The Trough, Tahquitz Rock

[Ed]

Greatshaitan,

Thanks for the reply. I checked SummitPost, and they do rate the Trough 5.4.

But I am still puzzled. I don't believe that rock climbs change over time significantly. That was a concern in the piton days, as repeatedly hammering a piton in a crack and removing it slowly widened the crack over time. That was the major argument for shifting to chocks. But those days were over by the early 1970's. When I climbed at Tahquitz, in the mid-1970's, the Trough was still rated 5.0 in Chuck Wilt's book.

And we certainly weren't all hard-core. I never considered myself a strong rock climber, that would have been ridiculous, rather I was a mountaineer who practiced on low- to mid-fifth class routes, so I could do technical climbs in the Sierras. I started on the White Maiden, and continued on to the Frightful Variation, the Fingertip Traverse, Angel's Fright, one or two of the Larks, and Ski Tracks, doing most of those routes more than once and leading most at least once. I never owned a pair of rock climbing shoes and climbed at Suicide, Tahquitz and Joshua Tree in hiking boots; I didn't want to become accustomed to the advantage of rock climbing shoes, since I wouldn't be wearing them on climbs in the Sierras. Nobody wore a helmet. I never did the Trough because it was considered, well, a little embarrassing.

Frankly, I remember the descent route on Tahquitz as being more scary than the climbs I did there. I tried to keep it to myself; feel a little better about it now, after reading in Royal Robbins' autobiography that one of his partners fell on the descent route. Survived, fortunately, but had be hospitalized for a while.

Today when I am at Humber Park and look up at Tahquitz, it does seem more impressive, and I wonder what the hell I was doing up there.

But again, and more seriously, I am still puzzled. When I climbed the climbed the Swiss Arete on Mt. Sill in 1977, for example, it was rated 5.4, and that seemed like a fair rating. Why is it rated 5.7 today, when both climbing gear and standards have improved? If someone tells me that they have climbed the Swiss Arete and it was 5.7, I am more amused than impressed. 5.7 is the summit block on Thunderbolt, or Shaky Leg Crack on the East Face of Whitney, something that has me flopping around on the rope like a fish on a line.

The people who awe me are the first-ascent party on the Swiss Arete, who climbed it in the 1930's with hemp ropes. One of them was Ruth Dyar Mendenhall, who I would see at RCS practices. She no longer climbed, because of severe arthritis, simply walked around with a quiet smile on her face. Her husband John led us up the White Maiden on my first climb at Tahquitz. The climb was easy, and John, who had a trembling-hands condition, was slow and careful. But I was awestruck, being led up a route on Tahquitz by one of the people who had taught Royal Robbins and Yvon Chouinard to climb. There was an intergenerational connection and a sense of history then, perhaps fostered by the Sierra Club, that seems to be missing today.

[greatshaitan]

Check out the article below on more information on grade inflation. There really isn't an easy answer to this, but its a good read.

5.9 Ain't What it Once Was: An Exploration of Grade Inflation in the Yosemite Decimal System
http://www.coloradomountaineering.com/2013/02/59-aint-what-it-once-was-exploration-of.html

[Ed]

Greatshaitan,

Thanks, something like this is what I was looking for. As you said, not much of an explanation, but at least it recognizes the rating inflation and takes a crack at explaining it. I have nothing to say about what goes on at the upper end of the rating system. I don't agree with the article that everything at the lower end is a blur. For example, the crux move on the Swiss Arete on Mt. Sill is a step-around, similar to the crux move on the White Maiden (but in the other direction). But it is very definitely a more difficult and dangerous step-around. Hence the old ratings of 5.1 for the White Maiden and 5.4 for the Swiss Arete made perfect sense. Every 5.3 or 5.4 climb I did definitely had a crux move more difficult than any 5.0-5.2 climb I did.