[Ged]

Bloody hell that's some going by the Ibbotson boys.  8c+ at 14, that must be reasonably significant on a global scale.  I bumped into those lot at Montsant at the end of 2014, and they were doing 7a/7c+ respectively I think.  That's some decent progress!

[spidermonkey09]

Caff wrote a good blog about running into the Ibbertsons in Oliana. Might be some route details on there. Absolute beasts the pair of them.

Met them in Ceuse and they were really great lads as well. Sounds like an amazing year away.

[Ru]

Make it Funky and Evolution:

Make it Funky had a sika'd on edge on the crux when it was first done, apparently, which made it a bit easier. I don't know how many of the early slew of ascents used the sika'd hold in the mid 90's, but it was gone by the early 2000s and was gone when I did it in 2002. It's not changed since then.

Evolution was originally graded 8c+, downgraded possibly by Sellars or possibly after Steve McClure did it as his 4th or 5th grade 8 (or something like that). It was always 8c+. There was a sika'd hold at the top that has crumbled away (I think it was not sika but car body filler putty or similar). This has left a smaller hold, but has not significantly affected the difficulty and not bumped it up a grade.

[Doylo]

Bloody hell that's some going by the Ibbotson boys.  8c+ at 14, that must be reasonably significant on a global scale.  I bumped into those lot at Montsant at the end of 2014, and they were doing 7a/7c+ respectively I think.  That's some decent progress!

Well Ondra did 9a at 13 so it ain’t bad going!

[Doylo]

Make it Funky and Evolution:

Make it Funky had a sika'd on edge on the crux when it was first done, apparently, which made it a bit easier. I don't know how many of the early slew of ascents used the sika'd hold in the mid 90's, but it was gone by the early 2000s and was gone when I did it in 2002. It's not changed since then.

Evolution was originally graded 8c+, downgraded possibly by Sellars or possibly after Steve McClure did it as his 4th or 5th grade 8 (or something like that). It was always 8c+. There was a sika'd hold at the top that has crumbled away (I think it was not sika but car body filler putty or similar). This has left a smaller hold, but has not significantly affected the difficulty and not bumped it up a grade.

Sellars I think. He did it fairly quick and reckoned Liquid Ambar was much harder (didn’t do that). Evolution fitted him well I think.

[gme]

I think Nic did it in 6 ish days at a time when he had already put a lot into what became progress after Jerry stole it.

There was a little bit of niggle going on but i think he genuinely thought it was easier than LA and progress so 8c it was.

[Wood FT]

Speaking of extensions at the Tor - Char Williams - Mecca Extension 2015

Good blog from the time about The Process and The Journey http://themightychickpea.blogspot.com/2016/01/highlights-of-2015-part-iii.html

It's not hard to see how climbing mags have gone down the pan when there is such incredible writing on offer for free.
Is that Blog in the UKB blog pile?

Forgot how good that is. Nice to read again.

+1, please get another project on the go

[JohnM]

I think Eddie Barbour needs to be added to the list. He climbed an 8c called China Beach in Rumney.

[remus]

I think Eddie Barbour needs to be added to the list. He climbed an 8c called China Beach in Rumney.

DOne https://github.com/bourbonspecial/UKStrongPeople/blob/master/men_routes.md

[JohnM]

So it seems around a 100 or so people have climbed 8c and above in the UK. It would be interesting to know if that was relatively good or bad as a proportion of the climbing population. 8a.nu recently predicted that 2572 people have climbed 8c and above globally (https://www.8a.nu/forum/editorial/how-many-have-done-8a-and-harder). Therefore, we (the UK) represent 3.88%. I wonder if the number of people per climbing population is significantly higher in other countries. I would assume it would be in say Austria and Slovenia and possibly even in Germany, France, Spain and Italy too but it is hard to know for sure.

[Kingy]

Interesting stats John! I reckon 3.88% of the world's 8c climbers ain't bad for our tiny island. Especially when you factor in our rain soaked crags, hard grades etc... I have no idea how this stacks up against other countries but would tend to agree Slovenia and Spain are probably in a different league!

[cowboyhat]

As Robins once put it to me ‘there are only four crags in the uk with hard routes on; two are south facing, one seeps badly and the other is a sea cliff’

A counter argument is population within proximity of said hard routes. Id guess that more climbers here live within an hours drive than in most countries.

Though it probably levels out with out with the distractions caused here by gritstone and the like.

[Doylo]

Quite hard work isn’t it.  Malham and the Tor often too hot in summer. Kilnsey often seems a nightmare, getting close to something then a couple of days rain and it’s wet. The Diamond and Pigeons are a nightmare and LPT’s tidal and not good in a hot summer either.

[Kingy]

We may as well all go surfing instead! 

[gme]

Re openeing a whole other topic again now but I dont get that argument at all. Also think the cut off should be 9a now. *c is piss in the grand scheme of things.

To counter the "its because we dont have any routes in the UK" excuses just look at the list of 9as done by Americans. In total around 200 routes of that grade climbed and 123 are in Europe. Add that fact that to get to a lot of the crags in the US they have to travel greater distances than we would to get anywhere in Europe makes us look even more like we are moaning. 

Yes Sharma has moved to Spain which tips the figures a bit but he wasnt living there at first and Tom Bolger does the uk ones as well.

[Kingy]

I agree, we could do better. 8c's get onsighted quite often these days. Ondra even admits in a recent Black Diamond video 'It is even possible to fall on 8c!' 

Unfortunately, the stronger climbers seem to go away over the summer to France/ Spain so the hard UK sport routes don't get much attention as the most able are elsewhere. E.g. Northern Lights is not getting widespread attention. Kilnsey is quiet June - August. Rainshadow gets a lot of attention in the spring then that seems it for the year.

Could a mod maybe split this off into a separate topic?

[Doylo]

The yanks seem to have more trust funds. 

[Doylo]

Also think the cut off should be 9a now. *c is piss in the grand scheme of things.

As George Orwell said -‘ all 8cs are piss but some are more piss than others. ‘

[gme]

 Once a grade is onsighted or climbed by a 50 year old it can no longer be thought of as hard.

[Doylo]

Best start the list at 9a+ then. Gonna be a short one .

[gme]

Makes Remus job easier I guess.

[gme]

I only suggested 9a to save our country’s embarrassment.

[cowboyhat]

You’re right, but what difference does it make whether Britannia Rules the waves?

Remus likes a list. I haven’t seen anywhere mention of it being compared to anything else?

Did anyone ever, when climbing their hardest route, exclaim KING AND COUNTRY! TAKE THAT YOU FRENCH FROGGY BASTARDS

[monkoffunk]

Jerry?

[cowboyhat]

Yeah must have been pretty intoxicating to hang around with him when he was the best.


Off topic but IiRC Aidan Roberts repeated one of those 8c/8c+ things of Greshams that goes through the roof at Kilnsey. Info on the internet.