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Holy crap... Will Gadd and Tim Emmett climb a WI 10 (thats Water Ice 10) route! I don't think I've ever heard of anything harder than WI 7, and I've only heard of a few of those. Crazy!

Check it out:
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/worlds_first_water-ice_10/
http://gravsports.blogspot.com/2010/01/spray-on.html

It's interesting because in my experience, the grade goes up not only as the ice gets steeper, but also as the ice gets worse/harder to protect. This route is entirely bolted, but it's clearly harder/steeper than WI 7. Time for a new ice rating system with separate ratings for steepness and protectability? Anyway props to these guys!

Good name for it.

Who am I to argue, looks really really really really really really really hard....

thx

That looks absolutely ridiculous. Props to the Canucks! Imagining what "WI 10" is like is like imagining what being a millionaire is like.

Whoa, way badass!!!!

There's always some people who take it to the next level. Craziness I say!

thigbee wrote:Time for a new ice rating system with separate ratings for steepness and protectability? Anyway props to these guys!

Possibly. Can you get a well-bonded 45degree overhang that takes screws? If such a thing existed, what would you rate it?

I've been on scary WI2-3 that was easy, but no room for even 13cm anywhere for almost three pithes - it was too thin, and damming. Was that WI2+ R/X?

Of course, rating ice is silly because next week it's going to be totally different. That goes for protection even more than difficulty.

*WOW*

I call BS. We were at WI7+...you can't just skip over WI8-, WI8, WI8+, WI9-, WI9, WI9+, and WI10-. That would be like somebody establishing the first 5.11c climb before 5.10a was pioneered. I think it's just graceless self-aggandrizement...and the name even reflects it. Spray on.

-Mark

Mark Straub wrote:I call BS. We were at WI7+...you can't just skip over WI8-, WI8, WI8+, WI9-, WI9, WI9+, and WI10-. That would be like somebody establishing the first 5.11c climb before 5.10a was pioneered. I think it's just graceless self-aggandrizement...and the name even reflects it. Spray on.

-Mark

Well, when Yaniro put up the Grand Illusion, he supposedly initially gave it a 5.12 rating-- it was later upgraded to .13b/c...

But this certainly does push the bar up there...But he has the ice-cred. to make some comparison...never thought of Gadd as a self-aggrandizing climber...

The climb looks totally badass. But skipping over two as yet undocumented grades is a bit much. Pretty much any time someone makes a claim like this things get "adjusted" later.

It's much better to see your climb up rated in the future than the other way 'round...

Question: What happens next year when someone goes for a repeat, but this time the ice formed up covering the bolts?

Dave Dinnell wrote:

Mark Straub wrote:I call BS. We were at WI7+...you can't just skip over WI8-, WI8, WI8+, WI9-, WI9, WI9+, and WI10-. That would be like somebody establishing the first 5.11c climb before 5.10a was pioneered. I think it's just graceless self-aggandrizement...and the name even reflects it. Spray on.

-Mark

Well, when Yaniro put up the Grand Illusion, he supposedly initially gave it a 5.12 rating-- it was later upgraded to .13b/c...

But this certainly does push the bar up there...But he has the ice-cred. to make some comparison...never thought of Gadd as a self-aggrandizing climber...

I agree. There was an article in one of the climbing magazines last year (I think it was last year...) that listed the most influential climbers ever. Will Gadd was way high up there. I want to say top five, and even top two or three. The dude's hardcore and has already established himself as one of the world's best ice climbers. He's got nothing to prove. If anyone could rate a route WI 10 and I'd believe it, it would be him.

thigbee wrote:
I agree. There was an article in one of the climbing magazines last year (I think it was last year...) that listed the most influential climbers ever. Will Gadd was way high up there. I want to say top five, and even top two or three. The dude's hardcore and has already established himself as one of the world's best ice climbers. He's got nothing to prove. If anyone could rate a route WI 10 and I'd believe it, it would be him.

+1