Having fun below your grade?

I was once climbing with some very good climbers (members of the British team) and they asked me and a bunch of other punters why we spent so much time climbing trad near our limit. They had seen that it often ended in failure, or people thinking they were going to die. They thought this might generate nervousness about climbing near our limit, a general negative attitude to being on lead and a lack of flow.

It was interesting when we explored the numbers. The not-good climbers (us) tended to go out and try and climb at least 1 trad pitch near our limit most climbing days. The good climbers (the team) climbed 1 to 3 trad routes a YEAR near their limit.

If they had unsighted E7, they would climb mostly E4. Their analysis was that this meant they connected climbing with being relaxed, zero-stress, great fun, and had plenty of relaxed milage to allow them to get better and better at flowing, whereas we moved very slowly and regularly shat ourselves. (They also shat themselves, but only once every few years.)

Depends on the type of climbing.

Alpine climbing, for me, is all about covering a lot of ground and enjoying a day in the mountains. I never climb at my limit in the alpine.

Sport climbing and bouldering, for me, are all about "trying hard", so I tend to climb closer to my limit.

All of them are fun but in different ways.

I love easier routes for multiple reasons.
1) If it's a fun route, it's a fun route. Which for me is independent of the grade. I don't need to climb all my easier routes at the beginning and end of my climbing day. I just enjoy routes that are fun regardless of the grade.
2) This idea that the only fun routes are the ones at your limit is ridiculous. Climbing hard is freaking stressful, frustrating and a lot of times scary. I usually can't relax on a hard route at my limit the first few times.
3) After spending the last few years climbing in Rifle where practically everything is hard and pretty much sending nothing but the warmups I'd often just go find some 5.10 and below that I hadn't done before just so I could go home with a send. The funny thing is on one particular 5.9 it took me just as many tries as a particular 5.12 I was trying!

Jake Jones wrote:I live at least 3 hours to the closest quality climbing so when I get out, I like to challenge myself. That being said, if there's a 4 star classic in the area, I get on it if it's open.

Jon Frisby wrote: Basically, this, exactly