How Many Stars?

What makes a route good? People love to quantify things. We've been it doing since the beginning of time (which we created to measure our day). We want to say how small, how big, and how good something is. With routes, a contrived scale of stars was developed to give a tangible meaning to how "classic" a route is. What gives a route all 4 stars? Also, why is it only 4? No one says, "That restaurant was 4 out of 4 stars." Is it the rock quality, the difficulty, the style, the movement?

Let's start with difficulty. One trend I've noticed in Mountain Project (and other media platforms), is that most hard routes will often have better “quality”. Upon making headlines, a pro will often mention that the climb is the best line they've ever done. Chossy construction projects held together by glue with chipped holds that warrant 5.13 may be considered classic, while a 5.10 of better quality is a mere “warmup”. People often mistake a higher number with a good route. More is required to send. When you put blood, sweat, and tears into something, it feels like you may be denying the effort by admitting that the goal is not actually that great. A high number gives it validation. But, does that mean that the experience is not worth it because it won’t boost your 8a.nu profile? 

Hmm, let's move onto rock quality.

I’ve had a blast on choss… I proudly proclaim that my beloved home crag was once nominated on MP as “the worst crag ever”. It is made up of dirty loose basalt, heated to temperatures of solar proportions in the summer. Nasty smelling ants will attack unobservant belayers. A sharp ear is needed to detect the buzzing of wasps in a hold or the panic-inducing noise of a rattlesnake. Immunity to poison oak is also a useful defense. My hardest redpoint was at that crag. The act of climbing it and going through the process was great... the route wasn't. The first half is full of crappy rock, the holds are dirty, and the bolts have homemade hangers that are runout in spots. But, I loved it! It motivated me through many training sessions. It may sound awful, but that route is special to me.

So maybe not bad rock... what about style and movement?

Everyone also has their own style and biases, though. I like slabs and technical face climbs with crimps. My bouldering pad lives under my hang board. I would rather climb on a rope. On the other hand, you may like hugging upside-down refrigerators on compression-style boulder problems. I don't... I'm terrible at it. Everyone's good at certain things, and we tend to prefer that thing. How can we assign a standard?

In the end, what is the deciding factor of what makes a route good? I think it's you.