In reply to Jim Nevill:
> rather than condescending all of us who don't know, could you please explain?
I'm not trying to condescend, was just having a hard time believing that Robert hadn't noticed the phenomenon. Thought it was a wind up.
I'm not a psychologist, but I've noticed people focus on specific boundaries. There'll be a reason we've evolved this behaviour, maybe as a means to push ourselves, as an aid to setting long and short term objectives.
Thinking about it last night, when I was climbing in the US last months all 4 Americans I climbed with had objectives around numerical grade boudaries, 5.11a, 5.12a, and 5,13a.
Not just in climbing, the 4 minute mile was an arbitrary prize, and I'd bet young talented sprinters are keen to get under 10 seconds, etc, etc.
If you accept that, then going back to the original post, the article had translated from YDS to French for the UK audience, but that translation had lost some of route's significance in US climbing history. I though it was mildly amusing, and now it's a long discussion which I didn't really want to get involved in....
Post edited at 09:13