Grade, Posting, and Beyond in Climbing

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uf8L87oBmzmeifMaRVAW6?si=6h42T3evRza_3pT-X3da5A

Recently listened to Jesse Firestone's new podcast episode on his thoughts about "rules" in climbing, and effects of social media on this sport. Personally I think it is a great episode and I resonate a lot with him. I also have some thoughts on similar topics, part of which are also covered in this episode.

I started climbing as a sport climber, and only climbed for "fun" for the first maybe 5 years. By "fun" I mean I did not try to redpoint stuff. Redpointing or sending was a concept that I've heard of but had never given a second thought to. My goal for every route was only getting to the anchor. One day my friend suddenly wanted to project a 5.12a, and that meant I would need to come to the same route more than once too as his belayer. So I decided to project it too as a pastime. Then I fell in love with projecting and redpointing for the mental and physical challenges they bring.

That same season I started projecting boulders after making friends with a group of boulderers. Through them I learnt there was "online beta", and one can look up videos even before the trip to select potential problems to work on, and to get an idea of how to do the problem. That made sending a boulder much much easier, and I almost immediately got hooked with bouldering. From then on began an era when I wanted to send, and was happy when I sent a high grade problem, and enjoyed posting the footage online. I would return to the same problem until it was done. I would redo a problem for the video.

The more I climb, the more I realize grades don't make sense, and the better I become at finding my own beta. Sometimes it is a beta break, meaning this beta is significantly easier than the beta other people probably have used. Sometimes I project a problem for so long, then I send it first go when I change beta for a single move. Would I have already sent it 10 sessions ago if I had tried this beta then? I am not able to assign a grade to the boulder I've just sent. In fact, I've never assigned grades to boulders. In the past, I simply accepted the grades listed on Mountain Project. With boundaries of the grades becoming more blended, I want to look at a rock without its grade aspect.

I also started posting less. What is the point of posting? People usually post their send footage for:

1. Archiving - I have them archived in my phone and cloud storage;

2. Providing beta videos for other climbers - most of these climbs have abundant beta videos and my betas aren't much different;

3. Showcasing achievements - I am far from any achievement that worths attention from people outside immediate friends group;

4. Interacting with friends - the type of interactions I prefer is beyond the comments under the posts.

At this point, I've realized several things. No one really cares about the grade I climb, or even what I climb. Climbing is self entertainment. Ultimately, I am the one "approving" my sends when it comes to dabbing or using a knee pad etc. I enjoy cheer ups, encouragements, and celebrations from friends, all of which offline interactions hold more values. This isn't to say that I don't post. I want to be more intentional about posting.

EDIT:

Friends told me later that they sometimes find my videos inspiring, in the sense that even a short person like me can do the move. Good to know.