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General Climbing Discussion

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French grade our sport climbs 13-Feb-2013 At 10:58:09 AM dhunchak

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On 12/02/2013 patto wrote:
>While we are at it we should use the Yosemite Decimal System to grade out
>trad climbs. That way we can appropriately describe 4th, 3rd 2nd and 1st
>class terrain as well.

I was thinking of mentioning the bastardised USA decimal system above.

How on earth can it be called a decimal system? Surely 5.15 is midway between 5.14 and 5.16 and they are all between 5.1 and 5.2. Five point one five exists between five point one and five point two, not after five point nine. When they got to 5.9 they went to 5.ten, why? Because they couldn't go to 6.0 as that refers to 'mountain' climbing and is the "logical" outcome of the 1st, 2nd, etc class terrain. Fifth class is rock climbing, sixth class is mountaineering. When they decided on 5.ten nobody was brave enough to go to 5.eleven so they went to 5.10a, 5.10b and turned that system into a non-linear system. There is a bigger difference between a 5.13 and a 5.14 than between a 5.6 and a 5.9.

Ewbank got it right nearly 50 years ago.

Keeping racism alive in Australia - "letters and numbers should not mix!" I take from your point above that you are not a big fan of chemistry (where letters and numbers freely intermingle - eg. Fe2+), but that you are a big fan of the TV show Letters and Numbers (where segregation is rigidly enforced.