What gives a route the “R” rating

Please discuss. I’m sure this was posted somewhere else.

R = Redacted 

The fact that the first ascent party had balls and wanted to show the world...

I’ve heard it said that if the outcome of a fall from a mandatory runout section is uncertain in terms of serious injury, it merits an R.  

R is possible serious injury and X usually means you're gonna be dead or horribly maimed(like, not serious injury but hella fucked up). PG-13 is dependent on what your fear factor is and if you're really good at hanging out and getting gear in. I've found the PG-13 vs R usually comes with a fair amount of debate from my role as an Administrator. This is what I base my opinion here on, endless back and forths between climbers here on the Proj.

Runout, marginal gear, fall possibilities and chances of hitting something like a ledge... I'm sure there are other reasons

R usually shows nipples or has more foul language

Klaus theKwrote:

R usually shows nipples or has more foul language

Or, probably more apropos to climbing, more explicit violence.

Hank Caylorwrote:

R is possible serious injury and X usually means you're gonna be dead or horribly maimed(like, not serious injury but hella fucked up). PG-13 is dependent on what your fear factor is and if you're really good at hanging out and getting gear in. I've found the PG-13 vs R usually comes with a fair amount of debate from my role as an Administrator. This is what I base my opinion here on, endless back and forths between climbers here on the Proj.

What would you say the line between serious injury and hella fucked up is?

Shit, I thought R was for Recommend... Isn't X for Excellent?

R is for ruh roh raggy. 

Jim Erickson said it best. I don't have the guidebook, but it was something to the effect of;

R =in the event of a fall there is a fairly good chance of being injured.

X = in the event of a fall there is a very good chance of being very injured.

Josh Zwrote:

What would you say the line between serious injury and hella fucked up is?

Total softball question. A serious injury is a broken ankle, hella fucked up is a quadraplegic.

R Serious ("whoa")

X Very Serious ("wtf")

my opinion is that if a climber were to fall during the hardest part(s) of the route and that fall having a good possibility of serious injury, then it merits an R rating. if a good possibility of a fatal injury, then an X rating. this means that difficult but well protected cruxes surrounded by easy runout terrain do not get such ratings.

2006 thread

2010 thread

2016 thread

a dozen pages for your reading pleasure

PG=pretty good protection

R=really good protection 

X=eXtra good protection

The first rule of flight club is

"R" means "right" and "L" means "left". 

Wouldnt it be easy to just bolt X and R climbs into PGs?

Stileswrote:

Wouldnt it be easy to just bolt X and R climbs into PGs?

The hard part is replacing the bolts every week after they get chopped.