UKC

if joe brown was at his peak today and he was put at the bottom of a sport route (that he wanted to do) what sort of grade do you think he could have got up. on sight, red point you name it.

dan

In reply to DEvans:

He would not have wanted to do any sport route.

In reply to DEvans: I reckon 7a - but in a pair of plimsolls with a hemp rope tied around his waist!

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

He banged in plenty of pegs!!!

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

just imagine. is it that hard. its like dealing with the BNP in here sometimes.


i thought maybe 7c+

In reply to DEvans:

Godwins Law, you lose

In reply to Niall:

whats goodwins law?

In reply to DEvans:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law

In reply to deepsoup:

mmmm. i apologize.

i thought this thread might be a little more populer. would you care to have a go at answering it.


dan

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

would gordon care to comment about the pegs that joe banged in.


dan

In reply to DEvans:

He did a number of routes on Limestone such as Kink at Stoney with pegs and wooden wedges, think he did either sin or glory road as well along with other odds and sods to practice for the dolomites.

Those who are aghast, throw away all your nuts and sticky boots and harnesses and work out how much gear you would carry if going to try the FA of a route on limestone now as he was doing.

In reply to DEvans:

He also talks about chipping a groove into the rock with his hammer to wedge the rope into for a belay in The Hard Years - wonder what the ethics police would say if I did that. :p

In reply to grumsta:

He would give them the agincourt salute.

In reply to DEvans:

If he'd whacked a bolt in at Stanage it would be a world class sport climbing crag now !

In reply to chris fox:

but he didn't and its 'just' and world class trad climbing crag now

In reply to chris fox:

Stanage would be a totally shite sport climbing venue.

In reply to DEvans:

I reckon Joe Brown would be up there with Sharma and McClure.

In reply to DEvans:
dunno, but I could imagine Whillans doing cobra crack just cos it's a rainy day. (with cigarette in mouth of course)

In reply to GrahamD:

It was a p*ss take Graham

In reply to chris fox:

Glad to hear it. There are people who think otherwise

In reply to GrahamD:

I bolt plenty of routes and have to say that stanage is definately not a bolt-worth crag !

But the Roaches on the other hand ................




Don't bite

In reply to chris fox:

Here's your coat

In reply to DEvans:

What a daft question.

In reply to The Bantam:

sorry its such a shit question. i was just thinking about it and thought i'll ask some other climbers and see what they think. it seems difficult for people to answer. all it takes is a little thought.

In reply to DEvans:

Sorry - wasn't meant to sound how it reads back! I just think it is simply a case of him being the best climber of his generation and so if you are going to transfer him to now then he would be the best climber now too.

In reply to DEvans:

There's an awful lot of past tense going on here, I thought Joe Brown was still fit and well and busy new routing in various sunny locations around the world. Have I missed something?

Someone mentioned to me a rough rule of thumb for how hard a trad climber could redpoint without any training, I think it was something like "go up one number and letter" from your onsight limit. So if you can onsight UK 6a you can probably redpoint 7b with a bit of effort. Might be rubbish, but at least it's a guideline. So that reduces the question to - what is the hardest techincal grade Joe has onsighted?

In reply to adam carless:

Not really. As other have noted, JB had vastly inferrior gear which makes on-sighting much harder.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:



Agree.

Mick

In reply to DEvans: Based on his grades on trad climbs and bouldering when he was going at his best, probably 6c+/7a. Its always surprised me that those old boys didn't climb harder. Guess they didn't train rigourously enough. Can't blame the footwear, as PAs and EBs were good to E6 when big ron and co came along.

In reply to Anonymous:
I think that's a bit of a thick comment. Things have to progress--climbing progression has to build on previous achievements. You might as well wonder why we weren't climbing HVS in 1880, because the equipment was virtually the same as it was in the 1910s when others were climbing HVS. It doesn't work like that.

In reply to Alex Roddie:

Agreed - I suppose a similar effect to a second accent being easier than a first. Once people know a route can be climbed, psycologically it is eaier to do. THe same with grades - until a 7b, say, move was done then it was probably viewed as impossible as the best climbers in the world couldn't do it.

Oh, and don't forget that grades have crept up...

In reply to Anonymous:

I think Brown did several routes with 6c pitches on them, noticed two when going through a guide the other day. I think he manages to struggle up E2 routes even now, on sight on new routes, though not sure if he leads them or follows.

In reply to DEvans:

I give in.

In reply to chris fox: of course there was a bolt in Stanage,your starter for ten where was it ?