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Hang Dogging and Downgrading

Locker · · Yucca Valley, CA · Joined Oct 2002 · Points: 2,349
"If you would do a better job resoling we would all be climbing 5.14s and not having this conversation.".

That one got me going pretty good this morning!

LMAO!
Jeffrey Arthur · · Westminster, CO · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 290
Bryan Hall wrote:Maybe if the downgrading bothers you this much it's just a sign you're too concerned with the grades and what everyone else thinks. Then again, it's rock climbing, it's just a big fun meaningless game so I guess we can care as much or little about all the details as we want!
I love this "Holier than Thou" attitude. It's all just big fun you say? I'm willing to bet 99.9% of the people on this site only tell themselves this so one day we'll actually believe the shit we're shoveling. If this was all just about big fun and a meaningless game I wouldn't have lied to my wife, skipped out of work, and blew off nearly all my friends at some point because I found another belay bitch that is willing goto my project I can't stop thinking about because I missed the redpoint over the weekend. After all the hard work and obessing over it when I finally send to have some jackleg downgrade all over MP.com after they went bolt to bolt on my project, dude you can meet me in the playground at 3pm and we'll settle this dispute once and for all :)
J Q · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 50

The holier than thou attitude seems to have a direct relationship to incompetence in climbing, which is a pretty strange phenomenon.

People can grade a route whenever they want, but if they feel the need to grade a route they haven't climbed, that need should be questioned. If you are downgrading a route that you have yet to complete, the joke is on you, but please be honest about it, so we can laugh in your face.

Things get downgraded. Things get upgraded. These changes have more of a relation to the actual climber than the climb, most of the time.

Finally, if you have a very rigid perception of what climbing is, should be, and how things have to be graded, it will hold you back from progression in the sport. The rigid definition prevents enjoyment and leads to the condition called cankerousoldtradlidite#1

slim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2004 · Points: 1,103
JLP wrote: That's just awesome. Yeah, no experience on this site, especially among folks weighing in on mid 12 and up. I have just one request - state whether you lead the climb clean or not. That's it. Word on the street is you're a top-roper who can't climb 5.12.
hmmm, i don't think you are comprehending my point. maybe if you re-read it, it will make more sense.

word on the street is that you like to run, although not very fast. love your photo albums.
Christian RodaoBack · · Tucson, AZ · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 1,486

"Then again, it's rock climbing, it's just a big fun meaningless game so I guess we can care as much or little about all the details as we want!"

Yep, that's exactly how the brain works, any emotion you want to feel about any given thing, you just choose it and it magically materializes.

reboot · · . · Joined Jul 2006 · Points: 125

I've said it before, so has others, 95% of the grading butt-hurz on this site can be corrected by simply taking the median, not the mean grade, as the consensus grade. You see somebody downgrade the shit out of a route? Just give it an honest grade. Bam! you've just neutralized the sandbagger without fluffing grade. But instead we get a new look front page and still neglected climbing area updates.

The real reason I'm wasting my time though, is, out of morbid curiosity, will somebody tell me who the hell is JLP? PM me.

Jon Zucco · · Denver, CO · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 245

Sup guys, I scoped out sonic youth today after projin' it up at high wire. It really doesn't look like 5.13a. I'd say it looks more like 12-. Gonna go record my opinion now. Thanks!

slim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2004 · Points: 1,103
reboot wrote:I've said it before, so has others, 95% of the grading butt-hurz on this site can be corrected by simply taking the median, not the mean grade, as the consensus grade. You see somebody downgrade the shit out of a route? Just give it an honest grade. Bam! you've just neutralized the sandbagger without fluffing grade. But instead we get a new look front page and still neglected climbing area updates. The real reason I'm wasting my time though, is, out of morbid curiosity, will somebody tell me who the hell is JLP? PM me.
i can kind of see why people get bent out of shape when they work their ass off to send something, and then see it downgrade on MP. usually, it just makes me ask myself if there was some way i could have climbed it better or if there is some other sort of explanation. there is always something that can be learned from bitter disappointment :)
Tex Rynold aka RBG · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 0

I tell you what, in Southern California Top-Rope-Hang-Dogging-Downgrading is the normal! It's incredible! And in my opinion, southern California gym climbers don't belong outside!

JCM · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 115
Colin R wrote: Isn't it ironic that other sports don't suffer from this?
This question got me thinking about the other outdoor sports that use a subjective rating scale. Do kayakers debate, ad nauseam, the number that should be assigned to a particular stretch of water... Class 4+ or Class 5?

I do know that you hear this sometimes from skiers..."The blues at Snowbird would be blacks anywhere else." This is sort of like the "It would be 5.8 at the Gunks" that you hear from climbers.

And then there's Lou Dawson's grading scale for ski mountaineering. Perhaps if that ever catches on, they too will have endless numerical debates.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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