What Is A Sandbag In Climbing? – Climbing Jargon Explained

We bet most of you never heard of the word sandbag. Have you ever skipped a nice and easy route to warm up, felt excited and looked for something that looked like a steering wheel from a distance on a blank wall? Maybe you just got a sandbag.

What does sandbag mean when climbing?

Sandbags are usually a fairly undervalued route. This means that routes are much more difficult than gradual. When you’re struggling to climb a slope that normally flashes, or when you hear a crazy laugh from the belay below, you know that the route is sandbags. Dredging a
route probably means giving it a lower grade than it deserves. This can mean that the original climber who evaluated it was easier than most people. Sometimes it comes from when the climbing levels were still very different.

The sandbag can also be used when people are climbing difficult routes and expressing their personal opinion that the slope needs to be lowered. A person’s ego, beta, and condition may all play a role, but it can also depend on their strengths.

Not to be confused with using sandbags when belaying-often used in gyms when there are heavy climbers. Although the idea of ​​carrying sandbags during mountaineering may resemble the additional difficulty of climbing sandbags.

What Does Sandbagging Someone Mean?

Sandbagging someone means telling them a route that is easier than it really is. You can punch all types of routes such as bouldering, sports, trad, big wall, ice and more.
It is arguable whether this is an interesting prank or a tail movement.

Where did the term sandbag come from?

Sandbags is a general term used to describe the same in many sports and games. When someone is sandbags, they are basically pretending they are worse than they really are.

From the merriam-webster dictionary: –

In the 19th century, the verb sandbag began to be used to describe the act of bludgeoning someone with a small, sand-filled bag – a tactic employed by ruffians, usually as a prelude to robbing their victims. The verb went on to develop metaphorical extensions, such as “to coerce by crude means.”

Pulling out sandbags in poker is a common term for “playing slowly” with your hands. They pretend that the cards you have are bad and let people bet to raise the pot. Next, pull out the sandbag’s hand and defeat everyone to win.

Why Do Routes Get Sandbagged?

1-Grades are subjective

The route is usually rated by the first person to climb. Sometimes people who climbed the route found a grade that suits them. Routes can be highly dependent and everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Certain techniques also affect the rating. Some people have good stamina and footwork, while others have abnormal finger strength and complete quickly.
Crack climbing is ubiquitous in many desert areas of the United States. If you grew up on crack climbing, the technique is pretty straightforward. If you’ve literally never jammed, this is a whole new world.

See below how world-class Japanese bouldering players will be closed at the M4 of the Meiringen IFSC World Cup while the Ondra passes. The problem starts at 1:30:40 and you can see Ondra giving advice early at 4:40.

If I knew the beta, had the correct choke marks, had a good physical shape, and flashed the problem because I was able to find the handle perfectly, was the route easy or good? Was it a day?

2-Old School Grades

Grades are hotly debated to date. Various systems are used around the world and there is debate over which one is the most accurate. In the United States, where the
Yosemite Decimal system is used, the first free climbing grades of 5.8 and 5.9 were considered almost impossible. It was not possible to compare routes because not everyone climbed the same area. Just make a decision based on a written certificate.

As a result, very strong climbers read about these feats and believed they could climb at that level. did not. His work has a strong culture of humility, and overestimating something could lead to ridicule.
As a result, there are many 5.8 and 5.9 gradual climbs with very different actual technical difficulties. Some first-time climbers add a + above the main grade to indicate a bit more difficult.
The rating rose to 5.10 only when many people were traveling and found differences in different routes. 5.9 is especially where sandbags are widespread and requires the most attention. A “classic” 5.9 or 5.9+ is worth accepting as difficult once or twice.

3 – There is more accurate grading / grades are softer / grades are inflated

As climbing became popular, routes were repeated and people started moving between areas. It was clear that the agreement helped. Initially, climbs in the United States were rated from 1 to 5 steeply, 1 for walking, and 5 for technical ascents.

Yosemite Decimal

Yosemite Decimal divides the 5 scales into 5.0–5.9. It was first used by climbers at the Sierra Club of Takwitz (not Yosemite), Royal Robbins, Don Wilson and Chuck Wilts, and spread from there. Originally 5.9 meant the hardest possible, but now the slope is reaching 5.15d.
Climbers saw a large difference between the two degrees (eg 5.10′) and started assigning letters from a to d. So 5.10a is easier than 5.10b, 5.11c is harder and 5.10d goes back to 5.11a. Sometimes addition can be used to indicate that the path is a little more difficult.

Sport Climbing – French Grade

The same thing happened with Sport Climbing and the French rating system. The grade number here does not match the YDS. Initially, prime numbers like 4, 5, and 6 were given. As my score went up and I learned the difference between hard and easy, letters like 6a, 6b, and 6c began to be used.
Then a + was used within this level, so now there are 6a, 6a +, 6b, etc. It’s worth noting that the YDS system also takes into account the difficulty and “severity” of climbing defense. The French sports system, on the other hand, only considers the technical difficulties of climbing.

Note : There are more grading systems than this and we didn’t even cover bouldering.
As a result, modern route classification tends to be more accurate. Some climbers don’t evaluate a route until they get opinions from others on consensus. This can be helpful. This is still subjective and routes may change over time due to rockfalls, fortress destruction and erosion.

However, the grade change for the classic route is not well received. Guidebooks and websites often publish baseline estimates, but either provide up-to-date rough estimates or simply say that the route is “classical” as a hint to the expected route.

4 – Different Areas – Different Ethics

Many people believe that, according to the classical classification, routes should be classified according to other routes in their area. So, if you have a few classic 5.9 routes, and the new route isn’t more difficult than this (even if everyone who walks this route would call it 5.10c), you should get a 5.9 rating. What a sandbag is is very subjective.
Some areas are known to have a “hard” rating and can have a huge impact on the ego. At the same time, the “vacation” appreciation is why many modern sporting venues in Europe seem expensive and lightweight compared to home rock.

5 – Is it funny?

Many people will say no, so don’t take this as an offer to put someone in a terrible situation. But – it’s pretty fun to see confident and strong climbers who almost completely give up what they think of as regular daytime climbs.

If you’ve been walking for a long time, it’s likely that a friend or guide threw a sandbag at you. We were definitely baffled by the easy-to-learn routes and the old classics. “It’s totally your style. You show it.”

This may not be the fun part of the route, but learning how to cope with difficult situations and overcome difficulties is part of the climb. It also makes for a great storyline and is ideal for a second type of entertainment.

How Can We Say That If A Route Is A Sandbag?

If the US grade route is +, it is probably an older route that is much more difficult by modern standards. The plus is that most everyone will replace the classic evaluation.
Guide says “easy” or “easy to rate”…
A friend suggested an easy route, but you can’t see the guide.

What is the opposite of sandbag?

If sandbags damage a road, conversely, re-evaluate the road to make it look more difficult than it really is. Actually, there is no other word other than ‘soft’.
Some argue that many modern routes are underestimated or slightly underrated. There aren’t many examples of paths as opposed to sandbags, but they do happen. We all know the soft 7a that everyone calls the first in its class. There are many cases where a
climber suggested a rating and then another climber downgraded it. The story of James Pearson was important in the world of British tradition. The problem is that it is very difficult to evaluate the path if you did it yourself. Currently, certification is usually done during the first few ascents with several people involved.

Are Gyms Routes Over-Graded?

Gym levels are generally very mild compared to outdoor levels. The gym’s path gradient doesn’t match the outside path. We don’t complain or brag here and we think it’s good. This is just a shock for climbers going outdoors for the first time. At gym, it’s better to clearly separate the difficulties, so it’s clearer what to choose for your training. It is easier to choose the right route and increase your mileage. Outdoors, a level may contain multiple difficult or smooth paths, such as within 5.12a.

Gym fixtures are a never-ending debate, and to be honest, the best way is to build a new grading system. But no one needs a new grading system, so even the best ideas are terrible. For now, we think the best solution is to align the paths within the same color and have the deviations within them.

Classic Sandbag Area

All classic free climbing areas built before the 70’s will be filled with sandbags.
There are plenty of fairly simple 5.4 to 5.9 multipitches in many sections, but there are moves that can be significantly higher than individually specified scores. They also tend to have schematic bits, nails, homemade bolts, or other old school surprises.
Tahquitz was the first place where the Yosemite decimal system was used.There are many more difficult paths than the level suggests, but at the same time this is where the slope is determined, so is it really closed in the sandbag?
Yosemite has many classics like SteckSalathé and BacharYerian with different prices these days. The same goes for many rocks in the valley. Shawnagunks (cannons) is another classic area with a lot of low scores.

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