[JMB]

Jonathan Siegrist added his name to the list who have sent Era Vella. He made a comment on his blog:

I climbed Era Vella and I had a lot of fun doing it. Grades are there to offer a foundation for difficulty but the more I climb the more I realize the plasticity of grading. I could comment on how I feel that Era is easy and make a list of routes graded 8c that are much harder and blah blah blah but what I'm after is not a grade, it is an experience. So never mind all that. I had fun climbing the route

Basically pretty reasonable, he climbed the route quickly and easily and could name routes 1 or 2 grades lower that he found easier. Probably the same for a lot of climbers with various routes (Siegrist also said he found Estado Critico 9a easier than some old-school 8c/+ routes at the neighboring wall, again not too shocking).

So of course 8a/Jens turns this into "Siegrist graded the route 8c and a downgrade to 8c+ is probably correct". Burrows and some others have been giving him the business over it.

[Nibile]

Jens is a sad person who wants every shadow of individualism and romance to disappear from a discipline that is, essentially, absolutely personal and individual. He must have the saddest of lives and I deeply despise him.

[jwi]

He's also a bully, a liar, and I would call him worse if I had better proof. Ignore him, don't quote him, and don't get fired up over his inflammatory statements that are only meant to increase the number of clicks on his webpage. He has no problem hurting people to increase traffic to his website, please don't help him with that.

[Nibile]

On the oher hand, Siegrist's comment is a good example of wasted rhetoric. "I could say it's easy but I won't." You have already said it. It's called "preterizione" in Italian and it was used by ancient Roman lawyers to attack political enemies wihout being called out for it.
"I could say that he's a liar - goes on for five pages - but I won't."
Goldmine for the idiot that Jens is.

[petejh]

Jonathan Siegrist added his name to the list who have sent Era Vella. He made a comment on his blog:

I climbed Era Vella and I had a lot of fun doing it. Grades are there to offer a foundation for difficulty but the more I climb the more I realize the plasticity of grading. I could comment on how I feel that Era is easy and make a list of routes graded 8c that are much harder and blah blah blah but what I'm after is not a grade, it is an experience. So never mind all that. I had fun climbing the route

I disagree JMB. It's reasonable if taken as a comment in total isolation. But I can't square that comment with Siegrist's stated desire to climb a route because its their first 9a+, or whatever other grade. Virtually all of us do it - we all want to do a route becasue its a 'grade z', I do. But to then claim that 'what I'm after is not a grade, it is an experience' is simply intellectually dishonest and meaningless fluff used as a way of avoiding having to say anything interesting, controversial or meaningful.

It isn't 'just for the experience' that he get's his travel expenses paid, or whatever his deal is, to go try hard stuff. Or else we'd all be getting paid to go have just an experience in our climbing.

And Jens is bonkers. But I have a tiny bit of regard that he's seeking consistancy and a bit more I suppose you could call it honesty.
Still bonkers.

[JMB]

Jonathan Siegrist added his name to the list who have sent Era Vella. He made a comment on his blog:

I climbed Era Vella and I had a lot of fun doing it. Grades are there to offer a foundation for difficulty but the more I climb the more I realize the plasticity of grading. I could comment on how I feel that Era is easy and make a list of routes graded 8c that are much harder and blah blah blah but what I'm after is not a grade, it is an experience. So never mind all that. I had fun climbing the route

I disagree JMB. It's reasonable if taken as a comment in total isolation. But I can't square that comment with Siegrist's stated desire to climb a route because its their first 9a+, or whatever other grade. Virtually all of us do it - we all want to do a route becasue its a 'grade z', I do. But to then claim that 'what I'm after is not a grade, it is an experience' is simply intellectuallly dishonest and meaningless fluff used as a way of avoiding having to say anything interesting, controversial or meaningful.

And Jens is bonkers. But I have a tiny bit of regard that he's seeking consistancy and a bit more I suppose you could call it honesty.
Still bonkers.

That's a good point.

[jwi]

On the oher hand, Siegrist's comment is a good example of wasted rhetoric. "I could say it's easy but I won't." You have already said it. It's called "preterizione" in Italian and it was used by ancient Roman lawyers to attack political enemies wihout being called out for it.
"I could say that he's a liar - goes on for five pages - but I won't."
Goldmine for the idiot that Jens is.

If apophasis is good enough for Cicero, it's good enough for Siegrist ...

[T_B]

But to then claim that 'what I'm after is not a grade, it is an experience' is simply intellectually dishonest and meaningless fluff used as a way of avoiding having to say anything interesting, controversial or meaningful.

Sorry, but that comment just makes J-Star sound like an utter K-nob. If all that matters is the experience, then why even bother commenting on the grade, which is clearly going to stir things up? It smacks of point scoring from a B-list climbing celeb who needs to increase his website traffic in order to retain sponsorship deals. The dude's got a massive list of all the routes/grades he's done on his website FFS!

[petejh]

'I'm not after a grade I'm after an experience' - the life of a climber untroubled by the everday matter of route grades

Wednesday, April 22
Exit Cornudella
Exhausted. Like a wide eyed child aggressively sampling their way through Charlie's bustling Chocolate Factory, it seems as though I've metaphorically reached my sugar limit... There are just so many crags, and so many hard routes all across Catalunya, I've been slowly delaying the inevitable over the last several weeks and now I'm... smoked.

I feel the same kind of deep fatigue that I usually do in the first few weeks of a hard training cycle. One rest day doesn't do the trick any more, and soreness seems to linger for many sessions. On some nights my sleep is even disturbed from pulsating forearms. The towering walls and brutal Spanish pump has caught up to me! This feels pretty good really.

About ten days ago I spent two days in a row on 'Estado Critico' 14d, and, with a brutal pump I clipped the chains, then followed with 'Kalea Borroka' 14a on my first try. Why not try some enormous, pumpy pocket climbing the very next day? So we ventured to Montsant. This crag is not far from Siurana, but offers a very unique experience. With outstanding views, sometimes all of the way to the Med, this crowning cliff sits well above the grapes below. My buddy Sonnie Trotter was keen to finish a route there he had tried this trip called 'L-Mens' 14a. It's a rad swooping pocket line on very high quality conglomerate. Sonnie gave me some running beta and I flashed it. Fighting a pump to the finish of this 40 meter rig, I was very stoked. It's a super good route. A little powerful, and very resistant. To the right is Falconetti 13c, with a massive 14a extension. I spent about an hour resting and scoping out the line before I tied in for an onsight attempt. A few dynamic and uncertain moves in the bottom pitch had me a little worried but I rested and quested my way to the 50 meter finish on this thing. I mistakingly lowered off with my 80 meter, which left me dangling about 50 feet off the deck at the end of my rope for a while... some shenanigans ensued... thanks for the help everyone... This was a great day of first try climbing for me.

After one rest day we ventured to Margalef. I am usually a little turned off by super popular routes - I typically prefer the obscure or the forgotten zones - but everyone I knew that had climbed or tried Era Vella had nothing but great things to say about it. So... why not check it out? It's a very steep and long route. There really are no terribly hard moves. A lot of 5.13 climbing, over and over and over. Some mini cruxes here are there. The key characteristic to it's difficulty is the lack of rests for how massive it is. There is a lot of information to remember and much of the wall looks very similar. The hardest sequence is maybe v7. With pretty garbage beta I felt close to a send on my second try. I had fun with the fight.

The next day we came back and first try I finished the route.

The best sends of my life are the ones that I fight the hardest for. The barely there flash or onsight attempts.. all day adventures in the mountains fighting conditions and fear.. the routes that I train for months to send.. When I clipped the anchors of La Rambla last month I looked back to not just the hard climbing days I'd spent trying it, but the months before I had sacrificed nearly everything to prepare. It's this experience - the full circle - that deeply inspires me. This element of my climbing has taught me more about my character than I ever imagined. I really don't care what the grades are. Some routes are hard as hell and we will never be certain of a send - furthermore they require a transformation from us. Maybe that transformation is physical or maybe it's something greater. Other routes come easily, and for the most part, while these climbs might be fun, they really hold very little meaning. And that's fine! We can't be overwhelmed with the pressure and emotion of projecting at our limit every day we go climbing, even if it's what truly inspires us. I climbed Era Vella and I had a lot of fun doing it. Grades are there to offer a foundation for difficulty but the more I climb the more I realize the plasticity of grading. I could comment on how I feel that Era is easy and make a list of routes graded 8c that are much harder and blah blah blah but what I'm after is not a grade, it is an experience. So never mind all that. I had fun climbing the route, and cheering on friends at the crag and getting pumped and hiking out in the dark and laughing at Cameron's nausea on the drive.

Next up... we ventured to Finestra sector of Margalef. A beautiful zone. I laughed my way up Montgronyeta 7b+, a stunning route with concrete-hard drip features. Some of the most fun I've had on this trip. The two 7c+ to it's left were also stunning and the rock on this wall all together is breathtaking. I made my way up a handful of great 7's and onsighted a nice pocketed 8a+ but the main take away from our few days there was that I need rest. I tried 'Victims del Passat' 14c a handful of times and honestly never even got close to a send. I started thinking back and realizing that I had not taken more than 1 consecutive rest day for a month.. and my body was beginning to feel pulverized. So we left our apartment in Cornudella as planned, and moved to Barcelona.

I love Barcelona. And what a perfect combination to spend some days in the city and also have the chance to check out Montserrat. It's such a brilliant place... it deserves more explanation than I have energy for at the moment, so you'll have to wait for my next post. As for the next week, I'll be exploring Montserrat and recovering in this vibrant city. I'm so blessed....


Remarkable how detached and care-free our hero is from the matter of route grades   

[Nibile]

If apophasis is good enough for Cicero, it's good enough for Siegrist ...

I have to disagree my friend. It was Cicero that was good enough for it, and clearly Siegrist is not. To each his own.

[shark]

Does sound like he is either posturing or hasn't come to terms with being a grade slave - you can't accuse Barrows of that

[jwi]

If apophasis is good enough for Cicero, it's good enough for Siegrist ...

I have to disagree my friend. It was Cicero that was good enough for it, and clearly Siegrist is not. To each his own.

Haha!

[Jaspersharpe]

He sounds like a dick. Didn't Ondra downgrade some of his routes in the states? Maybe that's why he "doesn't care about grades" now. #chinnyreckon

[Sasquatch]

Does sound like he is either posturing or hasn't come to terms with being a grade slave - you can't accuse Barrows of that

A little of both combined with a lack of understanding his own strengths/weaknesses.   He's an enduro monster in a country with almost no really hard enduro routes.  He's realtively weak as a kitten though (for climbing 9a/+ range), which is why he's found so many of the 8c/+'s harder for him.  I find it funny that after talking the RCTM guys, and adjusting his training so that he's doing way more strength/power work, he's now able to climb much harder  

[abarro81]

Ironically, despite telling us how he's not going to tell us how easy he found it, and that its 8c, its on his website routes list as a 9a. 

[Jaspersharpe]

Noticed via retweets that he's now moaning on Twitter that he didn't mean to start anything on 8a.dick. I'm probably being harsh because he's American and I don't get their way of saying things but this doesn't come across very well at all.

Actually I'm probably not being harsh because anyone who calls themselves J-star (or allows other people to call them that) has to be a choad.

[jwi]

I'm not going to say that he comes across as a dick, but I can easily think of 2-3 guys who express themselves better but still comes across as dickheads.

[mr chaz]

I'm not going to say that he comes across as a dick, but I can easily think of 2-3 guys who express themselves better but still comes across as dickheads.

I want to wad you for that but can't as of yet. Will someone else do the honours please?

[petejh]

Ironically, despite telling us how he's not going to tell us how easy he found it, and that its 8c, its on his website routes list as a 9a. 

I think you'll find that those number/letter combinations alongside each one of the hundred and fifty-odd routes listed is just J-Star's personal system of recording how much fun he had on his personal 'all about the experience-o-meter'

[masonwoods101]

Think i talked to him at a climbing wall in San Fransisco.... If it was him he's a sour faced little prick.... His comments deffinetly where made to wind people up/ make him look go

[Doylo]

It is all about the experience. The experience of ticking a big number 

[Muenchener]

Actually I'm probably not being harsh because anyone who calls themselves J-star (or allows other people to call them that) has to be a choad.

Goods point, well made.

[lagerstarfish]

Noticed via retweets that he's now moaning on Twitter that he didn't mean to start anything on 8a.dick. I'm probably being harsh because he's American and I don't get their way of saying things but this doesn't come across very well at all.

Actually I'm probably not being harsh because anyone who calls themselves J-star (or allows other people to call them that) has to be a choad.

do you want me to stop calling you Jazz-Spa?

[AlistairB]

Ironically, despite telling us how he's not going to tell us how easy he found it, and that its 8c, its on his website routes list as a 9a. 

This. All those pricks on 8a who write "super soft" in the comments but still take the higher grade for their precious ranking points can fuck right off. You even see people put "definitely 8a" whilst taking 8a+ for example. So brave and humble.

Off topic but my favorite 8a comment of all time read "soft toprope 3 hangs"..I don't want to share a planet with these people.

[dave]

To be fair, on 8a.nu back in the day the rules were always that everyone is supposed to put down whatever the current guidebook grade is, for the sake of consistency. No idea if this is still true.