Part 2 (Part 1 >>)

Check out on Mountain.RU: Reports News Comments about UIAA-ICC WORLD Rock-climbing CUP - MOSCOW 2005

Prologue: the first question that we asked ourselves: where is the good of all that for us? And at once it comes in answer: for Russia :)

Alexey Shalygin, Moscow

Mountain.RU (MR): What is the difference between route-setting for Russian Cup and World Cup?
Alexey Shalygin (A.Sh.).: First of all we have a lot of time for route-setting. On the one hand it is good, but it turns out, that we for one and a half a day we have already set all the problems and the rest three and a half days we will just check them. For two days we have been tasting and tasting and no line has been finished yet. Usually we work upon another tack: We set a problem, well, it's ready, and the question is closed. But now there is not readiness ¹1, alertness for start for any of the problems. Perhaps, it can be good, but can be bad.

MR: What is your opinion about the lines in general?
A.Sh.: They are more difficult over the order. Jacky says that everything is in the right way. It means, probably, that it is really in the right way :).
We'll see.
Though, I recon, some female lines he has set typically very difficult. Russian girls competed in Moscow at Russian Cup on these gyms. They are the strongest in the rating. Olga Bibik is the second, Julia Abramchuk is the third. I don't think that Sandrine Levet, who heads the list, is madly strong. The lines are very heavy.
We wanted to try to make show as at Russian competitions with some jumps and long runs because of their bigger entertainment value and fan. But here a great bulk of participants will not be able to start and just fall off.

Alexey Chertov, Kaliningrad

Alexey Chertov (A. Ch.).: I would not tell, that the lines considerably differ from Russian ones. Bouldering, unlike Difficulty, is very strongly held up traditions.
In difficulty everything is precisely regulated: there is a grade that you keep to an inch, the rules are known, move's amount is described. If you managed to set the lines keeping to all this things competitions will run perfectly.
And in bouldering lines must be done quite otherwise and be of "average complexity", but what is "average complexity" is not spoken. What should be the problem is not elsewhere mentioned too. Route-setting goes on sensations, but the sensations mean the traditions. Naturally, in France there are their own traditions. Godoffe likes to use huge artefacts such as bas-reliefs and holds. The lines for girls are a little bit harder, than at Russian Cup. While it is difficult to judge, we have only started to test them, all of them we change constantly. And man's ones will unequivocally be more difficult.

MR: Tell us briefly about the Concept of bouldering route-setting.
A. Ch.: I like Jacky's work. He does not do everything by himself but like a good band-master he right at once made the table, lines' schemes and shared our functions: who stands the concrete racket. You take a line, mark it, and set it. Everything is tidily arranged. You put a special mark about line's grade and readiness. There is a lot of use and learn by this work. Especially by work organization and normal working hours. Jacky said that a route-setter should not get tired in the first day to keep work and not to fall dead further.

MR: What grades are you guided in route-setting for Finals?
A. Ch.: I do not know, I asked about that Mr. Godoffe too and he answered, that in bouldering there is not any category. Bouldering grades are a very cloudy thing :)

MR: How do you estimate the readiness of the Russian team?
A. Ch.: It seems to me our guys are not in good shape to climb at present. The main problem is not in fit, but in failure in right route-reading. Godoffe considers that now in the world there is no such problem. Every line even strongly confused will be read right at once. But Russian climbers can mistake from the first move… on a generally simple line. The single exception - Salavat.

MR: And about girls?
A. Ch.: By a rating, our girls are competitive. Our women are always competitive :)

MR: How does one go about climbing bouldering well?
A. Ch.: Bouldering technically is the most complex kind of rock-climbing. Good strength training, big set of different technics, psychological stability are necessary and, a sure thing, bouldering mentality. That means a climber should see all this problem at once, be able to estimate it instantly, make the correct decision and executed it orderly not to straggle any other new variants of the decision. These are the basic things.