Andrada Climbs 5.15b Link-Up

I read on another site that he added a V9 sit start. Someone says that if he adds the V14 sit start, the whole route is more like 9c.

Yes: http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1720509;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Scroll down to rockclimbergabor’s post. He is the one who made the statements I referred to.

This weekend I worked on a classic route called “Paradise Lost” at The Purgatory in the Red River Gorge. Sadly, because I was unwilling to “cheat” by using the “French Ledge” (read: I rested on a jug with poor feet rather than traversing 15 ft out of the boltline to get to a no hands as has been the practice by non-locals), I failed to send the route. I did, however, link it to the jug (a three bolt v4 which, a hard 5.12a in the Red), link it from the jug to the top (a 20-or-so move power endurance v6 which, if off the ground, would be rated roughly 5.12d in the Red), and also from the ground through to the final couple moves (about 5.13a in th Red). Going by the way things appear to be done in the ali-baba cave, I should put on my 8a card:

Paradise 5.12a Hard Boulderyyyy ***
Lost 5.12d Pura Resistencia ***
Lost SDS 5.13a Hard Este fin de semana, voy a la extensión!!!!!! ***

Clearly, this would be considered to be an absolutely ridiculous joke. You can’t just almost send a route and then dock it a letter grade and then claim you did a different route or worse claim multiple starts to the same route. The route should be defined by the rock, by the moves and by what makes sense. This scenario I proposed makes no sense at all because it goes up and down — you can’t reach the holds to start “Lost” from the ground. How does that change if the wall is tipped at such a radical angle that you could start in the middle of the line? What I’m trying to get at is that it’s preposterous to put all of these different link-ups, SDS’s, variations, etc on his scorecard. There should be one route: “Ali-Hulk.” He should be psyched each time he completes a new link and when he begins to link those sections together. I know I was. But, in both scenarios, those are not all seperate routes.

This is not to take away from Andrada as a climber. His route “Ali-Hulk SDS Extension” is one of the hardest in the world. In fact, it may very well be the hardest in the world. At the same time, I think that posting each of his links on 8a as a new route takes away from the power of this achievement. Something to think about.

I think that you touched on this topic, Brian, in your comments on “The Wheel of Life.”

My two cents.

-Peter