Olympic Sport Climbing Reflections, Custom Climbing Shoes, and Diversity in Routesetting

Welcome to Behind The Wall, a weekly newsletter published every Saturday.

Each week, I highlight the favourite things I’ve watched, read and listened to from the world of indoor and competition climbing. I also keep track of what climbing competitions are coming up and where you can buy tickets.

It has been a week since the Olympics, and I’ve managed to catch up on most of the Olympic coverage, though more is still coming out. Multiple podcasts shared their commentary of the Olympics. We also had some pre-Olympic material released around the Olympics, including Micka Mawem’s setting for Oriane Bertone and a documentary about Jakob Schubert’s perfect year.

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Watch

Oriane Bertone’s bouldering circuit training set by Micka Mawem | Les frères Mawem. Mickael Mawem talks us through the process of setting some combined format competition boulders for Oriane Bertone 2 weeks before the Olympics.
Devotion: Jakob Schubert’s Journey To The Top. Learn about Jakob Schubert’s perfect 2023 where he sent a 9c route and a 9A boulder outside, became Lead World Champion and won his Olympic ticket.
Testing a climbing shoe designed from a 3d scan of my foot | Humphrey Wittingtonsworth IV. Have you ever thought about creating a custom climbing shoe for your own foot? Humphrey Wittingtonsworth did exactly this.
Climbing Chalk Will Never Be The Same | Nate Mitka Climbing. Nate Mitka shares a first look at Chalkless, a silicon-based product that aims to provide the same benefits as chalk but stays on for a whole session and improves air quality.

Read

Meet the Paris 2024 Olympic Routesetters Part 3: Olga Niemiec | UKClimbing. Before the Olympics, Natalie Berry from UKClimbing sent Olga Niemiec, one of the two female Boulder route setters at the Olympics, some questions about routesetting.

Listen

Olympic Commentary | Circle Up Podcast. Kyra and Allison give their commentary on the Olympics.
Women finals Olympic Games Paris 2024 bouldering & lead combined | Another setting podcast. Niki and Jake talk about the female Boulder&Lead final.
Olympic Reactions With Allison Vest | The Nugget Climbing Podcast. Allison Vest joins Steven to talk about the Olympics.
Vertical Drag Race: Part 2 | Climbing Gold. Alex and Fitz talk with journalist John Burgman and Speed Climbers Piper Kelly, Sam Watson and Emma Hunt about how speed climbing has accelerated over the last 8 years as climbers have found different betas for the route.
Mika Hosoi| Climbing Curated. Jack talks with Mika Hosoi about the difference between setting in Canada vs Australia, her controversial opinion about setting extended climbs, and where she gets her inspiration from.
You Can Strip My Boulder – Blake Green | Climbing Business Journal Podcasts. Holly Chen talks with Blake Green about why competition routesetting is a wicked problem and the importance of diversity in routesetting teams.

International Climbing Competition Tickets

The Olympics may be over, but there are plenty of climbing competitions left this year to follow. Here is a rundown of climbing competitions to watch out for the rest of the year.