I really did not at all intend to stir controversy with my previous post. I was speaking about my experience on Era Vella as though I was chatting with a friend - in retrospect maybe I should have more thoughtfully crafted the post. It's come to my attention now that I've upset some of the climbing community so I really want to make a few things clear.
I did not intend to suggest a downgrade to 8c for Era Vella and foremost I did not mean to take away from anyone of the previous repeater's accomplishments. I genuinely do not think that I am capable of climbing 9a so quickly, especially considering my performances on other routes at neighboring crags within the same few weeks that I did Era Vella. I barely pulled off 'Mr Cheki' 14a on my third try a week before. I invested five days of hard effort to do Chicane 14c during that same time. And just days after I did EV I suffered on 'Victims del Passat' 14c, not even getting close to a send after several days - a route that many people consider 'soft'. I was not writing about my experience on EV to make myself look or feel big. I was only commenting on how grades and styles can feel so different between different crags and climbers. Maybe the route suited me well, or maybe I got really lucky that day.. or maybe the route is light for the grade.
Some areas / routes tend to be more demanding than others, this is observed by all of my peers. If you have never climbed at an area or on route that felt easy or likewise very hard for you, given its associated grade, that's very unique!
To me, what's important about my post is not the details of how hard I felt the route was - and that is why I refrained from sharing the message above, which clearly was a mistake because it lead people to make judgements about what I was attempting to say. What I wanted to share was my excitement about having a memorable experience when I climb. I want to climb awesome routes, classic routes, beautiful routes, and also hard routes. Yes, grades matter because they help us find routes to challenge ourselves and also because they do represent a rough foundation for difficulty. When I claimed that I didn't care about grades what I should have said was - my principle interest is to have a memorable experience... and to be challenged, and to be forced to improve and grow because this is the experience that I value the most and grades certainly help me find this.
I rarely find myself in the forums or amidst controversy, and I much prefer to keep it that way. The only 'statements' I was attempting to make are the ones outlined above. I hope this clears up any confusion and again, I'm sorry that what I wrote disturbed so many people out there - that was definitely not my intend. Hope to see you guys at the crag!!
