Lynn hill did not solo it then? ( i thought solo was not putting weight on the rope or gear).

Lynn Hill (and several others) have "free climbed" the route.

To free climb a route, you lead it, clipping protection along the way, but climb using only the rock. If you weight any of your protection or the rope in any way, it ruins the free ascent. Once you rely on gear, you are aid climbing.

Aid climbing is when you put your body weight on gear in order to make upward progress. Some "Aid routes" can be done free, usually at a relatively high technical grade. Aid ratings are A0 (bolt ladder) to A5 or C0 to C5. A2 and C2 are similar in difficulty but C means that the gear can be removed while A means that there are fixed points of aid on the route.

IE, Lynn Hill "freed the Nose" in Yosemite at 5.14. But many climbers only free climb up to about 5.11 on the Nose, and then resort to aid for the harder pitches. Most ascents of the Nose can then be called 5.11 C2 (I'm not sure if that is acurate but it's close). The 5.11 is the hardest pitch that was free climbed and the C2 is the grade of the hardest pitch that was aided.

Free Solo means to climb free, without any rope or protection.

Aid solo or Rope solo are two terms used to describe climbing in which the climber is alone, but still uses protection and ropes for safety and/or in order to make upward progress.

Matt Segal has freed the route. If you really want to know, Google it.

A2 and C2 are similar in difficulty but C means that the gear can be removed while A means that there are fixed points of aid on the route.

That would be incorrect.

Wow you are so informative

If you are going to point something out why non just fix it for him??

Being a d-bag is great and all, I mean you have to be be one and all to even post on this sight. But you might as well be useful in the process.

I figured he was smart enough to google it.

That would be incorrect.

In an attempt to quickly simplify the difference between those two ratings I left out a lot.

It is my understanding that A means that it is an aid pitch. Some of the gear may be clean, but there will be hammering as well.

The C implies that the entire climb can be done clean, meaning that you won't have to hammer and all of the gear that you place can be removed.

I assume (maybe incorrectly) that with either grade you may or may not encounter permanently fixed gear.

As for the difficulty, I probably shouldn't have compared the two (and I knew someone would call me out) because I've never led a real aid pitch.

Am I mistaken in regards to anything I've just written?

How hard is it for the follower to get a pin out then? Once it's been hammered in?

So if even A pitches get cleaned after being let than the CLEAN part of the C rating means that you aren't causing pin scars?

I don't know why I never thought about the distinction between leaving pins and cleaning them. I guess it should have been obvious that you have to clean them as well.

I see. Thanks.

I'm planning on doing the Glass Menagerie this fall so I guess I'll see all this first hand.

But we'll free most of the route and I think that there is so much fixed gear/bolts on the hardest pitches that we won't have to hammer.

I see. Thanks.

I'm planning on doing the Glass Menagerie this fall so I guess I'll see all this first hand.

But we'll free most of the route and I think that there is so much fixed gear/bolts on the hardest pitches that we won't have to hammer.

The key when placing pitons is to not overdrive them. To get them out you want to hammer them up and down and use a funkness devise to yank them out. This will create a pin scar.

This post is a great example of misleading information that is available on the internets. Pretty funny that people would write about stuff as if they are experts, while having absolutely zero experience at it.