Ep. 25 - No Fun Training & Very Hard Routesetting with Pavel Dobrinskiy
Jul 3, 2024
Pavel Dobrinskiy is a leading figure within the drytooling community in Moscow and is one of the most prolific route setters on the Ice Climbing World Cup circuit 🌏.
Maybe you’ve heard about the Russian style of setting — its high-tension ⚡️ moves are calculated for maximum kinetic energy like Ivan Drago in route form #sterotypingmuch? Perhaps. Anywho, Pavel’s had something to do with that.
From his constant drive to create cutting-edge moves, which necessitated the development of new holds to make those possible, to his thoughtful and collaborative approach to planning routes, to his mentorship, Pavel has helped shape the comp routesetting many are familiar with today.
In this episode, with Pavel’s particular brand of humor in tow, we chat about:
🧊 The magic of Indian Creek
🧊 History of comp climbing in Russia
🧊 Russian-style training (rule number 1: never shake out)
🧊 The importance of speed in competitions
🧊 His routesetting philosophy, including a lot of “dos” and “do nots”
🧊 Opinions on some of the hardest routes in the world
Resources and links:
Pavel is an an all-around climber, and has done everything from expeditions to places like Nepal, China, and Tajikistan to attempting to free “The Nose” to being the first person to flash “A Line Above the Sky” (D15).
He doesn’t post regularly, but you can follow him on Instagram at @majorbobkov.
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📸 Cover photo courtesy of Pavel
Credits: Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!). This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
Sponsors: As always, a big thank you to Aniiu Gloves and Furnace Industries for supporting this show!
Patreon: Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the conversation and want to help us do many more, consider supporting us on Patreon. (And for less than the price of a bougie beer per month!).