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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Grading 26-Apr-2005 At 11:33:49 AM LittleJames

Message

I've been thinking about this a bit lately. My personal perspective is, if you climb something and you're unsure of the grade, simply don't grade it. I'm not necessarily talking about a Sharma-esque "I climb so hard that it's cool for me to act like grades don't exist" - rather, simply saying "I am not able to give this route/problem an accurate grade, so I decline to grade it."

Also, I guess it depends on the nature of the problem/route. If we're talking about a boulder problem that is safe as houses, and although you've never climbed that hard you think it could be (say) V12, then the only consequences of grading that could be the damage to your ego and reputation when some young gun comes along and downgrades it to V7. On the other hand, if we're talking about some runout X-rated horrorshow at Booroomba, it could be considered irresponsible to grade conservatively, since calling a 26 with death fall potential "hard 22" might tempt leaders onto a route significantly over their head. (Yes, I know everyone's responsible for their own decisions, but realistically, with the growth of climbing and all, there will always be over-confident gym climbers. Do you want to be even partially responsible for putting someone in a wheelchair or a cedar box?)

Just my opinion, I don't expect people to agree with me. :)