Clutch Pedal Stiff & Gritchy

[David P.]

Hi, I've posted this problem before but it seems most of the answers are
related to the gritchy problem and not the stiffness problem.

My clutch pedal is extremely stiff, requiring almost 15-20lbs of pressure to
even initially move it from rest.  As you may guess, my leg is feeling very
sore.  Oh, and it also gritches sometime but I don't really care about that.

Is my clutch wearing out or is the solution much cheaper?  My mechanic
claims the clutch is wearing out and doesn't believe it can be the clutch
cable.  Even I don't believe it's the clutch cable because if it simply
needs some lube, I doubt that would cause so much addition force to push
down.