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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

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The greatest sandbags in Victoria 7-Oct-2009 At 8:53:54 AM contactgav

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I can confirm that Ben Moon has never been to Araps.

in regards to the topic,
i prefer the UK grading system for natural lines as it gives a indication of the climb.
Of course a well written route description is best.
However i have heard somepeople 'complain' that sometimes these well written descriptions give too much insight/information about a climb. Giving details of what type of protection or moves / holds are there can take something away from those purists who want the true onsight experience.

i like the UK grade system as it gives an adjective / descriptive grade and the single hardest move grade.
i think it would work well when combined with the ewbank system. it would move away from the confusing 6a, 6b etc and use defined numbers.

Lets use Kachoong as an example. Kachoong is graded 21.

however with an adjective grade it could be Hard Very Severe 20
meaning its hardest move is a grade 20 with good protection nearby the crux and easy climbing on the rest of the climb.

if Kachoong was a scary route with poor protection protecting its hardest move, it could be E3 20. E for Extreme for those that may not know.
E3 as it would be as bold/dangerous as a climb could be at this difficulty. the protection offers very little help/comfort at its hardest move.
Alternatively E3 20 can also be a route that is safe, but has a lot of moves at grade 20 and becomes very difficult to climb cleanly due to its physical sustained nature.

other end of the spectrum, it could Severe 20, an utter bush walk with one hard move well protected with easy safe climbing either side of the crux.

one other thing to remember, the grading should be done in respect to a someone trying ground up onsight attempt. not spending minutes/days sitting on a bolt/ protection working out how to do it. something that often gets neglected nowdays.