Denis Pail

Do you have a climbing and a setting role model, and why?

My climbing role model is definitely Adam Ondra. He has always inspired me with his determination and his motivation for climbing. Doing everything full on and going after your dreams. That's definitely pretty inspiring for me! As a setting role model I don't have anyone specific. I like the way setters from Japan approach setting. They think about every single move, why they are doing it, and so overall they have a different approach to setting.

Which country is the world superpower in bringing up setters, and why?

I don't think you can really say that one country is outright a superpower in bringing up setters. I think it comes down to the approach of the individual. A lot of good setters do come from the Japan I mentioned, but that's also because the direction setting is taking is aimed more at the style they set in Japan. That's why so many talented setters come from there. And it's also because they have great performance and overall readiness. On the other hand, we setters from Europe have a slightly different handwriting. I think the two complement each other beautifully.

What kind of name do Czech setters have in the world, and are we rated better in bouldering or on the rope?

I probably can't answer that question fully, because here in the Czech Republic only a handful of people make a living from setting. If I speak for everyone, people like inviting us to Germany and Austria, which probably means we do the job well and they're happy with us. Commercial setting and competition setting are completely different worlds, so it's hard to judge. I try to travel around competitions abroad pretty much on my own. Lately Vojta Trojan has been getting into it too, and it's great that the young blood is motivated to get into competition setting. Foreign setters would answer this question best, how happy they are with us. But I don't think we're an embarrassment. :) Whether it's bouldering or rope, I don't know. I'm more of a rope guy and I focus on that more. Vojta is heading more towards bouldering.

What would your year of preparation look like if you had a sponsor who covered all your climbing and personal expenses?

That's a good question! When I think about it, it sounds bloody tempting! It depends how generous a sponsor it would be and how much they'd be willing to offer, because the preparation itself differs quite a bit depending on that. If we're talking about the top version, where the preparation can cost over 100 thousand a month, it would look like this. For there to be any preparation, there has to be a goal. It doesn't work without one. Since I've been a rock climber for as long as I can remember, my goals would head in that direction. I enjoy both the rope and boulders. But I know you can't really combine them. If I want to be the best on the rope, I have to devote myself to it, and vice versa. Plenty of people will have a different opinion here and I agree. There are a lot of variables, so it would be a longer discussion. I'd set my goal as climbing a route at 9a+. Ideally 9b. But that's such a lottery that either it comes off quickly or never. I could pick a route that suits me and keep going back to work it until it falls, but I don't think I'd enjoy that. That's why in that preparation I'd want to train as many all-round things as possible, so that I could then adapt to more routes at those grades. So I'd have the goal, and now the preparation itself. I'd have to give up absolutely everything I've done so far. Setting, hobbies, business and lots of other things connected with life or work. I'd have only the climbing, because preparation isn't just about going to a session, training and that's it. Preparation starts the moment you wake up and ends with your sleep in the evening. I'd hand my preparation over to people who understand it and can lead me to my goal. And that means a coach, a physiotherapist, a doctor, a nutritionist including a cook, a masseur and a group of people who would give me that kind of support. Drive me, belay me, sort things out and so on. I'd go like that the whole year under supervision, work like mad every day and then be excited to see what the results would be. Could I do it? Would I have what it takes? Would I meet my goals? Hard to say. I'd have the motivation, because an opportunity like that doesn't come along often. So what do you say, shall we go for it together with Tendon? :)

Are you planning at some point to move from competition climbing and sport projects to climbing in the mountains or multi-pitch?

I'm definitely planning to and I've already had a few projects in my head that I wanted to do last year, but somehow I still haven't got round to it. The mountains in winter don't really tempt me, but climbing a big face route, I'd take that. Above all it needs good preparation, because I'd like to climb harder things and that's completely different from climbing sport routes. Weather, fatigue, altitude and your head all play a part, and it doesn't work without them.

How limiting is your height in climbing? When someone is tall, they can "cheat" plenty of things, as they say, does being shorter have some advantages too?

I don't think my height of 162 cm (sometimes I've even got half a centimetre extra, so watch out :) ) is that limiting, quite the opposite. I weigh less and can move better than if I were really tall and heavier. On limestone it basically doesn't matter. I always find an extra hold or foot somewhere. But on sandstone I think it's very limiting. There simply isn't an extra hold there. It's the same in bouldering. There it either suits me or it doesn't. It's always a challenge for me to wrestle with it somehow and get it done. Sometimes I think it would be nice if other people tried to put themselves in my shoes and tried those moves to see how much harder they are than normal. I'd be curious myself what the hardest thing I've ever climbed actually is. On paper I've got 8c+, but sometimes I think I climbed that 9a long ago. :)

You recently tried climbing in Adršpach. How did that experience hit you, and is there a chance we'll see Denis in cracks more often than under artificial lighting?

Well, climbing in Adršpach is a completely new world for me! I've only climbed on sandstone a few times and didn't have the best feeling about it. Long run-outs, the rock is sandy, I can't stand on my feet, I can't see the holds, basically one big mess :) I'd definitely like to go to the sandstone as well and learn to climb on it, it would be a shame not to go there when I've got it almost behind the house. :) It's just that when I do go to the crags, I'd rather pick limestone or granite, because I enjoy grinding through an overhang on holds more than finessing a vertical wall on nothing. Everything has its charm and I'm definitely not finished with sandstone.

How intense is setting a World Cup? Could you describe that day or those days?

Since I've only set one World Cup and a few European Cups so far, when I compare it with the Czech Cup, for example, it differs in several aspects, one being the performance level, or the difficulty you set. The intensity is very high, because you're setting for the best climbers in the world and they will always be better at it than you, so we fine-tune every detail of how the whole thing will look. Last year I had the chance to set the World Cup in Prague at Letná and we set it over 5 days with 8 setters. The team is always made up of several setters and, since it's a World Cup, of several nationalities too. The chief routesetter of the competition was Akito from Japan, then Pierre from France, Olga from Poland, Cody from the USA, Kaito from Japan and me, Jenda Šolc and Vojta Trojan as the Czech contingent. Before setting starts, the chief setter always briefs the team on what will be set when, how they imagine it and what the deadline is. If I were to describe one setting day, it would look like this. At 7 in the morning the alarm goes off and on the way to the competition wall we grab a coffee, which is genuinely needed. Then there's a meeting where we go through what's going to happen that day. Who sets what, what style will be set, from which holds, which moves, the logistics of the boulder, the difficulty, for which category, how many tops we want... There's a lot of it. Once we've passed on this information, we go and set. Almost every time it works out at 1-2 boulders a day per setter. We set all morning, and if it's needed we carry on setting in the afternoon. Depending on how it goes, testing comes next. That process takes a lot of time. Sometimes a single boulder gets fine-tuned for a good 4 hours. Once all the boulders are dialled in and approved by the chief setter, we mark them with a marker pen, take them down and carry them into a container where we store them until it's their turn to go on the wall. All the boulders never fit on the wall at once, so we take them down and mark them with a marker pen so we know where to put the individual holds back on the wall. We take photos and videos, discuss and work out the tactics for the following days. What the weather is like, what the humidity is, how sharp the holds are on the competitors' skin and so on. The day is pretty long and we always finished around eight in the evening. The exception was competition days, when we set at night as well. After setting we'd go for dinner together in town and talk about what was going to happen the next day, what the plan was and of course chat about things other than setting the competition :)

When it happens that a setter or setters set a boulder "wrong" (everyone climbs it or nobody even gets off the ground), is there any response from the organisers?

Well, there's definitely some response. They look into why it happened and what the reason was. Setting is a thankless job, especially competition setting. It's such a lottery that a setter can be the best in the world and it can still end in disaster. The weather changes, it starts raining, the holds are damp or the competitors read the boulder badly and make mistakes. Is that the setter's fault? It's pretty debatable. As setters we always try to deliver the best work and we want it to be the best competition. The biggest punishment for us is when the competitors or even the spectators are disappointed. We have bad results, the competition doesn't come off and we know we can't change it any more. And yet it would have been enough to turn that edge a fraction more positive and it would have been a perfect competition. In setting, millimetres matter and every one of those millimetres decides whether the competition will be good or not. Unfortunately, we only find out whether it's good or bad once the competition is over.