GG rescue

[AR]

Not being a climber I know bugger-all about gradings, but this thread did remind me of this cracking track from HMHB's last album about getting stuck rock climbing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc0mjT0e5pc

 

[PeteHall]

I've suddenly gained a whole load more respect for one of my company directors (not that I didn't respect him before). I knew Paul Eastwood was a caver and climber, so when I saw the name on the first free ascent of GG Rider, I half jokingly checked with him and yes, it is he!

 

[Ian Ball]

I've suddenly gained a whole load more respect for one of my company directors (not that I didn't respect him before). I knew Paul Eastwood was a caver and climber, so when I saw the name on the first free ascent of GG Rider, I half jokingly checked with him and yes, it is he!

That is supercool!

 

[moletta]

  Am I right in thinking that an 'A' grade indicates that artifical aid was involved in an ascent?

  Possibly the number indicates how many times it was used?

 

[Speleotron]

The A means there was at least one point of aid (pulling on your gear or standing in a sling/etrier attached to some gear). The number means how hard the aid move(s) is/are, not how many there are. So A1 would be a nice solid gritstone crack where you can attach solid wires all the way up and just step from one sling to the other. A5 would be some blank granite wall where you're hooking tiny skyhooks onto nothing and you're screwed if they fail. Here's Andy Kirkpatrick on an A4 so A5 must be evil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CpDUQy5b6w

 

[mikem]

But it's got pegs, so can't be A5...

 

[Speleotron]

Tiny little filed down pegs that are tapped a few mm into a flared crack! And that's only A4.