Beers with Pierre Mellot
- May 27
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 4
West Coast, Best Coast
In case you haven't heard about it, West Coast Blocs is our flagship competition every year. And every year, we invite a guest setter to help us shape the boulders for our Novice, Intermediate and Opens competitors to tackle.
Pierre Mellot, a setter at International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) competitions across the world joined as our Guest Setter for West Coast Blocs 2025. We managed to wrangle him just as he woke up from his long-haul flight in time to ask a couple questions before the main event.
Our friends at FOUND. in Subiaco kindly invited us to their brewery to sit down, have a yarn and get to know a bit more about what goes on behind the scenes - and what goes into making world class boulders. We're joined by our Head Setter, Will Atkinson to dive deeper into the discussion.
What's something only setters understand about setting for a comp like this?
Will: When a comp doesn’t go well, other setters understand you probably tried something ambitious and it just didn’t work. Competitors and spectators only see the final result. They’ll say, “It was too hard,” or “too easy,” but you only really know once the climbing starts.
Will: Setting always involves risk.
Pierre: Exactly. If everything is predictable, people don’t like it. But if you take too much risk and it fails, people don’t like that either. Finding that balance is something only setters really understand.
Will: Watching finals from the mats can be nerve-wracking, especially when competitors reach a boulder you’ve invested a lot into.
If the first few athletes can’t figure out the sequence, you start wondering, “Is this actually going to work?” People probably don’t realise how much pressure setters feel in those moments.
You put a huge amount of effort into these climbs as a team. Sometimes one setter has a specific vision for a boulder, the holds, the wall, the movement, and the rest of the team helps bring it to life. When it finally works the way you imagined, it’s a pretty cool moment.
When it finally works the way you imagined, it’s a pretty cool moment.
Pierre: Setters can get just as stressed as the competitors, sometimes even more. The first climber comes out and flashes a boulder, and immediately you’re thinking, “We messed something up.” But sometimes the climber was simply that good. Then you spend the next hour stressing, smoking, eating, pacing around, until you realise the boulder is fine. Someone just climbed it well and deserved it. That pressure is part of what makes setting exciting. It’s why you keep coming back.
That pressure is part of what makes setting exciting. It’s why you keep coming back.
How do you practice for a competition set while you're doing commercial-style setting?
Will: It depends week to week. You’re always trying new things, but you often have to tone it down. Some ideas work in competitions but wouldn’t suit a commercial gym set. They might be too big, too wild, or require space where you don’t have full control of the mats.
Pierre: In commercial setting, you’re usually building eight to ten boulders in the same space. You might have one idea you really like that would work in a comp, but then you still need to build the rest of the set around it. If you push too far in one direction, the whole set suffers. Everything can end up feeling too similar, or too heavy, or even unsafe. So it’s always about balance.
Will: Over time, you build a library of ideas. You might see something in a comp or online and think, “I want to try that.” Then you test it as a team and see what works. Competition setting is where you can really push those ideas. Sometimes it lands, sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s part of it.
Will: You really have to pull together as a team. There’s a lot of testing, adjusting, and reworking. If you spend too much time thinking alone, you can end up in a tunnel vision.
Pierre: It’s all about balance. Many competitions are remembered for one finals boulder, so if all four are high-risk, you’re taking a big gamble. It helps to approach it strategically. You might decide: one boulder is where we really push for emotion or surprise, and the others are more controlled, solid boulders.
Will: A huge part of it is putting on a show. There’s a crowd watching, so it needs to be exciting, but it also has to function properly. You still need a fair split between competitors. That’s the job of the boulders.
Do you adjust the boulders according to how you see the Opens climbers perform during qualifications?
Will: Usually you set a boulder, test it, and everyone’s happy with it, but you’ll still have adjustments in mind. If qualifications look too easy, you might make small tweaks, like moving a hold slightly or rotating a volume to add a bit more challenge. If it looks too hard, you can dial things back.
Pierre: It’s about tempo. Ideally, everything behaves the way you expect. You might set something thinking, “This should be hard, we expect two tops,” and it plays out like that. The worst case is when it flips. What you expected to be hard becomes easy, and what you expected to be easy becomes hard.
Will laughs
Pierre: When that happens and you have to adjust for finals, it can throw everything off. It’s difficult to reset and find the right tempo again.
Will: You’re also relying on so many variables: how competitors are feeling, their mindset, energy, skin. All of it changes things. Sometimes a boulder feels fine in testing, then competitors come out and no one can even get to the zone. You’re just standing there thinking, “Why is this happening?”
Over the course of the competition you start to get a feel for the rhythm again. It also helps when you know the climbers and how they’re likely to approach things.
How do you approach West Coast Blocs? Is it the same way as Bern or is it a different kind of methodology?
Pierre: A competition like Bern has more strict rules. You must have one physical, one coordination, one technical and one they call "joker" and you cannot mix styles. Here, I feel we can create what we would like to see.
Will: It feels good.
Pierre: It feels good to just say some people came because it's West Coast Blocs, and it has to represent the West Coast, which... I don't know what that is yet. But we'll see.
Will: *laughs* Oh you'll see. You’ll see.
How do you balance that idea of delivering a spectacle and show with the challenge of the competition?
Will: There's a formula to it for a final. The boulders need to come out and challenge the competitors in a different way. You have different styles of boulders. You bring them out onto a hard boulder, then put them on a slab or a technical boulder – you're trying to split the climbers.
The aesthetic comes into it as well. You want the boulders to be exciting to watch. All the finals are going to consist of new holds, things they've not seen before on the walls at Portside, and that adds to the show. That's exciting for a customer, because they all get to climb on those after. Bit of excitement, new stuff, and...
Pierre: Some surprise.
Will: Yeah, some surprise.
Pierre: When you're live and you're like, “Oh wow, they tried this”, and it doesn't need to be always about the aesthetic, but more like, okay, it's disruptive, like... we were not expecting it.
Will: Not the normal.
Pierre: When you can see the competitors think, “Oh, no, I'm not in my comfort zone", and it's still a fair comp – not a crazy circus on one side, or only old-school pulling – it’s sport.
Will: And it's a mix.
Will: A complex boulder that requires lots of flexibility for some people will feel easy. But then the next boulder out is a real steep roof – a compression – and they might not be good at that. It evens out though, because the person before them couldn't do the technical corner boulder, but they're really good on steep physical stuff.
Do you feel the sport itself is changing in the style?
Will: I think the sport changes all the time.
Because it's new, or because it's continuously evolving?
Pierre: Both. It’s still a relatively new sport, so it’s constantly evolving.
Will: It's changed a lot since I was younger.
Pierre: Every year you try to improve things. Every sport does it. You look at Formula One, rugby, all these sports change their rules and formats over time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but the goal is always to bring out the best in the sport.
The setting has evolved a lot too. The holds, the walls, the materials, even the climbers themselves. Athletes became more professional, which pushed the level higher, especially after climbing entered the Olympics.
Now competitors are so strong with coordination and dynamic movement that setters have to keep finding new challenges. The limit, for me, is when difficulty starts relying more on luck than skill. You still want climbers to execute with precision and flow, not just hope they stick a move.
But evolution is normal. It’ll keep going. There are endless possibilities for movement, even if you can’t invent a completely new move every competition.
Will: That’s the challenge. Finding the next new move.
How much are you consciously trying to push the sport forward? Are you actively trying to create new moves or new styles?
Will: For me, at Portside and in Perth, I’m not operating on a world stage. I’m just trying to put on a good event and push our team to get better every year.
That naturally helps push the sport locally as well, which is cool, but my main focus is growing the event, growing the team, and making the experience better each year.
At the IFSC level, though, I think those setters probably are trying to push the sport globally. But in a way, everyone contributes. If you open a gym or run an event, you’re helping the sport grow somehow.
Pierre: I don’t really see it as a personal thing. It’s more about being part of a team and sharing ideas. You can come in saying, “I want to create this new move,” but you still need to listen to the other setters, the goals of the competition, and the bigger picture.
The more time you spend setting with different people, the more you learn. Sometimes you share ideas, sometimes you learn from others. That’s what pushes things forward.
Will: It’s just growth. Every year with West Coast Blocs we change something and improve something. This year we even changed the format based on feedback.
As setters, we’re always talking about what we can do better. That’s the exciting part for me, seeing the event grow year after year.
Pierre: In the end, it’s the event and the climbing that grow, not individuals.
In the end, it’s the event and the climbing that grow, not individuals.
Even if one person comes up with an idea, it still takes the whole team to make it happen. Everyone contributes time and effort to bring a boulder together. Sometimes people focus too much on individual credit, but setting is a team effort. If the team had a good week and created something they’re proud of, that’s what matters.
Will: A good memory.
Is there a specific vibe you try to create each year?
Will: I think people associate “new school” climbing with huge holds, coordination moves and dynamic movement. And that stuff is great, but if that’s all a competition is, it starts to feel gimmicky. I want West Coast Blocs to feel exciting, whether you’re competing or spectating. I want people walking away thinking, “That was awesome.”
Pierre: And that experience matters for everyone, not just the finalists. Some people won’t make finals, but they still deserve to have a good time climbing. What’s funny is we’ve spent so long chasing “new school” climbing that now old school almost feels new again.
Everyone expects triple dynos and huge coordination moves now. Sometimes the best surprise is not doing that the whole competition.
Will: Even someone entering Opens for the first time, getting one top, climbing beside people they’ve looked up to for years, that can still be an amazing experience. Sometimes they walk away thinking, “Now I know what level I need to get to.” That’s cool.
Pierre: One of the best signs of a good comp is when people are still climbing near the end of qualifiers. If everyone’s still engaged after nearly two hours, you know you’ve done something right.
Will: One thing I love at West Coast Blocs is people asking if the finals boulders are staying up afterwards because they’re desperate to try them. That’s always a good sign too.
And vibe-wise, we just want people to have a good time. Apart from the setters. They’re too stressed.
laughs
Where do you see West Coast Blocs within Australian climbing?
Will: I think it’s one of many really good comps in Australia. Being in Perth makes it less accessible geographically, but considering where we are, I’m proud of what we’ve built. The quality, the effort, the atmosphere. I think West Coast Blocs holds its own.
How did you convince Pierre to come set at West Coast Blocs?
Will: Paid him an extortionate amount of money. Free beer too.
*Both laugh*
Pierre: Honestly, we’ve set together a few times already and we always have a good time. That’s a huge part of it. You can have a great competition, but if the team experience wasn’t good, you don’t really want to do it again. On the other hand, even if a comp has challenges, a strong team makes you want to come back.
So for me it’s not only about the setting. It’s about the people you spend the week with.
Will: That’s climbing really. We visited him in Switzerland, climbed together over there, and now he’s returned the favour.
It’s not only about the setting. It’s about the people you spend the week with.
