[petejh]

Yeah you're right - I just looked at who Mammut sponsor and McColl is probably the only one with a chance of making an impression on Hubble. My other points stand.

[JMB]

Yeah you're right - I just looked at who Mammut sponsor and McColl is probably the only one with a chance of making an impression on Hubble. My other points stand.

Jan Hojer (who did AD for the series) could probably put a good dent in it. Sickeningly-strong 8C boulderer should find an 8B/+ boulder problem on a rope to be up his alley as far as routes go.

[r-man]

Sean was hardly a bad choice. Climbed 8C and flashed 8B.

[tc]

I think the mistake he made was not wearing his £1250 Mammut Eiger Raven Tor Extreme Superexpensive Nordwand Pro Alpinist Jacket and Pants With Integrated Knee Pad Combo. It was wet, after all. He could have sold his car and bought one in Hathersage.

[Teaboy]

I'm surprised more top climbers don't visit these shores to enjoy our hospitality and warm welcome.

[rodma]

I'm surprised more top climbers don't visit these shores to enjoy our hospitality and warm welcome.

especially when given our fantastic average 325 days a year rain free climate

[tc]

That's probably why they forget to bring their £1250 Mammut 325 Eiger Raven Tor Extreme Superexpensive Nordwand Pro Alpinist Jacket and Pants With Integrated Knee Pad Combo

[Doylo]

Being British is all about being grumpy and scathing 

[tc]

...and wet.

[SA Chris]

like Hubble was

[Bonjoy]

or wasn't

[SA Chris]

exactlee

[Muenchener]

That's probably why they forget to bring their £1250 Mammut 325 Eiger Raven Tor Extreme Superexpensive Nordwand Pro Alpinist Jacket and Pants With Integrated Knee Pad Combo

Or at the very least a pair of those shorts with built-in harness and kneepads that drop down at the push of a button.

[AndyR]

I'm surprised more top climbers don't visit these shores to enjoy our hospitality and warm welcome.

I think they're drawn more by the stunning, aesthetic and soaring lines offered by the UK's hardest challenges...

[Stubbs]

Haha like Canada has any hard aesthetic sport climbing to offer... oh... wait...

[Potash]

Dreamcatcher...

In a grotty cave next(ish) to the freeway.

They needed the soundtrack to drown out the noise of the trucks.

[petejh]

Still, I wish we had some caves as grotty!

[tc]

like Hubble was

What's a Hubble?

[tomtom]

like Hubble was

What's a Hubble?

Its one grade harder than a Gubble.

[Grubes]

Pretty harsh description of dreamcatcher

I did not think it was grotty and don't remember hearing the traffic on the sea to sky when stood there. Plus it's next to singularity which looks an amazing feature.

[SA Chris]

like Hubble was

What's a Hubble?

Its one grade harder than a Gubble.

And comes just before Bubble.

[JMB]

Interesting reading that article with hindsight. Moony didn't get his way re the grading scale. I bet Super Plafond and Bronx aren't even regarded as soft for 8c+ now.

Don't worry, the Swedish Idiot is on the case and will single-handedly fix all the grades. From 8spray:

"Action Directe was set up in 1991 by Wolfgang Güllich and it is considered as the first 9a. It has been done 16 times but only Alex Megos has done it during the last 2.5 years. The other first seven 9a's, see below, have just, in total, been repeated a couple of times the last five years. Add to that that the latest of the four repeats of the first 8c+, but where also 9a has been mentioned, Hubble by Ben Moon in 1989, was done five years ago and you might wonder why are the first 9a's very seldom repeated nowadays?

Here are the seven first 9a's, after Action Direct, which have just in total been repeated a couple times the last five years.
1993: Om by Alexander Huber, Hugh by Fred Rouhling, Bain de Sang by Fred Nicole
1994: Weisse Rose by Huber
1995: Akira 9b by Fred Rouhling,
1996: Open Air by Huber, The Big Ben by Neil Carson

First of all, the FA guys and all the repeaters long time ago, should be given all the credit. Josune Bereziartu did Bain de Sang 2002 and Ondra has suggested an upgrade for Open Air to 9a+. During 2014, some 60 guys will probably make some 100 9a ascents but are they equally hard as the first 9a's and even Action Directe was originally graded XI which was converted to 8c+/9a.

The possible explenations for why we see more and more 9a ascents but less of the first ones might of course be grade inflation but also that the popular 9a's of today seems to be steeper and longer more endurance based challenges. With all great indoors gyms, it might feel just easier to focus on endurance training. If Güllich Moon and Huber would have tried Era Vella, they might have said it was 9a+.

However, as the grade scale is based on how hard the community thinks different routes are, it might be time to do carry on with some more upgrades of Huber's routes and officially also call Hubble 9a. What do you think? On the picture by Huberbaum, Alex Huber does Om, which originally was 8c+ but Ondra said 9a and possibly, it is a stiff one compared to the 2014 9a standard, or even 9a+?"

[a dense loner]

What do I think? I think jens is short on news. No one can be as big a tit as he makes himself out to be, ergo not a tit at all. Half intelligent really

[jwi]

Just be glad that it would be too much effort to read the swedish version of 8a, that's all I'm saying.

[2 Tru]

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere. Mammut have moved on to classic boulder problems. Done slightly better in my opinion, but no UK problem yet for people to moan about McColl's obvious dab and use of tick marks.