And the guide book says......"a bit bold for the grade"

After having been climbing outside for a while, I had begun to get a little strength and technique back. Sending routes up to 5.10a, I figured that I might as well try the next grade up and give a 5.10b a shot.

"It can't be that much more difficult", I think to myself as I read in the guide book that the crack is a nice climb. I read over the description quickly, eager to get climbing. I gear up and start to send. The routes name....S&M's delight. I would soon understand why.

The start of the climb was bouldery. Since I'm only 5'5'', the first finger lock was just out of reach. I stemmed the first section, finding myself about 12 feet off the ground and already tired. Only another 30ft to go!

The second section brings the crux move. The wall curved away from me and in doing so, the tension on my feet is released. I have no pressure on my legs, leaving the majority of my body weight on my fingers which are gingerly locked into this small crack. I can feel the rock cutting at my hands as my feet flail and thrutch in an attempt to gain a small hold and help move myself up.

Finally, I am just able to jam my big toe into the crack and pull myself up a little higher. A small voice echoes from below "Good job! Keep it up......you got it!" as my belayer cheers me on. Its that same conundrum where you have someone complimenting you on how strong you looked up on that climb when in reality, they couldn't see your arms and legs convulsing and failing under the stress of the climb.

I reach my arm up as high as I can, noting blood on my fingers but I can't take much notice of it right now. BOOM! My hand lands in a bomber hold. I pull a chin up and reach my left arm into a small cleft in the rock. Happily, I am above the most difficult part of the climb.

A small ramp of easy climbing led me to the final section of the climb which would only be a few very straightforward moves if it weren't for my bruised hands. Each time, I placed my hands into the crack I winced slightly as sweat poured off my face and my bruised hands contorted in the bony crack to stop myself from falling out. Finally I hit the chains, yell for tension and get lowered down. Another tick in the bag.

I think to myself though "holy shit, if that's a 510b, I'm gonna suffer on a 5.10c". Then I get to reading further in the guidebook description. Little did I realize when I started that this route was well known to be a "bit bold for the grade". Still, this only added to the satisfaction of having climbed the route. My hands, battered and based, look the worse for wear. So what's the moral of the story.....Take guidebook ratings with a grain of salt. If spider man put up all the routes in squamish, they would all be rated 5.5. In any case its not about the grade. It was an amazing climb in an awesome finger crack. However, I think the name is quite fitting and I firmly believe that you'd need to enjoy S&M to get the full delight out of this route.