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Hi I am a new boulderer and have climbed many difficult routes, or official ones for that matter. Currently when I am not able to go out the local region, I attempt to send the side of my house. The brick wall is about 6 or 7 moves, all closed crimp until the last move which is a jug. The grooves between the bricks are about 1/2 a centimeter wide. It is at a 90o angle with the ground. There are holds everwhere because the bricks are only 5cm tall. I can post pictures on request. What do you think would be an appropriate rating for this route?

Sorry if this question is off topic, I haven't seen others like it closed on here and it doesn't seem to be against the rules

Liam McInroy
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    Without actually trying it, it's not going to be easy to guess. There are so many other variables that could affect a rating. – Rory Alsop Jul 23 '14 at 13:55
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    it's impossible to rate a route without see and climb it. it depends on distance from reach hold, position and a lot other factors. – ibex Jul 23 '14 at 14:04
  • @RoryAlsop What other factors do you need? Or would it be too hard to rate without trying it or seeing it? – Liam McInroy Jul 23 '14 at 14:13
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    I'm with @RoryAlsop here and think it would just not be rateable without having at least seen it in reality. – Benedikt Bauer Jul 23 '14 at 14:22
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    We. Demand. Pics! – Wills Jul 23 '14 at 14:22
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    You should invite an experienced climber to give it a try, and a rating. – Mr.Wizard Jul 23 '14 at 14:36
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    Invite Chris Sharma, Dave Graham, Nalle Hukkataival and Daniel Woods to your house...They just recently scaled the Bridge of Pilgrims, high above the river Arga in Spain....They'll be able to rate your brick problem with the most accuracy. – AM_Hawk Jul 23 '14 at 15:40
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about rating your wall and will not be useful to future visitors. –  Jul 24 '14 at 08:30
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    Hate to be a killjoy but I'm voting to close. This is of no use to anyone in the future unless they happen to be climbing your wall which is unlikely (unless you get it into a guide book?) You could possibly rephrase the question How do you rate climbs or something more generic would be more useful going forward. –  Jul 24 '14 at 08:32
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    I should have done this yesterday, sorry: Liam is right - if the question was about how to rate a climb, it would be very welcome, but this one is about one particular climb and while shimizu's answer is good, it will only be useful to people who visit you. – Rory Alsop Jul 24 '14 at 09:13
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    Guys, I think it's time we take a trip, Outlaw Lemur will you have us? I admit I'm not Chris Sharma, but i'm onsighting everything in my new Miura's I'd like to add your wall to my 'scend list. I free soloed my old high school, brick is always fun every once in a while! – AM_Hawk Jul 24 '14 at 10:54
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    @Liam Just posted a new question because this one already has an answer, so it isn't worth it to make shimizu change his answer. – Liam McInroy Jul 24 '14 at 13:35
  • @RoryAlsop Just posted a new question because this one already has an answer, so it isn't worth it to make shimizu change his answer. – Liam McInroy Jul 24 '14 at 13:35
  • @AM_Hawk I'm down! Might not be worth the trip for 6 moves of V3 though;) – Liam McInroy Jul 24 '14 at 13:36
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    Outlaw - that's an excellent question, and applicable to many people. Upvoted. – Rory Alsop Jul 24 '14 at 13:55
  • @OutlawLemur http://www.redbull.com/es/es/adventure/stories/1331666327303/red-bull-creepers-event-clip – AM_Hawk Jul 24 '14 at 15:29

2 Answers2

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Unlike others, I think the route is pretty well described. There's basically a lot of flat, useable feet and a lot of flat crimp holds that are roughly 1/2 cm thick on a 90-degree wall. I think the grade depends on an accurate measurement of the crimp width--the grade could change +/-1 V grade if the thickness changes just by a couple mm. It also could depend significantly on the roughness and texture of the brick surface.

But based on a 5 mm thick crimp (less than 1/4 of your finger pad), new brick, and assuming you can use any brick "hold", I would say a close grade would be V2/V3.

shimizu
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  • Awesome thanks! Just wondering, what holds/foot work would you use? I can really only image crimping and maybe smearing – Liam McInroy Jul 23 '14 at 19:43
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    Assuming the bricks have the same width on the underside as the top side, I would think you can pinch the bricks instead of just crimping, which could help to hold you against the wall. For footwork, it seems like a lot of edging rather than smearing. – shimizu Jul 23 '14 at 19:54
  • But you can introduce a lot of interesting movement by taping only certain bricks or parts of the brick to be used. For example, I can imagine how you could incorporate gastons, underclings, side pulls, and dead points with a simple brick wall, which would also change the difficulty. – shimizu Jul 23 '14 at 19:59
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    +1 for this for actually being helpful instead of debating whether the question should be closed. I think the idiots that debate every question to be closed will ultimately kill this site. So I appreciate that @shimizu actually answered it. – Unknown Coder Aug 01 '14 at 16:53
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As I wrote above, it's hard to rate this wall.

But you can challenge yourself and mark some routes on the wall with colored tape, and then you can also see a progress in your climbing, or you can leave a given hold and try to go to the next, or do it dynamically, or use not all your fingers to hold.

I have a selfmade boulderwall in our house and that is how I marked my routes as well :)

ibex
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