"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote in message
ups.com...
riverman wrote:
(This is a repost from another thread. I thought it might be worth
its own
discussion.)

...
What do you think:
a) Two identically skilled paddlers in the same type boat,
on the same day, paddling the same river together. One is dressed
appropriately, one is underdressed significantly. Is the rapid rated
the
same for each of them?
b) Two paddlers on the same river the same day, one is a novice, one
is an
expert. Is the rapid rated the same for each of them?
c) One is in a canoe, one is in a raft. Is the rapid rated the same
for each
of them?
d) A rapid is rated a class 5 (unrunnable) in 1992, but since then,
new
materials and techniques makes it quite runnable by advanced boaters.
Is it
still a class 5 rapid?
...

I say "No" to the fourth question; it does not retain its Class VI
rating. The formerly "unrunnable" Class VI rapid must now be rateds
Class V, but in keeping with AW's new rating system, the former Class
VI is now considered a Class V.1 or V.2, where V.1 is as much harder
than V as V is harder than IV, and where V is as much harder than IV as
IV is harder than III, etc., and, of course, V.2 is as much harder than
V.1 as V.1 is harder than V. What the actual degrees are is, by and
large, irrelevant. It may be that any grade is twice as hard as the
next lower grade, or 50% harder, or 3 times harder or 10 times harder.
The point is that the relationship of each grade to the grades above
and below are the same. The point of all this is that, as formerly
"unrunnable" rapids become run, they are added to the top of the scale,
such that nothing below them changes; a Class III will always be a
Class III, a Class IV+ will always be a relatively difficult Class IV.
Nothing changes except the number of grades inserted between V and VI.

The parallel with rock climbing rating systems is obvious and inescapable.
As the art advanced and more and more routes became 'climbable,' the new
routes weren't labeled 6s. They were stuffed into 5.X. When people blitzed
past 5.9, the mathematically offensive 5.10, and on were introduced.

The rock ratings are independent of such things as climber ability, weather,
hangovers, history of mind-altering drug use, etc. They do depend on
physical layout, sizes of features, separation distance between them,
exposure, difficulty of setting protection, etc.

The biggest difference between rock and river rating systems is that the
condition of a climbing route doesn't depend so heavily on the recent
rainfall. Within a day or two last week, my home stream went from
unrunnable low to in-the-trees flood with anything you'd normally call
obstacles far below the surface. The only thing worth rating would be the
total absence of eddies and the presence of strainers lining both banks.

...
None of this really matters a whole lot.

Finally, we get to the crux. :-)

Just accept that there can be
no absolute quantification of a subjective experience in a dynamic
environment. But it doesn't HAVE to be absolute! My needs are served
perfectly well with RELATIVE ratings. For e.g., if an unfamiliar rapid
is rated Class III relative to half-a-dozen other rapids that I know to
be rated Class III (at specified levels), then I have a good idea of
what to expect from this unfamiliar rapid.

The existence of a rating system erodes the fundamental idea of paddling.
We are each responsible for our own safety and the safety of our party if we
manage to get anyone to go with us. If I'm contemplating running a noisy
section of river for which the loss of the boat would mean a 25 mile walkout
through alder thickets, what I'd like most from someone who has been there a
description of a good place to scout from, maybe an estimate of the extent
of the run, the size of the features, the separation distance between them,
and the presence or absence of eddies or a pool beyond. The existence of a
published rating or description doesn't dilute my own personal
responsibility. Depending on the source, the report and rating might be far
worse than useless.

I avoid rating myself as a such-and-such boater. I might play (and swim)
happily in a warm VI within sight of the putin and there are a bunch of
kayakers around but walk around a III if I'm out alone in shebabaland.

Just my take,
Fred Klingener