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Your grading system is f#@ked 21-Sep-2004 At 4:28:10 PM Archangel in Oz

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On 21/09/2004 dalai wrote:
>I think the biggest issue here is that you based your view on the Ewbank
>grading system on one afternoon visit to an indoor wall...

Actually based on one day in the Blue Mountains, Perth Wall, a wall in Sydney a limited amount of bouldering in Sydney. And various conversations. In the past four weeks.

>As for the comp climbs and grades
>1/ Comp routes are designed to get progressively harder the higher they
>go with the aim of splitting the field, which don't make great training
>routes after the competition but why the difficulty was listed as a split
>grade.

You are missing the point. I don't give a monkey's about competions, competition grades or how blue compares to yellow. I am not bothered by the fact that the routes get progressively harder. I am entirely comfortable with that concept. I simply made a flippant remark and I do think giving one route a grade 17-23 is stupid, which it would appear the people at the wall agree with. But it is only a wall so to use the Australian parlance "who cares!"

The concept I was trying to use the Melbourne wall to illustrate was that, by so doing they are effectively using the Ewbank system to grade an individual move (or two). Therefore extending your much beloved grading system to cover sport routes, trad routes and single moves and my background in crap cricket, wank grades and whinging can't see how that can work effectively.

>2/ As for comp routes shouldn't be that easy... How do you get interest
>in a sport if there are not easier categories?

This is the most ridiculous question I have ever heard. How do you get someone interested in climbing? Enter them in a climbing competition are you serious, maybe I have moved to Mars.

>I have climbed globally and used most grading systems. Each system has
>it's pro's and con's, with none in my mind being better than the next.
>Each approach has it's own limitations and the Ewbank system manages it's
>limitations with the extra information afforded through guide books.

At last some sense. But I have Tim telling me that Ewbank doesn't describe an individual move and that trad routes will be graded harder if more dangerous. Well the (strictly conversational) evidence I have is to the contrary. Obviously I need to get some miles in and maybe I'm ranting because I haven't done any proper climbing for a few weeks.

Tim why don't you put a post on Planet Fear, or Rock Talk if that's what you mean, as if you have looked sideways at the Arapiles from an aeroplane you will have done more climbing than 90% of the tools on the latter site certainly.

So we are agreed then the Ewbank system grades moves, sport and trad routes and grades trad harder if more dangerous. Just so I know.