I'd be a little surprised if newbies were pulling 10a on their very first day of climbing; do you mean gym rats on their first day outside? The proliferation of

I'd be a little surprised if newbies were pulling 10a on their very first day of climbing; do you mean gym rats on their first day outside? The proliferation of gyms have helped a lot of inexperienced climbers get a lot of practice with the moves and training for the right muscle groups before ever touching real rock. And eh, news coverage is the same ol' story. Articles are written by people with no expertise in a field, so things are wrong. Most readers don't really care anyway, and Rock & Ice or Climbing should have a good article out about it next month if they do. You're right that the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) doesn't really say much about risk or exposure (although there's the "r" and "x" indicators on some climbs) ("r" for "runout", if you should expect long sections without solid protection, and "x" for "you will hit something if you fall"), but that doesn't really mean a free climb can't be butt-puckering. Personally, I never did become a fan of flaring chimneys. But yeah, aid is pretty much an exercise in staying calm while your brain screams at you, "you 'bout to die!" (ed: I only ever did aid once, practicing with a salty old trad climber I used to follow around a lifetime ago. It was only A0 on some pin-scars route in the Valley, but I'll never forget one particular moment. I couldn't get anything to stick nearby, and I was near the top and impatient, so I grabbed a brass #0, reached up, and made a blind placement, just about as far as I could reach -- and I'm not short. Pulled on it and it didn't fall out, so I said hell with it and clipped it. Stepped up in my aiders and came to eye level with the placement and the tiny little bastard was only halfway in, wedged against one very stubborn granite crystal. I made a very urgent next placement.) The Dawn Wall climb is still pretty awesome for the amount of preparation and effort it took. No doubt someone someday will go back and do it faster & better, but for now, Caldwell and Jorgesen raised the bar for that particular climb.