UKC

Climbing and where it's going, by Daniel Woods

© Alex Messenger
Daniel Woods  © Alex Messenger
Daniel Woods
Daniel Woods has written a piece about where he thinks climbing is going.

"I think this is a very complicated issue... and I suspect I'm not unique in this sense (either). On the one hand, if we by progress mean more difficult climbing, a significantly harder problem or route must get a higher grade, because it's on open ended scale. On the other hand, it's not always easy to know whether the thing you've climbed (this is even more true for bouldering) is just very hard (or easy) for you, for any number of reasons (body type, specific strengths or lack there of, skin type, flexibility or lack there of, style, rock type... etc., etc.). 8A for one person can be 8C or even impossible for another.

Also, as a grade is not a dot, but a span, how much more difficult must a problem be to warrant a higher grade? And again, how much more difficult according to who?
It's great that Daniel speaks up and tells us what he thinks. More world class climbers should do just that.

In the end, consensus is impossible.
Accept it."

Read the full article here

Video of Daniel Woods attempting The Game, a potential V16.


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25 May, 2010
Hi John,I simply mean, we'll never arrive at a situation where we all agree on how difficult any given problem or route is. Grades are, have always been and will always be subjective.Well... come to think of it, we should all be able to agree on that ;)/Björn
25 May, 2010
As long as it's possible to agree on a number of benchmarks for every style, this could be the way forward. I'm not sure this is as easy as it seems though. Just to illustrate this, a couple of the problems you mentioned (Radja O.G (with the broken hold) and Ode to the modern man) have already been suggested to be 8B, rather than 8B+. And as you say, the harder it gets, the fewer repeats. I think it's important to treat grade suggestions as exactly that. Suggestions. Especially as, which everyone who's made FA:s know, grading a new climb is extremely difficult. Until there have been enough repeats, the grade hasn't settled. So, if someone repeats a problem with the suggested grade 8C, and thinks it's more like 8B+ or 8C+, this is also just a suggestion. Eventually, after enough repeats, it will be possible to give the problem a more permanent grade. An average grade really, because it still doesn't mean it's the same difficulty for all.To me, "8B" means "somewhere in the 8A+ to 8B+ spectrum for most people".What do you think?
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