Many of us use YDS grades (5.5 or 5.12b etc...) and I believe it is a greater psychological challenge to move from one number to another, more than one letter to another. For example, it mentally feels bigger to go from 10d to 11a as opposed to 10a to 10b.
There are many repercussions to this idea. First off I have recently been logging my personal ascents and noticed I'm doing WAY more A grades than D grades. Why is this? I believe there are 2 main reasons:
1) I "chase" the A grades (12a and 13a etc.. seem more desirable to climb than 11d or 12d) 2) People rate more climbs A than D for the same reasons, therefore there are simply more of them available. Many D's where i live were A and then downgraded.
I have had a hunch for years that there are way more 11a, 12a, and 13a than 10d, 11d, and 12d climbs out there. Well I went to a the red river gorge database (www.redriverclimbing.com) which has 1832 routes logged and did a search by grade and this is the result: Grade # of routes 10d = 72 11a = 80 11d = 71 12a = 104 12d = 31 13a = 28
According to this the actual number of A's is 55% compared to 45% D's, which is really pretty similar. So the results show at the Red that there are almost as many D's out there as A's. I guess i'm just choosing to get on more A's. It would be interesting to get the total # of ascents of the climbs to see if A's get climbed more often than D's simply due to grade psychology.
My thought is that "A" generally represents recently breaking into a new grade number. So it's possible that "A" could, in some minds, represent progress, whereas "D" may possibly represent stagnancy. That is, "still" being in the same grade number as before.
Imagine this case: There are two equally high quality routes side-by-side. You have climbed 5 previous 5.10d routes, but never a 5.11a route. You have enough time for only one climb. The left route is 5.10d, the right route is 5.11a. Which would you pick?
I imagine that the 5.11a is much more tempting than the 5.10d route.
Here’s the "tick list" with the 705 routes in this book grouped by difficulty. (See p. 245 for the ordering used in indexing.) This is a necessity for Type A climbers as well as helpful for Type B's. A histogram of route frequency is shown below. It’s not surprising that the number of routes peaks at 5.9, as that is about the middle of the range. Also, 5.9+ has tended historically to be a generic rating, often encompassing climbs harder than 5.7 but less difficult than 10d. However, it is sur¬prising that there is a decline in the number of routes at 10c and 10d and then a sharp rise at 11a and 11b. My guess is that this more reflects the psychology of climbers than it does a natural phenomenon inherent in the structure of the crags. This may be an example of grade inflation. Namely, once a climb gets to the hard end of 5.10, there is a distinctly human tendency on the part of the first ascension¬ist to think that the route belongs in the next grade. It doesn't hurt the ego of those who follow to agree with this grade. I’m aware of this temptation.
from the histogram you attached it is apparent that there are more A's than D's and i agree it's not the rock's fault.
On a similar note, i believe the same climb will get climbed more if it is known to be slightly soft rather than sandbagged. And people may even love a climb or hate it based on their initial judgement based on the grade given in the guide book. They may even hate an area if everything is sandbagged. It's all grade psychology.
I have had a hunch for years that there are way more 11a, 12a, and 13a than 10d, 11d, and 12d climbs out there. Well I went to a the red river gorge database (www.redriverclimbing.com) which has 1832 routes logged and did a search by grade and this is the result: Grade # of routes 10d = 72 11a = 80 11d = 71 12a = 104 12d = 31 13a = 28
According to this the actual number of A's is 55% compared to 45% D's, which is really pretty similar. So the results show at the Red that there are almost as many D's out there as A's. I guess i'm just choosing to get on more A's. It would be interesting to get the total # of ascents of the climbs to see if A's get climbed more often than D's simply due to grade psychology.
I don't agree with the conclusion you drew from your statistics above. I find it very telling that there are more 11a than 10d climbs, and many more 12a than 11d climbs. I find it surprising, however, that there are more 12d than 13a.
I think the psychology of the letter grade plays immensely into the grading of the climb, as well as the desire of someone to climb it. I've always noticed this in my own personal willingness to hop on a particular route. I love jumping on an 11a, but loathe the thought of flailing up a 10d. 12's.. I'll have to ask somebody else :)
i believe that your conclusions are dwelling on statistical artifice rather the state of things
the advancement to 5.10 climbing came long before anyone was advanced enough to describe it properly; this is why you see bunching in the .9 and .11 grades at long extablished climbing areas
there are very few first ascentionist as compared to just followers; there are ever fewer guild book authors and their ego problems invariable lend to the matter
without examining the date of the FA's inconjunction with the history of the area, your reading into your data im afraid
it may just be with the area that you climb at. The area that I am currently climbing at (Paradise Forks which is stanchly a traditional area) I find that there are MANY more 5.11d's but not only that but the range of difficult of 5.11d's is huge from things that I lead in my sleep (Davidsons Dihedral) to things that I find a much harder but I still get 80% of the time (Mutiny on the Bounty) to MUCH harder (Paradise Lost) - are all given the grade 5.11d ( ok in some books Paradise Lost has been upgraded but still most people call it .11d) - but even so the range in difficulty between Davidsons and Mutiny is HUGE. Then the difference between the .11d's and the .12a's is significantly larger then say the difference between .11b and .11d
5.9 should be revised and separated into 5.9a-5.9d. Still wouldn't account for some 5.9's being more like 10d/11a. I've climbed so many 5.9's in the States and Canada, which seem to span comparably from 5.8-5.11a... but maybe it's just the way I climbed them. I have found the older routes graded 5.9 to be harder than more modern 5.9's.
On topic though.... being from Australia, I've never had the psychological adversity associated with d's and a's. Our easy integer system doesn't really allow for those kind of setbacks.
10 /
71%
vdwRatingFreq12.jpg
