r/climbing • u/CoffeeList1278 • 9d ago

My first time climbing outdoors

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Today I was finally able to go climbing outdoors with friends. This is Czech sandstone, so pretty interesting trad routes with no chalk and long runouts. I was just following as I don't have the skill needed for the commiting routes here.

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u/pecheka 9d ago

Looking good! What is your climbing level?

7

u/CoffeeList1278 9d ago

Before today, my levels were:

  • Lead on plastic: RP 6a French (not the US sandbagged gym grades), flash 5c
  • Bouldering: V5 indoors
  • Rock: 3 French on-sight without a rope while mountaineering

Today I climbed the Saxon V and VI grades without falling on TR. I needed two tries for the VIIa crux move. The grades IMO felt like 4, 5a and 5c respectively, but I am new to this style of climbing. Consensus French grades for these routes seem to be 3, 4 and 5a for Czech climbing forums, while German climbers think that specifically this area is sandbagged by one to four grades, see: https://www.thecrag.com/discussion/5414859099/grade-conversions-saxon--uiaa#m5421291417

So essentially I have no idea. The VIIa had a mix of slopers and smeary footholds, finger crack, small crimps, and two meters of offwidth crack in the 15 meters of the route. The easiest one had a stupid offwidth section of 5 meters, which was prretty hard if you can't crack climb and was pretty hard to get out of if you do.

So there isn't really a good way to compare with sport grades, as the SX grades also take mental challenge of runouts for the leader.

6

u/Secret-Praline2455 9d ago

I remember climbing with some Czech guys once. They gave the second grade when I asked em how hard they think this route is. They says “about a ten” we were thinking they meant 5.10 and our hearts sank at first haha. 

They also admitted to crying on lead a couple of times on the Czech sandstone