How does one climb a route a 'negative number of times'?

[nani]

I was trying to determine a good strategy for the upcoming rock rally competition this Saturday to earn as many points as possible and then I encountered a possible loophole in the scoring system.

For those not familiar with the basic scoring system, here is a brief description: your handicap grade is your ((highest redpoint the past year)+(highest flash the past year)/2) which equals 25 in my case. Then you earn 70 points for doing a route at this grade but 10 points per grade less for doing a route easier than your handicap grade (and 10 points more per grade for a route harder than this grade).

See the figure below to determine the number of routes to climb of a certain grade to earn the same number of points as if you climbed 1 route at your handicap grade. The graph shows that Sam has to climb 1 18 to earn the same number of points as I would climbing 7 19s or about 2 21s (or 1 25). The graph also shows that if I downclimbed an 11 I would also earn 70 points (if this means I climbed the route -1 number of times).

total number points= sum_i [(number routes at grade_i)*(70+10*(grade_i-hadicapgrade))]

So the question is how can we do a route a negative number of times? is it safe to assume by climbing it from the top downwards you have done it -1 times or do you need to be upside down as well, or is it not possible?


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[Bob]

Brilliant, perhaps you could get your next doctorate in \"Climbing Competition Scoring Systems\"

[nani]

Come on, I am trying to do a poll here (I realize now I put it in the wrong forum directory, but then again the world aint perfect) so that I have a leg to stand on Saturday when push comes to shove. My vote is 'yes' - that descending a route without aid of the rope from top to bottom would count as doing the climb -1 times.

[?]

It would probably be simpler to jump down the route, this would save us all having strain our brains over upside down math next rock rally! Just kidding

[Alex]

To negatively climb the route you will need to float to the top of the route while attatched to a rope (i.e. the negative of abseiling) before attempting your downclimb.

I would say go for it, negative climbing is the way forward...i mean backwards

[Brett]

Nice one Nani. I think you must ask your belay partner to insult and abuse you as much as possible whilst climbing. This should change your climbing from a positive experience to a negative one and thus you should earn maximum points. I hear you are already partnering with Gordon so the abuse shouldnt be a problem.

[G U Y]

I think that you may be onto something...

If you've done a route x number of times, then you've done it x number of times (x being a number > 0)

If you've tried a route, but haven't done it, then you've done it 0 times.

What if you've never tried it? This is different to having failed on it (certainly from a climbing perspective this is true, because you could still onsight or flash the route).

Therefore, I propose the you should get -1 for each route that you have never tried. This strategy should work very well against Clinton who has done everything x times.

There could be an arguement for -2 for routes that you've never seen...