Difficulty

Posted by Jäger on 2010-09-17 05:47:54

World-readable

When I refer to the difficulty of a climb, I'm using the Yosemite Decimal System in a desperate attempt to rank how technically difficult a climb is, based on the most difficult single move on the route. Trying to do this objectively is difficult, but I thought I had a well-calibrated sense of route difficulty, independent of how much effort it took. What surprised me was how much my perception of difficulty changed in two years on the same route. My best guess is it's a combination of factors, mostly relating to improved route-finding skills (to help me find the optimal route up the mountain) and having been exposed to much more difficult scrambles this summer, so the Class 2 climb to the summit of South Arapaho felt more like a Class 2 climb is supposed to feel.