-
Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
Grades are Dumb
This morning as I was sipping on some coffee, staring out at the new snow on Sopris, I got to talking with our roommate about climbing and grades, and how many people are drawn to routes simply based on the grade. I think this is lame on several levels, it’s much more important to me how the route climbs, how the movement is. Who cares what the grade is. Obviously grades give you an idea of what to expect difficulty wise, but leave it at that.
If you’ve climbed for any substantial length of time, you know that grades vary from area to area. A 5.10 in
The climbers I’ve always admired the most are the ones that can climb hard, but that have fun on any good pitch, regardless of the difficulty. Enjoy climbing for what it is, and stop worrying so much about how hard it is. Challenge yourself, and get to know the other climbers, instead of trying to compare yourself to them. You might actually find you have a better time.
3 Responses to Grades are Dumb
Bulldog Creek Dog Walk (IV WI 4+)
Hayden Carpenter and Tom Bohanon recently repeated an obscure ice climb on the south side of Mt Sopris. Given a brief mention in Jack Robert’s ice guide, Bulldog Creek Walk is described as being 100 meters of WI 4. What they found was seven pitches of ice in a remote setting that makes for one […]
Connect with Us
Totally agree with you, grades are so lame. I hate when climbers try to have a conversation with me all through grades. The worst is when they try to explain the difference between an a,b,c, or d. Totally lame! Alex Lowe said it best, “The greatest climber in the world is the one who is having the most fun”
Well, I disagree. I find grades very useful, and the letters too, actually. Last week I was on a climbing trip to Sardinia, and found that even though the climbs are VERY different, the grade usually reflected quite well, the difficulties I would encounter.
So I found that I can on-sight most 6bs (about 5.10c), and few 6b+ (the others are definitely redpointable), but at 6c life becomes much harder, still doable with several tries or on the toprope. 7s are mostly out of the question, I can’t do them without resting. going down, 6as are interesting and fun, as are 5s (although 5a are a bit too easy), below 5 is mostly not worth doing.
Knowing all this I could vary my climbing experience the way I wanted: today we’re doing a challenging but doable multipitch wall, tomorrow we do hard sport climbing (but something we can redpoint), the next day we do a lot of easy fun pitches. And it all worked out exactly as planned, and we had fun all the way.
So I agree that people who think they’re better than you because they can climb higher grade are dumb, but I think the grades are very useful, also for those trying to have the most fun 🙂
Vasily, indeed grades can be useful for getting a general feel for an area, and knowing what you can get on. Personally, I’d prefer to let the aesthetics of a route dictate what I climb more than simply the grade. And I see way too many people not try a route because it’s a certain grade that is typically too hard for them. Just give it a go, you never know when you might surprise yourself!