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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by spidermonkey09 on Yesterday at 10:17:47 am »

Totally incorrect use of font grades is out there in the streets every day, as John Redhead might have said...

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by Wellsy on Yesterday at 10:14:54 am »

Oh no I'm not saying you were, just that it is out there. I don't agree with it at all, personally. But it definitely is out there. Like Roswell.

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by mrjonathanr on Yesterday at 10:11:16 am »

I’m not having a go at you Wellsy.

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by Wellsy on Yesterday at 10:02:26 am »

*shrug * the opinion is out there, anyway

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by spidermonkey09 on Yesterday at 09:59:53 am »

Anyway an E-grade like system for bouldering would nicely show the difference between say, Gritstone Megamix and Mermaid that 7A and 7A does not.

If you were bothered about that you could just add a ! like eg. the North Wales Bouldering guide does. Its also fairly obvious from a simple look at the problems in question which one is highand which one isn't.

Anyone using font grades that way hasn't thought about whether it makes sense even remotely and they're using them wrong. Its as simple as that.

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by mrjonathanr on Yesterday at 09:55:10 am »

What people say and think they are doing, and what they are actually doing, don’t always coincide

Think about the relentless focus on technique in repetitive activities like swimming, sprinting and cycling. Then tell me that it is possible to grade a climb ‘without technique’.

Just because you don’t understand what you are doing doesn’t make the misapprehension true.

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by Wellsy on Yesterday at 09:54:32 am »

Anyway an E-grade like system for bouldering would nicely show the difference between say, Gritstone Megamix and Mermaid that 7A and 7A does not.

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by Wellsy on Yesterday at 09:50:32 am »

Maybe so and yet I definitely think that some people are using font grades that way, indeed I know some people are.

I would say that I also think a lot of things are graded without real thought to the technical demands, especially on sandstone rock types, by people who ostensibly would say the grade should incorporate the technical difficulties. Although I think that's also an element of if you are good how can you know how hard something is to someone who isn't? That's not easy to get a good sense of.

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by spidermonkey09 on Yesterday at 09:47:39 am »

That has been the opinion given to me by lots of experienced boulderers. I personally think it should and it's stupid if it doesn't, and worse than that it would appear to apply in some cases and not in others, but it's definitely not unusual to hear. In fact the first people who took me outside said, the grade is about physical difficulty, not technical demand.

They're talking complete bollocks. Literally could not be more wrong.

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news / Re: The inevitable E grade thread

« Last post by mrjonathanr on Yesterday at 09:45:07 am »

That has been the opinion given to me by lots of experienced boulderers. I personally think it should and it's stupid if it doesn't, and worse than that it would appear to apply in some cases and not in others, but it's definitely not unusual to hear. In fact the first people who took me outside said, the grade is about physical difficulty, not technical demand.

It’s a logical impossibility. Technique is the skill of weight distribution and movement. It can’t be 100% stripped out of dead hangs, let alone an activity as complex as climbing. They’re talking nonsense.