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Top roping 5.16

Jon Frisby · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 270
Ryan Watts wrote: To be honest, I don't climb 5.15 so I don't really know many 5.15 climbs off the top of my head. Just not something I'm terribly interested in. When I thought "really hard slab", that was the first thing that came to mind. That being said, there is certainly vert/slab out there that is impossible to climb (think just a blank vert face with no holds). Logically, shouldn't there be some vert/slab that is *almost* impossible, but has just enough holds to go? My armchair theory would be that for a variety of reasons, the people who climb 5.15 tend to seek out overhanging climbs for the most part. Just because no one has gone out and projected the shit out of some blank slab face and called it 5.15 doesn't mean that rock doesn't exist.
I'm not sure how much harder we can get on the vert/slab range. I think the reason that the 15bs and cs are all overhanging may have more to do with the fact that when a route is more overhanging, at the same grade, the holds are bigger than its slab/vert counterpart. Whereas humans can push their limits on bigger, more thuggy moves, I think we're more limited in terms of grabbing smaller and smaller holds.
Kristoffer Schmarr · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2008 · Points: 838
youtube.com/watch?v=_KJ9PzH…
Just a few of these stacked on top of each other. Sure he falls a lot but it looks like things still have room to get harder, and maybe then someone couldn't clip… but they'd just want to get stronger and do it in the better style. Yes, toproping makes things easier (lower weight, less time, less of a psychological factor), but climbers will always progress the sport how they have, on lead. TRing overhangs is doable also. My old gym had open hooks on the overhanging wall that you just lifted the rope out of when you got to them. No reason these hooks couldn't be implemented in the outdoors. Sharma ran into the issue of not being able to clip on Jumbo Love. He solved that one just fine :) Got lots of air time too! Check out 1:20 in this
youtube.com/watch?v=JwBQozc…
In conclusion: Could 5.16 be climbed tomorrow by our top athletes if they were to do it on TR - maybe. Will our top athletes ever get to a point where they TR a route and that's as good of a style as we're going to get - NO. They will continue to rise to the challenges of the rock. DONE.
Ryan Watts · · Bishop, CA · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 25
Kristoffer Schmarr wrote:In conclusion: Could 5.16 be climbed tomorrow by our top athletes if they were to do it on TR - maybe. Will our top athletes ever get to a point where they TR a route and that's as good of a style as we're going to get - NO. They will continue to rise to the challenges of the rock. DONE.
So you think there's this 5.16 out there that totally goes on TR but no one has climbed it yet because they're worried about putting it up in proper *sport* style?

Somehow I doubt that.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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