Climbing Grades

[techtips]

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 nuwazish nariman patel wrote :
>
>
>Hi Fulton,
>
>I was always curious to know what grades we climb at .... and coming
here and climbing lots of 5.8 nd 5.9 and some 5.10 , I have a better
idea about all this now.
>
>I would grade the following as:
>21:42 - 5.10 ok , it looks easy now but it takes some balance and
need to get the moves right.
>The right side route of 21:42 with a good jug hold midway - 5.9
>Nangaparbat - 5.10 ..
>Chimney - Ramu - 5.10
>Jaiwant jaiwanti - 5.10a
>Finger crisis - 5.11
>Ladies Route - 5.10b
>Slab - 5.7
>Slab crack route - 5.8
>120 crack - 5.9 + (Have not done the crux yet so I am not sure of this
- if the crux is difficult then could be 5.10 too -- though the lower
part of the route would be 5.8 and the crack after the Y till the crux
would be 5.9 for sure)
>Manori , central pillar (easy route) - 5.9
>
>In general I would say .... If you find me doing a route in the first
attempt 5.8 , 5.9... probably I can do trad lead easily on 5.8 and a
bit dicey on 5.9
>If you find me trying a route again and again and finally finishing
after trying for few days after some suggestions of a particular way to
use a hand hold or foot hold. .. i would say 5.10..
>
>I could lead a 5.10 if it is bolted , and i have done on top rope
before ....
>
>I guess to grade some 5.11's and 5.12's we need guys like Benji ,
Vijay , Ballu, jay, ramu...... etc.. I am not the right person to even
try a 5.12... I have seen these people here do too many attempts at
5.12's and still fail... So 5.12 would be strictly the professionals
territory.
>
>Anyways, Ballu , sitting here idle i can atleast do some writing ,,,
so i did put up the route details of Nane cha angutha on rock
climbing.com ... with a photo . Here is the link.....
>http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/listSection.php?SectionID=669
>
>I am planning to add one for dukes nose too , but some guy has already
added Dukes nose in the Lonavla region and the worst part is that that
person has not put any details in there.... I guess the point of
putting up route details is so that it could be helpful to other people
climbing it... and what i find people doing is writing just short
comments like ... be careful of bees... thats it ...
>Also this guy graded Dukes nose as 5.13a and 5.14b .... Man even Chris
Sharma would have difficulty doing it.. :-)
>
>Also I did send 3 bolts 3/8 inch * 2 1/4 inch thru my friend and he
will give it to Zenosh somehow.. These are stainless steel ones... the
smallest in 3/8 inch Fixe had . Use them if you can .. But the problem
is that you will not get 3/8 inch drill bit.. anyways do let me know
about your comments on the bolts.
>
>So thats it....
>Guess I need to stop passing all this gyaan and start with improving
my climbing :-)
>

[Balram Warrier]

-- In nanga...@yahoogroups.com, "Fulton Nazareth"
<climbhigh@r...> wrote:

That was really a lot of info, things that put things
in perspective as far a we are concerned. Of course we
could just climb and have a good time and forget about
the grades (a lot of debate had taken place in the
west about this, I don't think that we should get into
it).
Well one thing that I'd like to know is if climbing on
a top rope, leading the (same)route tradationally or
leading the route with protection in place - will they
differ in grade or are they each classified
seperately?

As far as the bolts are concerned I must say that I
have done nothing yet, but I'll get in touch with Zen.
Fulton.

________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online
Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony

[Balram Warrier]

Hey Nova
I can see that far you have been grading routes
according to the physical
exersion and advanced skill involved in doing it. I
was wondering if the
mental anguish, fear involved in doing a route,
exposure to danger- would
also contribute to the grading,
What about quality of rock.
For instance if the rock is not stable, the climber
would have to be extra
careful about how much presure to put on a hold and at
what angle pressure
should be applied etc.

The quality of rock at DN is not really very good, so
may be the man who
graded DN as 5.13 xxx took these features into
consideration.
JUST A THOUGHT
Benji

[Balram Warrier]

From: "nuwazish nariman patel"
<Nuwazis...@rediffmail.com>

Hi fulton,

The only pitch that we aided was the overhanging
crack...
Since the bolts and pegs were almost 3 feet apart I
guess it was meant to be a aid... That is why i said
5.9 A0 ... A0 means a pitch which has to be aided ,
but the protection is good.
Actually i dont think that pitch could be a free
climb.. But as you say if it is a free climb , then
probably you are right ,,, could be more than 5.12...
maybe 5.14... But Seriously , i really doubt someone
can do it free in one try.. It would take many tries
and months of practice to do such a pitch, (thats
what i recollect of it)

Just to add i was seeing a video on Petzl site on
making of some trad 5.14 or something single pitch
route... the gal almost spent 5-6 months to be able to
do that route cleany ... it takes a lot of dedication
and effort to do such stuff...

Anyways , I was reading the 'self rescue' book that
day and something very interseting ... it gives a
system which has good load distribution as well as low
extention in case one of the anchor fails.. it is the
same thing that we use ,,, but with a additional step
in which we tie over hand knots in each strand....
but there is no way i can put it in words... will scan
the page and send.. Worth using... and lets discuss on
that rather than the climbing grade stuff :-)

Bye
Nova