Tension Climbing’s Will Anglin & Ben Spannuth, Part 1

Will Anglin and Ben Spannuth have spent a lot of time thinking about how climbing works — why this foot and not that one? What precisely makes this move hard? They are extremely accomplished climbers themselves, but seem to enjoy the tinkering with and dissecting of climbing’s finer points as much as they enjoy actually climbing. Tension Climbing, where Will and Ben design, shape, and manufacture wooden holds and training tools, is their effort to bring what they’ve learned to the rest of us. Recently they gave me and Luke a tour of their shop, then sat down with us to talk about some of the things they’ve learned about climbing mastery through years of training, coaching, and setting routes. Will and Ben had a lot of insightful stuff to say, so this episode is part 1 of 2.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• What is your production process? (2:03)
• Why do you use so many different types of wood? (3:59)
• How did you meet and decide to start Tension? (5:00)
• What is the Tension Board all about? (7:10)
• Why is wood better than plastic? (13:25)
• What Will and Ben learned from CATS gym in Boulder (18:30)
• What do you learn from route setting? (22:30)
• What is the most common mistake you see climbers making? (28:45)
• What would you be doing if you hadn’t found climbing? (34:00)

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