e-Learning with Impact Routesetting

Impact Routesetting in the UK launched their officially recognised online Route Setting Essentials course back in November 2023. The course is sponsored by EP Climbing and brings together Impact’s expert setters and founders, Ben Norman and Cailean Harker, and IRATA L3 technical advisor Ben Humphris of Climbing Wall Training. It offers both prospective, and current routesetters a nationally recognised certificate in routesetting knowledge which employers can view as a minimum level of experience when hiring.

Images Credit: Impact Routesetting

The course spans 11 topics, ranging from Regulation Framework in the UK, to Working at Height, and Manual Handling (we all know setters like to take great care of their backs and knees!)
Students can expect the course to take around 3 hours to complete, once they have passed the assessment stages of each section they are then awarded with a digital certificate which is accredited with the Association of British Climbing Walls, and forms the first step of their Routesetting Development Pathway.

As routesetting establishes itself as a more widely accepted profession, higher standards of working best practice are expected of both employed and freelance routesetters. Thankfully the days of not wearing PPE, roped setting in a sport harness with a GRIGRI, and balancing on the top of A-frame ladders are fading into history, and have been replaced with comprehensive operating procedures, soft impact drivers, eye protection and the “don’t be a hero” mentality.

EP Climbing has sponsored the online course, participants are also educated on their portfolio of walls, hold and volume selection, and the TITAN Olympic boulder wall. Although this is essentially a bit of advertising in the middle of a routesetting course, it offers valuable insight for setters into what it can be like putting together a hold order for their respective gyms.

At the time of writing, the Impact Routesetting Online welcome email let us know that there were currently 300 active global learners taking part on the course; this tracks with a growing global appetite for routesetting knowledge, as mentioned in our recent Movement article, the setting community is actively seeking out every resource available to feed that hunger.