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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

to A(id) grade or not to A(id) grade 16-Mar-2005 At 3:45:30 PM simon_vos

Message

On 15/03/2005 nmonteith wrote:
>Old School - refers to climbing technique in regards to free climbing.
>Hand jamming, offwidth thrutches and trad gear routes could all be decribed
>as 'old school'. New school is overhung, endurance clip-ups!

Hey Neil,
In the Squamish Guides and elsewhere I believe, they refer to Aid climbs as Old School and New School in a similar way to the way one refers to free climbing. However, as Mark, "mrbumble' said, the purpose of the distinction is to make the A system more representative at the top end of the scale.

My Two Cents
This is necessary because the easier older A routes have either got easier through usage, or simply are easier with a double rack of cams, micro nuts and vast quantities of any imaginable bashable thingy.

Simon