andy popp said:
Fiend said:
remus said:
Open to suggestions on what to do with highballs. Andy Earl is one who springs to mind here, stuff like The Prow and The Dark Side seems pretty full value without pads, but then these are typically done with pads nowadays.
:worms: :worms: :worms: we're gonna need a bigger can! Pad protection is universal but the vast majority of relevant E9s were either done before them or graded without them (there's photos of a few pads in shot for The Dark Side), so good luck sorting all that out.
True, but pads vary a lot in how much difference they make to a route. They might bring an E9 down to E8. Some routes they turn into boulder problems - so it's case by case really.
Andy, yes. Case by case basis.
In reality, this is the case for the other debate re knee pads. This time the other unpopular question re bouldering pads.
The grade really does need to reflect the precise details of how a route has been climbed.
This needs to include all sorts of pre-ascent preparation.
It's so much harder to "go for it" when you know there are no "shit out" options. I think this is important regarding pads. People commonly try to argue that "it's still scary.." etc etc, but having them there - and sometimes in huge stacks - makes the important distinction between whether the decision to "go for it" is made or not. For me, something like Ulysses at Stanage is the obvious example.
remus said:
Springchicken said:
Glenda Huxter - The Bells The Bells
Didn't Nick Bullock mention this in a Jam Crack? Am I right in thinking Glenda onsighted it?!
The only photos I've seen of Glenda on The Bells, she's had the high wires in The Cad clipped.
I had a brief look at The Bells, and put some poor tapes on spikes at roughly the same level that you make the traverse out right. I asked Andy Pollitt about this, and he said he'd found some small wires at the end of the traverse. I hadn't seen anything there when I got there, which meant the climbing to the peg would have been unprotected. I've heard of other people putting gear in the Cad, higher than the point where you leave it. Makes a massive difference.
The question of prior knowledge is also interesting. Grimer's comments in Hard Grit, about Seb taking the fall on Parthian, come to mind. I think it's a good case to make about the fall, to say "Maybe that's the E9..". The inference being, that on subsequent ascents, people can benefit a great deal from the experience of other climbers, who've maybe tested the "survivability" of a route.