In reply to TimB:
We must think of the kittens of course, but still both methods involve starting on the ground and proceeding to the top without anyone leaving the ground other than the climber, which I think is more or less what ‘ground-up’ means.
Still, this rather theological discussion does give me the opportunity to recount a personal favourite moment. Our hero has just completed Calvary in this same style, having a second number one Friend dug out of the rucsac and lobbed up to him near the top when he discovers that two such are useful on this route. He is standing at the bottom of the route, having finished boasting about his ascent to his second, and is looking for someone else to boast to about it, when along (clue) comes a shaggy-haired youth. Our hero naturally engages him in conversation, and SHY reveals that he too is thinking of doing Calvary. Oh, says OH, would you like to borrow a number one Friend? I found two of them jolly useful.
Adam Long (for it was he, I believe) smiled and said he didn’t think he’d need one. Only at this point did it occur to OH that AL was alone and had no harness. He didn’t have long to wonder, for without more ado AL stepped up to the crag and soloed the route, making it look approximately Diff. Never were a man’s chips more comprehensively pissed on – at least, not until AL reappeared with a grin at the bottom of the crag, disposed of Defying Destiny in much the same manner, picked up his beer towel and disappeared along the edge.
A mortifying glimpse into how the other half – that rather small half of us that’s actually any good at climbing - lives, really.
jcm