Back in Ettlingen

I have made it back from Grenoble, France to Ettlingen, Germany. The drive mostly went well, except there was one section across Switzerland that was stop and go for about 30km for no apparent reason. Well, maybe volume, but nothing more than that, and why are all those people out driving somewhere on a Sunday?

Grenoble is gorgeous. A&T's apartment is a lovely 8th floor flat (top of building) with huge terraces with views of mountains all around them. I had quite a pleasant visit with them.

The Swiss seem to love building tunnels. I went through multiple 3km or longer tunnels in my trip across Switzerland. In feels like they look for any excuse to build a tunnel... "hey, there's a big cliff in the way... let's put in the tunnel", "hey, there's a little cliff in the way, let's put in a tunnel", even, "hey there's a farmer's field with two cows in the way... that one needs a 3km tunnel". Sure, they have mountains -- but so does France in that area, and the Swiss had far more tunnels.

There is something very relaxing about not having to worry about, and always look for, the cops while driving at speeds well in excess of 100 km/h. And passing a "plolizei" at 140 is kind of nice.

Also, Grenoble has more pretty women than either Germany or the UK. (Ok, not in total, probably, but as a visible part of the population, definitely.)

on climbing grades (and leading)

Grading or rating climbs is always tricky, and comparing grades is always interesting. The grades, in all the schemes, are a "subjective evaluation of how difficult the climb is". And how climbing difficulty is can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

Oddly the British have probably the most complete system. For trad climbs, they give them a pair of ratings -- something like HS-4C where the first part "HS" (Hard Severe) refers to the difficulty of protecting the route, and the second "4C" refers to the technical difficulty of the climbing itself. Often the two go up in tandem, though it is quite possible to have a route that is climbable, but poorly protected which will rate quite a bit higher on the first -- and vice versa. This split grade is quite nice. And, for sport climbs, you would just drop the first half, since protecting is easy. (Well, assuming the bolting is well done.)

The North America (and in fact all the Americas) system of grades doesn't concern itself with protection, just technical difficulty, though there is a (not always used) adjunct for protection that ranges from PG to XXX (yes, just like movies, and I think it comes from movie ratings.)

But, for any system, how you judge a climb is interesting. Do you judge it based on the hardest move -- the crux? Or on the sustained level? Is a climb with an continual series of 5.9 moves with little to no rest a 5.9? What about a climb that is all 5.7 moves, with a 5.10a crux? Is it a 5.10a route? The first climb is, probably, the far harder climb.

And, the ratings vary from place to place. At gyms in Ottawa, Michigan, and much of central North America, I can generally climb in the 5.10a-5.10b range. But, I go to North-Eastern USA, and I will fall off 5.9s and not be able to finish any but a very few of them. While when I've gone to gyms in California, I have been able to complete 5.11a (or tougher) routes. But, "everybody" knows California (gym, at least) ratings are "soft". And then there is outdoor vs indoor. The local outdoor stuff seems to run about 2 grades tougher (give or take) than the indoor ratings. Is it a local phenomenon? I've not climbed outside enough places to really say, and in some cases didn't know the ratings, or they were in a foreign system (adding translation error). In Texas, I made it up a 5.10c outdoor climb, was it really that hard a climb?

As to foreign translation, this chart suggests that a French 5b rating is around a 5.7 North American, while this one suggests a 5b is more like 5.9. I led a 5c today, and it felt like a tough 5.9 or maybe 5.10a. I bailed on a 5c yesterday (one clip below the finish, the finish was FAR tougher than the rest of the route). Bailed after taking several tries at the finish, too. The finish felt a lot harder than 5.10a.

If that is really a 5.9-5.10a, then it is my hardest lead to date. It sure felt like it to me. But, it didn't feel like a Gatineau/Ottawa outdoor 5.9-5.10a. Maybe more like a gatineau 5.8. So, maybe both charts are right? Or neither. (Actually, it felt like my hardest lead to date no matter how it is actually rated.)