5.9 is the most difficult grade you can climb.

So I'm at the gym the other day looking at all these "hard men" and "hard women" screaming and working hard on these 5.12s and 5.13s. I don't get it. If grading starts at 5.0 and increases with difficulty, then wouldn't a 5.12 be less difficult that an 5.9, from a mathematics perspective? OUR SYSTEM IS FLAWED.

You are correct!  And by next spring, they and I hope to be projecting 5.2!!!

JSchloem is correct.

That is why it is called the Yosemite Decimal System.

It is a decimal system, invented in Yosemite.

think of it like 5, 10

Thinly veiled attempt at starting a "viral post."  Good luck. :\

Call me when you're climbing 6.0's kid

Yes, you are correct.  From now on we should fix the YDS to make more sense.  So 5.10a is 5.91, .10b is 5.92, and so on.  

Thank you for correcting the mistake, brave climbing friend.

pedantic

[puh-dan-tik]

adjective

1. ostentatious in one's learning.
2. overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching.

JSchloem wrote:

So I'm at the gym the other day looking at all these "hard men" and "hard women" screaming and working hard on these 5.12s and 5.13s. I don't get it. If grading starts at 5.0 and increases with difficulty, then wouldn't a 5.12 be less difficult that an 5.9, from a mathematics perspective? OUR SYSTEM IS FLAWED.

What makes you think the YDS is mathematics based?

Marc801 C wrote:

What makes you think the YDS is mathematics based?

Well, there's also stuff like 1.4, 2.7, 3'6, 4.4, or whatever. All the lower classes are mathematics based

Alex McKenzie wrote:

Well, there's also stuff like 1.4, 2.7, 3'6, 4.4, or whatever. All the lower classes are mathematics based

What???

guys, this is clearly a joke thread. seriously, some people just don't detect it I guess.

Chris Blatchley wrote:

Page 5, Paragraph 2, Sub-paragraph 8; all items posted to the forum must be genuine and deliberate in nature.

I would hope it's not a joke, that would be a serious infraction of the rules.

John Wilder wrote:

Well, it is the Yosemite Decimal System, but it was not invented in Yosemite.

It's not even Decimal. Are we sure it's a System?

Kees van der Heiden wrote:

It's not even Decimal. Are we sure it's a System?

It's the Tahquitz definition of decimal that is now known as Yosemite decimal. The conversion factor is 1.629632 : 0.985

John Wilder wrote:

Well, it is the Yosemite Decimal System, but it was not invented in Yosemite.

I know for a fact that John Muir was in Yosemite when he invented it.

Marcus wrote:

Extracted from the MountainProject Terms of Use:

Page 5, Paragraph 2, Sub-paragraph 8; all items posted to the forum must be genuine and deliberate in nature.

I would hope it's not a joke, that would be a serious infraction of the rules.

Chris Blatchley wrote:

guys, this is clearly a joke thread. seriously, some people just don't detect it I guess.

Chris, all the responses are clearly jokes in a joke thread. You just don't detect it I guess. 

Oh. Wait. Your reply was clearly a joke in a joke thread. 

This meta joking is getting almost as confusing as the SDY.

JSchloem wrote:

So I'm at the gym the other day looking at all these "hard men" and "hard women" screaming and working hard on these 5.12s and 5.13s. I don't get it. If grading starts at 5.0 and increases with difficulty, then wouldn't a 5.12 be less difficult that an 5.9, from a mathematics perspective? OUR SYSTEM IS FLAWED.

Well this is problematic because the mathematically correct system allows for infinite refinement of the data set on the Z axis, rather than only allowing grade expansion in a linear manner.  

Fo example; 5.11673 would be slightly harder than 5.11672.  

This open ended system would only further encourage micro aggression, not to mention how everyone gets a trophy these days.  It would open up the world of petty grade debates to more than just the cutting edge of climbers.  Imagine, first ascent of a 5.10856329, followed by outcry over their exaggeration of the difficulty of the crux fingerlock, demanding the grade be reduced to a 5.10856327 at best.  Every climber could be the first to put up any grade of their choosing.  Even you could be the oldest climber to climb 5.10562a.  But was it really 5.10562a? How many 5.10561d routes have you climbed?

it was truly logical to go with an illogical system, thus ensuring that petty discussions over the validity and subjectivity of the newest pushes in climbing grades is limited to only the worlds most elite climbers.