Why Grades Don't Matter

Rating: **** Why grades don't matter, by Will Gadd is an intresting read about how people are trying to compare their adventures. This article is trying to teach the reader that it is not the difficulty of what you've done that makes it great, but the exepriences you have had doing them. Will Gadd is considered to be one of the Canada's premier outdoor athletes, and has gone on some amazing adventures. He does not agree with the methods that are being used to rate how amazing the sport was. He'd rather grade things the way kayakers, surferes, and skiers have been grading, by looking at the photos, videos, and stories. The fact that people are repeating the same thing every year is making it much harder to grade by difficulty. Climbers are starting to change the way they grade by the exprience, just like kayakers, surfers, and skiers. Will Gadd gives an example of the time he was ice climbing and did a new route called Spray on, that he rated as WI 10 or very hard. The reason he did thiswas to amke all the other ice climbs in the world sound easier, thus taking away bragging rights from other climbers. They called the route Spray on not only because it was made from the spray of a waterfall but also beacause spraying is how climbers refer to bragging about their route. Though he may have been talking to ice-climbers, Will Gadd was trying to change the way people grade in general. I've learned not to look at photos or videos beacause they look tough but also to learn about the incredible expriences that have been created. Gadd, Will. "Why Grades Don't Matter." Explore 13 may 2010: 14. Print