Unjustified downgrade?

Now then, I’m all for soft-touches; my logbook is littered with them, but the current UK media focus of down grading routes because a woman has climbed them as got a bit silly!

Central to this has been a UKC article downgrading the most recent efforts of UK women through the use of slash grades. Though the text has now disappeared from their website, the google search result reveals the old text...

Kalea Borroka and Mecca both get 8b/+ and Emma Twyford's most recent effort on Unjustified, 8b+/c. No doubt on this scale, Mecca Extension will get a downgrade to 8b+/c if Mina’s current efforts are successful?

So to summarise, in my opinion the UK sport climbing grade scale is out of kilter with the continental system; not by much, but by enough that the boundaries between each grade aren't the same. Here are some examples where a re-grade is needed to align the two systems:

Around the 7c+/8a level, we plainly can’t have Dead Calm and Zoolook being the same grade, but who’s right? Steve McClure has said that Zoolook would be 8a+ at any French crag, meaning we could leave Dead Calm at 8a; something that would cheer the aging Yorkshire crowd. Keep the former at 8a, and the latter has to come down to 7c+.

Similarly at 8b+/c, it is my personal opinion is that Fisheye and Unjustified are the same grade. I’ve had multiple days on both this year, and made similar progress; Fisheye in three sections, and Unjustified in two. Does this mean that the race is still on for a UK FFA of an 8c route? Or do both the stunning efforts by Hazel Findlay and Emma Twyford count at this magic grade?

However, if we compare these two routes with Cry Freedom at 8b+, then we get in a pickle. If the 8b+ grade sticks, then Unjustified and Fisheye need pegging down a notch, but if Cry Freedom gets nudged up to 8c, then the other two can stay in the same bracket.

In the higher echelons, top climbers including Adam Ondra have said that Hubble is 9a; aligning the grade of Hubble with Action Direct in the Frankenjura, the current bench-mark 9a, would allow things like Liquid Ambar and Sea of Tranquility at LPT to be upgraded to 8c+. Stick with the historical 8c grade for these routes and we’ll just have to acknowledge that the UK and European interpretations of the “French” grading scale aren’t aligned.

I’m not saying which system I think is correct – that requires some consensus, not just my bank holiday ramblings brought on by a snotty summer cold...

	Current Guidebook Grade	Aligned “Harsh” UK Grades	Aligned “Soft” Euro Grades
Unjustified	8c	8b+	8c
Fisheye	8c	8b+	8c
Cry Freedom	8b+	8b+	8c
Liquid Ambar	8c	8c	8c+
Sea of Tranquility	8c	8c	8c+
Evolution	8c	8c	8c+
Hubble	8c+	8c+	9a
Action Direct	9a	8c+	9a