Orange Plus
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- Posts: 2438
- Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2002 6:05 pm
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- Posts: 2438
- Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2002 6:05 pm
For what it's worth, RockQuest has a new policy of not putting either a + or - on any route grade. Too confusing for some gumbies I guess. Not that it really matters with sandbagging routesetters.
"Be responsible for your actions and sensitive to the concerns of other visitors and land managers. ... Your reward is the opportunity to climb in one of the most beautiful areas in this part of the country." John H. Bronaugh
Define for me what a "Sandbagger" is; someone who sets a route and calls it HARDER than it isto boost ego, or EASIER than it is to make others question their climbing skill?
"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."
D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
Sandbag - a climb that receives an inappropriately low rating for the difficulty.
My theory on sandbagging routes in the gyms is that the setters don't want you to get on their routes in the gym and then go outdoors and get pissed because "I did that 5.10 in the gym and I can't do this one outdoors!". So to avoid that they rate the route lower than what they really think it is. I've noticed this practice in many gyms, though I've never asked any of the setters why.
My theory on sandbagging routes in the gyms is that the setters don't want you to get on their routes in the gym and then go outdoors and get pissed because "I did that 5.10 in the gym and I can't do this one outdoors!". So to avoid that they rate the route lower than what they really think it is. I've noticed this practice in many gyms, though I've never asked any of the setters why.
"I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory." --Paul
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As a routesetter I can say that I have never given a route a lower or higher grade to try and make people feel better when they go outside, the problem with a lot of routesetters is that they don't climb outside enough to know the difference or been on enough variety of routes of the same grade to accurately rate the routes that they set.
On a separate note, some people just can't grade routes to save their lives.
On a separate note, some people just can't grade routes to save their lives.
"But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?" – Lord Byron
Yeah, that's the reason Vertical Adventures in Columbus uses a 1-10 scale of rating their routes instead of the YDS scale. Though even then people are inevitably going to start correlating a 7 with a 5.9, etc., so they'll run into the same problem, but can at least shrug the responsibility if it starts to become an issue.
"I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory." --Paul
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