Grades #2

For those who like to spend much time discussing grades (are they so interesting?) here is some further comment on the grading of top trad routes. Grades are generally given for an onsight ascent. However, the many new routes above E7/8 have all been opened after abseil cleaning/inspection and/or top rope practice. Therefore, prediciting what it would be like to onsight E10 is stupid and rather pointless. Who knows what that will be like? no one at the moment anyway. We can only give grades bases on a subjective feeling of increments of overall difficulty we experience. Grading can work perfectly well that way, although it is subject to the same complications it always had (hyping, sandbagging, new sequences etc...). A. B. Hill (writing in 1965 about the structure and significance of scientific research) says it better than I could:

"All scientific work is incomplete - whether it be observational or experimental. All scientific work is likely to be upset or modified by advancing knowledge. That does not confer upon us a freedom to ignore the knowledge we already have, or postpone action that it appears to demand at a given time"

I see that many people want to view other peoples grades through the straightjacket of their own mental models. For example comparing the number of days it took me to climb different hard routes and using that to question me (while not in posession of enough information!). People also assume that grading systems are a mess just becuase they either don't understand how they work or do not take into account the subjectivity of grading and influence of other factors.

More Ireland photos

Slieve Binnian, the Mournes, Northern Ireland, with the line of Divided Years clearly catching the sun

Diff - filmaker just turned pro! Jugging into position to film Divided Years. As you can see it's quite a steep route

Shaking out at the slot before finishing the hard climbing (Hotaches Images)

Just a few more moves and you're on jugs (Hotaches Images)

Next stop, Ben Nevis...

Grades - again!!!

I apologies for this post in advance as I know, like me, many people find that arguments about grades get boring after a short while. However, I read with interest some feedback about my Irish climbing last week on the internet and see that much of the feedback centres around my suggested downgrade of divided Years to E8. I guess it's good to get some discussion on it. You never know there might even be some progress. Grades at the top end of trad climbing (especially for mountain routes) take a very long time to settle down because very few climbers do the routes. Whether this is due to lack of ability, motivation or simply that headpointing is a little out of fashion I'm not sure. It certainly does take some motivation to climb E8 or above in the mountains, there are plenty who have the fitness, I wish more of them would be arsed to go back and lead these routes to get more of a consensus.

People seemed rightly surprised as to the big downgrade of Divided from E10 to E8 and the physical difficulty from 8c to 8a. People keep asking me why John Dunne gave it 8c. I don't know! I am not John. Physical difficulty grades on top trad routes were always given very loosely and not taken very seriously, maybe now that has changed? Well if it has, I should point out that F8a on trad gear on a mountain crag is still pretty hardcore, and is maybe underrated in it's difficulty. F8c is an astronomical grade to climb on trad, even more so on a mountain cliff. Do any climbers in the UK have the form to do it? Hmm maybe but I suspect you could count them on one hand. We joked in Ireland about the narrator in John's 'Big Issue' video stating proudly that Buzzard's Roost 'is 4 miles from the road' as if this was terrifying in itself. It isn't of course, but climbing F8a on Buzzard's or similar situations probably means you have to be an F8c climber, as well as being good at trad and walking 4 miles. Otherwise you are in for a long haul with a lot of walking, gear carrying and understanding belayers! Finding someone to belay you for 15 redpoints on divided years might well be E10. Basically what I'm trying to say is E8 6c on a mountain cliff is still pretty hard - hard enough.

I would rather sidestep the whole argument and take the E10 ticks (hey can I really climb E10 faster than anyone else on the planet??!! I don't think so). But unfortunately we need climbers to be bold enough to be honest about their grade opinions to have any chance of accurate grading. Could you imagine where science would be without the scrupulous and unforgiving 'peer review' of research?

My grade opinion is just as questionable as anyone else's on its own, but like real science, weight of certainty is added with more similar opinions. So I encourage the other climbers who have been on or have an interest in repeating Divided Years to get to the Mournes and make it happen. If DY and Breathless end up as E10s then Rhapsody might be the first E13. If I repeat all the E10s in the UK and they are all E8, I'll bring Rhapsody down to E9 or 10. Grades are not fixed they exist only in climbers heads, they can change.

Divided Years

Divided Years - Stunning place, stunning climb (photo: Hotaches)

Laybacking above the crux

Well finally I have some climbing to speak of. I’ve been waiting for years for a chance to head across to the Mournes of Northern Ireland and repeat John Dunne’s stunning looking Divided Years E10 7a. I’m psyched on repeating some stuff again having poured so much time into the hard work of first ascents. Divided was the first E10 in the world so that only adds to the draw to go and climb it. After Rhapsody I’m keen to tour around a bit and repeat other peoples ‘Big Es’. I spent my late teens repeating stack loads of E7s and E8s in Scotland and on Gritstone so it’s really nice to be doing it again. I forgot how much easier it is repeating stuff than putting it up! Its also nice because the very hardest ones have so much mystique attached to them, partly because of the legendary reputations and backgrounds of their creators. It’s pretty thrilling to have the form to go and experience these famous routes for yourself and find out whether they really are how you imagined.

So the Hot Aches team, Fiona Murray and Kev Shields were all psyched to sample Mournes granite and last week we finally booked our ticket and went. Divided was every bit as good as I expected it to be. We got straight to it on the first evening and I had enough time to quickly get the moves done and suss out the gear. My big ambition was to make the first ascent placing all the gear on lead. John’s ascent used a peg and a couple of pre-placed wires and Dave Birkett’s second ascent last summer appeared (judging by the photos in the mags) to have several pieces in place at the crux. This was because the climbing is really steep and physical and its difficult to stop in the middle of hard moves and fiddle in wires. The route had lots of wires in place in various states of decay. For me though, placing gear on lead is part of trad climbing, headpoint or not. The headpoint style is nothing more than a rehearsal for a ‘real’ lead. For me, if the gear is pre-placed then it might as well be bolted.

I was psyched to lead it on the second day but after linking it first go on the top rope the midges descended and it wasn’t to be. On the third day it all went smoothly and I climbed it solidly placing all the gear, first try. The crux starts at a roof about 20m up with lovely moves on undercuts with weird footwork. I found a perfect toe hook which meant I could place the crucial wire to protect some pumpy moves on crimps up to a flared slot. It’s tricky to layback the edge of the slot and get a bomber cam in, then after that it’s pretty much plain sailing with awesome exposure. The top half of the route is easy so I could just relax and enjoy the rest of the climb.

The route was originally given a toprope grade of F8c which is a ridiculously hard grade to climb in a trad situation on a moderately remote cliff. But I had been warned by Tim Emmett (who’d had a day on it but was rained off before he could lead) that F8a might be nearer the mark. I’d say Tim was bang on with his assessment. F8a but quite hard for that grade placing all the gear. As for the E grade? Well it would be easy for me to say nothing and take the tick, but if ascentionists aren’t up front and honest then accurate consensus on grades for these things will never happen. So, like Breathless from last year, I would have given it E8 6c if I’d done it as a first ascent. That could be totally wrong, but at least I’ve gone and repeated it and improved on the ascent style before commenting. Dave B commented that he thought speaking on the grade might discourage people from making the effort to come across and repeat such a fantastic route. A very good and valid point. Well take it from me this is one of the best single pitch routes I’ve ever seen or done. You will NOT be disappointed! If you are in any doubt you can see the video and photos shot of it by the Hot Aches boys (http://www.hotaches.com/).

It was a great inspiration on this trip to see the raw keenness of Kev (who has only one hand) smoothly lead a scary E2 and solo like he was going for a stroll in the park.

I’m hoping to get some more big trad stuff in now I’m in a position to go climbing again. Can’t wait.