We began counting the number of holds on rope routes back in August ‘08. I think it has helped climbers (No! It’s all there!) climb and routesetters maintain routes. We just began doing this with bouldering problems—some of you have probably figured that out—for the same reasons. Look for the circled number and compare it to the number of tape swatches—they should match up. The number would include parts of aretes that get taped when entire aretes are not on route. For rope routes the number always includes the belay bar. -Tom