[andy moles]

Anyway, like I said, I've not really been able to work out what is actually at stake in this thread, so who knows.

From humble beginnings as an argument over whether E4 makes any sense as a grade for a 7B+ boulder problem with a highball finish, Nemo has struck out boldly to fix the entire application of the British grading system, conveniently glossing over the small matter of the grade meaning two different things in the arcane bracket of E5 to E8.

I think that more or less sums it up?

[jwi]

I quite like the french use of obligatory ( 7b(6c+ obl) for that. Letting you know you can frig it 😁

The obligatory grade is amazingly useful to figure out how hard it is to get up a route. It is also pretty "compressed" in the higher grades. It is really really rare to find a route where it is harder than fr 7b between the bolts.

[crimpinainteasy]

One thing I find very appealing about the trad grading system is how it incorporated the difficulty, the exposure, the security, the danger etc

I think that font grades are let down by only considering the physical difficulty (opinions differ on whether they consider the technical difficulty bit honestly as far as I can tell they don't).

I'd love it if we had a bouldering grade system which incorporated other elements.

I disagree, it's hard enough to get multiple people to agree on a grade as is. Things like technical skill required are even more subjective since for example what might be a piss heelhook for one person could feel desperate for another. Grades are only a rough guideline at best anyway, and trying to grade based on factors other than how hard it is to execute the boulder relative to other bouders of a similar style is just adding unnecessary layers of complexity imo.

[Nemo]

@Andy Moles:
I guess I asked for that with the way that last post started, which didn't really come out right.
Anyway, "stuck in grumpily" feels a bit more appropriate than "striking out boldly". 
And this started out as one conversation in a different thread, and then got split out to a general thread about E grades.  So, sure, I broadened the discussion out a bit.