Читать книгу Carolina Whitewater. A Paddler's Guide to the Western Carolinas онлайн

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The mechanics of such a scale are relatively simple. It has been suggested to expand the ICF’s I–VI scale by adding Class VII, Class VIII, and so on—similar to what was done on many western rivers years ago. This seems too radical a departure, though, because rivers would have to be re-rated. A simpler method would be to add gradations within the Class V level of difficulty. There is a precedent. Rock climbing has seen an explosion of increasingly difficult moves and routes. Climbers have answered this by steadily upgrading the scale of difficulty to correspond to the more gymnastic or aid-requiring moves that are becoming the new standards. Why not follow the rock-climbing lead?

What we’ve done with the rating system in the book is to break Class V rapids down into three subclasses. In order of increasing difficulty, the scale reads: 5, 5.1, and 5.2. Having three subclasses within Class V, at this time, seems to satisfy the variance of difficulty of the rapids.

We understand the subjectivity involved in rating whitewater, with one man’s Class III being another man’s Class V. However, we have tried to maintain as objective a stance as possible in rating the rivers in this book. The reader can be reasonably certain, by the ratings, that Linville Gorge is a tougher run than the Broad River Gorge, and Watauga Gorge is a stiffer paddle, on the whole, than the North Fork of the French Broad (but the North Fork has one rapid tougher than anything in the Watauga Gorge).