Hello!

My name is Manuel Wiegel and I’m a professional route setter and climber from Germany. Creativity in setting and finding solutions in tricky boulder problems, as well as fresh ideas for designing holds, volumes and climbing walls, is my speciality. 

I started climbing in my childhood and ever since I spent most of my time in bouldering gyms or at the crag. Preferentially I climb in Fontainebleau and Ticino, but I also had great days in other climbing areas all over Europe. In particular, I appreciate the climbers’ life because I value to be outdoor, surrounded by nature with people that have the same values as I have. It’s a simple but precious life. Climbing, and especially bouldering is the physical and mental grapple with a movement or a bunch of movements for me that seem to be undoable or hard at first sight, but once I have found the solution it feels much easier. Although I climb in the FB 8^thgrade, the difficulty itself is not very important for me. For me primarily the complexity and uniqueness of a movement and the process of unravelling the problem matters. This is the essence of climbing for me that I try to bring into the gyms whenever I set. 

My route setting career began around 2006 at one of the first bouldering gyms in Germany – the citymonkey. After a few years of learning and gaining experience I was poised for working as a freelancer in climbing gyms all over the world, developing my unique setting style that incorporates a well-balanced relationship between form and function. The quality of movements and the visual attractiveness of boulders are equally important for me. The unswerving search for new movements fuelled my experimental setting approach that generally results in tricky and sophisticated boulder problems. I am regularly setting for national and international competitions and was part of international invitational comps like Studio Bloc Masters, Dock Masters and Bloc Shop Open. Since 2019 I am the head setter at Superblock bouldering gym in Düsseldorf. I am part of BETA route setting crew, mainly designing and shaping holds and volumes for the climbing hold market. Furthermore, I offer consultancy service for bouldering gyms, climbing wall designs and custom-made volumes. 

Beyond being a climber I have studied biology with specialization in biodiversity and major experience in plant-pollinator interactions. Doing research in the field I sometimes inevitably observe the interactions of climbers with nature as well. That strongly arose my motivation to influence climbers, especially since the climbing community is growing fast and a lot of indoor climbers are just starting to climb outdoors without any experience and connection to nature. Because of my broad understanding of the need for environmental protection and a sustainable behaviour on this planet it is important for me to be active in the climbing community and to positively influence people to live a sustainable life for a future of our planet.