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Cover art for 61: Max Ayrton, World Climbing Routesetter (and cartwheel guy)

61: Max Ayrton, World Climbing Routesetter (and cartwheel guy)

Max is a World Climbing routesetter from Great Britain who most recently set for the bouldering world series in Bern 2026 and will be setting for Salt Lake in October as well. In this episode, we’ll learn about hold shaping, what happened when the Bern finals boulders got leaked early online, whether world cup routesetters can actually climb the boulders they set, and we’ll hear about his extremely hot take on “alternative” climbing moves...I had no idea that he was the infamous cartwheel boulder setter.

June 29, 2026

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