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Grade limits?

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Simos 06 Apr 2014

As I almost exclusively do bouldering these days, was just curious about the following: say the hardest grade I can reliably flash is 6a, what do you reckon my 'limit' is likely to be if I worked a route for a few weeks?

Also curious to know - when sometimes asked I say that I climb 6a but I can reliably flash 6a routes. To me for some reason my 'grade' was always the grade i could actually flash. What do people usually use when asked what grade they climb? If someone tells me they climb 7a does it mean that's the hardest grade they ever climbed? Or does it mean that's a grade they are comfortable at climbing without too many attempts. Or does it mean something else? (eg what grade they can flash etc)

By the way, I really don't care much about grades - I mainly interested in this to be able to understand what others mean when they talk about what 'they climb' and also when they talk about others eg X is climbing 7b etc
Post edited at 22:27
 deacondeacon 07 Apr 2014
In reply to Simos:

Everyone's different. Some people will say they climb E1 because they got dragged up Three Pebble Slab once, whereas others feel its a massive faux pas (on par with asking someone to see there wageslip) to admit to what grade you can climb.
I expect to get up an E3 and have Onsighted a few E4s but if asked I'd say I can climb E1.
Although with bouldering for some reason I just say the low 7's, don't know why really

Back to the original question. It all depends on the particular boulder problem but if I was flashing 6A I'd expect to be able to work a 6B/6B+. It's bouldering so you may get one that suits you and leap a few more grades, or just find one you can make no progress on.
The main thing is working problems is a great way to improve, it gets you moving on things that you'd normally not go on, and trying hard on moves outside your comfort zone.
Just watch out for injuries
 douwe 07 Apr 2014
In reply to Simos:

I consider the grade I boulder the grade I can get done in different styles of bouldering after working the problems (briefly).
Usually the question about grades comes up when choosing a circuit or place to climb, so I want to be able to actually get some boulders done and not get stuck on the first thing I try.
To avoid confusion the safest thing to say to me would be; 'I can flash this or that grade'. If you can flash 6A I would assume you can get up 6B with a little work.
 jkarran 07 Apr 2014
In reply to Simos:

> As I almost exclusively do bouldering these days, was just curious about the following: say the hardest grade I can reliably flash is 6a, what do you reckon my 'limit' is likely to be if I worked a route for a few weeks?

Possibly a lot harder, possibly pretty close to 6a, it depends. My 'flash quite a few of them' grade has always been pretty similar to my 'several sessions of effort' grade, maybe 1 or 2 V/Font grades apart.

> Also curious to know - when sometimes asked I say that I climb 6a but I can reliably flash 6a routes. To me for some reason my 'grade' was always the grade i could actually flash. What do people usually use when asked what grade they climb?

Depends who's asking and why, casual conversation would elicit a casual description, HVS ish, low-mid F7s, V3 or 4 etc maybe with a comment on the style, maybe not depending whether it'd be understood. If planning a trip or discussing specific achievements with someone who'd understand the difference I'd be more specific.

Different people mean different things when they say they climb grade-x, there is no standard.

jk
Simos 07 Apr 2014
In reply to deacondeacon:

Yes it's not for comparing etc, more along the lines of people asking me my grade from time to time in order to give me advice (either on where I could go climbing, how to improve etc) and sometimes vice-versa. I just give a long-winded answer now explaining exactly what I can and cannot do but was just wondering if there was a convention that people used (sounds like there isn't).
Simos 07 Apr 2014
In reply to douwe:

My first question was more about sports climbing but I guess it's the same thing.

With bouldering I know my limits etc a bit better as I just boulder mainly but I very rarely do any sports climbing and haven't really tried anything harder than 6a hence my question - don't really know how much harder a 6b or 6c is from 6a but in my head I almost imagine them as being the same as moving up a V grade in bouldering, can't be that far off.

I guess I'll have to try at some point but I would guess that I would have a very hard time getting up a 6b without specific training (as in doing more sports climbing).
 Jimbo C 07 Apr 2014
In reply to Simos:

If asked what grade I climb I would say that I lead VS. I can climb E2 but the highest grade where I'm pretty sure I'll lead a clean onsight is VS (except certain cracks at Ramshaw which look nails)
 douwe 07 Apr 2014
In reply to Simos:

In my experience bouldering and sport climbing donĀ“t really compare at all grade wise. For me simply because I get pumped long before I reach the limit of what I can technically climb.
Although I really do enjoy both disciplines and think mixing it up can help your general climbing progess.
Simos 07 Apr 2014
In reply to douwe:

I am probably a bit biased but I actually think that if someone really wants to improve in bouldering they're better off bouldering as much as they can whereas to improve in sports climbing I feel a bit of bouldering helps.

By the way the above doesn't mean that bouldering is better in any way, in fact if you think about it this is only true because sports climbing can be demanding both in power/technique and endurance whereas bouldering is a bit more one dimensional (power/technique mainly) so building up a lot of endurance doesn't help massively...

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