Stop Saying Everything is "Soft": Why Your Strengths Matter

This post is going to contain a little bit of a rant, so bear with me...

I've noticed a trend in the last few weeks both outside and inside the climbing gym where I've heard almost every climb called "soft." I'm not saying that calling climbs "soft" is new, but for some reason it's become more frequent/noticeable and to be quite frank, it's been bothering me. And it's frustrating that I'm bothered by this, because I don't want to feel the need to question whether I'm actually getting stronger as a climber or not based on someone else saying that a climb is "soft" or "stout." But perhaps those are my insecurities speaking, and that's a discussion for another day...

Now sure, some climbs are actually soft for the grade they've been given, but in my opinion there are a lot of climbs that are not "soft" but that instead play to the strengths of the climber that's calling them "soft." The height, weight, technical ability, mental fortitude, physical strengths, and climbing specific strengths (ie. good at compression-y overhangs; good at bathangs) of each climber all help to determine how easy/hard a particular climb feels to them. For example - I am about 5'4" and 115lbs, like pulling on crimpy highballs, am good at them, and find them to be fun. Now take my buddy Kerim - he's a burly dude who's great at slopers and compression, hates crimp climbs, and pretty much thinks I'm crazy for loving them. His strengths are very different from mine, and thus he has a hard time on the climbs I excel on, and I have a hard time on the climbs he excels on.

Kerim, crushing it. Photo by Alexandra Rubio.

Let's say Kerim and I both get on the same, crimpy highball climb, and let's say I send it in 1 session and it takes him 5: Does that mean that the technical, crimpy V6 I did in one session is actually a V5 and that it should be considered "soft" even though Kerim has obviously worked very hard for five sessions to finally send? Not necessarily. Maybe the climb plays to my strengths and feels easy for me personally - because that's what I'm good at. And that's not a bad thing! But I should be cognizant of and respectful of the amount of work my fellow climbers put into climbing their projects - and realize that something that's easy for me and that plays to my strengths isn't necessarily what's easy for them.

And you know, part of what makes climbing beautiful is that the grading can be subjective and open to interpretation. And this interpretation is what makes grading a climb so difficult sometimes.

But I guess what I'm ultimately getting at is this: Try to be respectful of the work those around you are putting in to finish a climb, because maybe it actually is really difficult for them and they're trying to challenge themselves in a new and interesting way. And when someone finishes a climb that's difficult for them or that doesn't necessarily play to their strengths, celebrate with them! Don't rain on their parade. Let's support one another out there instead of bringing each other down.