number assigned to a route defines the technical level of the climb. All technical rock climbs using ropes and other protective equipment are designated the number 5 so this number is standard to all climbs that I am concerned with. The second number of the two determines the overall difficulty of the route itself. Essentially this is the only number that really matters. Following the second number a letter between a and d appears further subdividing and fine tuning the overall difficulty rating assigned to a climb. Therefore a climb with a grade of 5.11a is more difficult than a climb with a grade of 5.10c and so on
