I hope to expand on these two topics later (especially with regard to Tucson bouldering history), but I thought I would throw a couple thoughts out that I think are important to mention.


Grades- I have mixed feelings about bouldering grades, and even toyed with the idea of this being a 'grade-free' site. However, one of the goals of this site is to improve access to information about Tucson bouldering and to assist in communication about our boulders. Omitting grades would serve neither of those causes. Grades for problems have traditionally been a little on the stiff side, and I think it is good to try and maintain that ideal. Grade inflation is a problem at many areas around the country, and 'hero ratings' are only good for the ego, nothing else really. As we find new areas and problems, or try to assign grades to older ones, it is good to keep this in mind. Being one of the main developers (so far) of the Panther Boulders, and responsible for the grades attached to many of the problems there, I will also offer a weak apology. Gradings are inherently subjective, and the grades I have given are undoubtedly off, for many reasons - 1) I am tall and lanky 2) I am weak 3) I have terrible footwork 4) it was too hot/cold that day. We also tried to be conservative in our grading, but look forward to people giving their input and arriving at a consensus. One of the most useful tools on mountainproject.com is the ability for anyone to give input on ratings, and for the community to arrive at a consensus. Down the line we may even have something like that on this site, but in the meantime feel free to share any ideas or opinions on the grades of particular problems with me (especially at any new area), especially if something seems way off.


 
History - As we re-discover areas that have undoubtedly been climbed at before, a problem that frequently arises is lack of information about an area, especially in regards to names of problems. Many older problems around Tucson either were not named when they were climbed, or names have frequently been forgotten. While naming problems can certainly seem superfluous or unnecessary, it certainly helps to have one when you are trying to share your enthusiasm for a problem with other people. A handful of us have decided that it will be helpful to start to give some of these unnamed problems names, a sort of retro-naming. This could potentially cause a few problems down the line, but hopefully not. These 'community' names do not reflect any claim at a first ascent, or any disrespect towards those who chose not to name their problems. And if any problems I list on this site have been given names that we were unaware of, I will gladly change the name to properly reflect the history of the problem. One of my hopes in doing this is that by labeling some of these problems, those who know a little of the history might shed some light on the history of these areas and climbs. 


Hope everyone got a little climbing in this weekend......Joe