[Nibile]

all have been done in spain.
i mean, throughout the whole world, just in spain.
 

[r-man]

Well yes, but then most of them have been done by two people, Paxti and Ramon, who are both Spanish...

The crazy thing is that now 8c+ onsight seems like it must only be a few years away...

And then 9a will be the next challenge. The mind boggles. I'm getting dizzy.




And of course, I haven't a clue what any of these grades mean.

[Palomides]

Y'know, freakclimbing.com say that there have been 5 8c onsights now (Yes, all in Spain).

But a quick  for "8b+ onsight" suggests that there have been more than can easily be counted - in Italy as well.

Is 8b+ really that much easier than 8c? OMG I too have no idea what I'm talking about. I can't believe I just wrote that. MOre coffee please 

[moose]

Is 8b+ really that much easier than 8c? OMG I too have no idea what I'm talking about. I can't believe I just wrote that. MOre coffee please 

I have just had a similar moment of "I am just so unqualified to pass judgement on these matters, but...." whilst reading an article in Climbing (the US mag) that comprised brief interviews with women who have climbed 5.14b (8c).  Just struck me as somewhat disproportionate the number of them who had achieved their goals at eastern European crags rather than had projected the big-name French / Spanish classics (Osp seemed to be very popular).   Not entirely surprising as a probably disproportionate number of hard female climbers are slovenian and probably want to stay on home ground... but   Then I had a lucid moment, realised that I am both shite and male and got back to worrying about the yorkshire weather forecast and V7s...

[r-man]

Then I had a lucid moment, realised that I am both shite and male and got back to worrying about the yorkshire weather forecast and V7s...

That's the thing isn't it? You see the pictures and hear the news, and think wow...that's amazing. Then you think, ok, so how does that compare to what I did at the weekend - well, I played on both grit and limestone, dodging the damp, and managed to huff and puff until I got to the top of a few things beginning with 7... It's different worlds really. I guess this is where the ukc refrain "but what's he ever done on grit?" comes from. It would after all be great to see just how damn good they really are, in a context we can actually comprehend.

Still, there's something strangely satisfying about hearing that standards are being pushed, even if the experience is so alien that all you can grasp is a number. Same as when someone breaks the 100m record - Wow! Amazing! But actually, if there wasn't a stop clock to prove it, I'd have no idea that what just happened was better than anyone had ever before managed.

The world needs heroes maybe. Once upon a time, sungs were sung about great warriors who slew the giants of the dark forest and the beasts of the wild mountain. Nowadays, numbers replace the stuffed animals as trophies of victory. Internet banter usurps the songs of old, with rumours twisting and changing in a digital world every bit as prone to exaggeration and mystery and tall tales as the ballads of yore. Numbers are meaningless things in isolation...but of course, they are eternally surrounded by stories ravenous as vultures.

There are those who say grade-chasing is missing the point. I always thought this seemed like the utterance of a closed mind.

[RASTATA]

I have an opportunity to watch/see those Slovenian girls climb. And all I can say they are very very strong and that surly know how to climb. They probably could climb an 8c even in France or Spain for that matter, but they are firstly competitors and don't have much time for work on routs.
 And BTW why even go to France/Spain for RP if you have world class climbing at home? ( Thats Osp/Misja pec)

[moose]

BTW why even go to France/Spain for RP if you have world class climbing at home? ( Thats Osp/Misja pec)

I wasn't dismissing the quality of the climbing... more acknowledging my own curiosity and ignorance about these areas.  Was their popularity in the article mainly due to convenience (especially important I'd guess as a lot of the eastern european climbers seemed to concentrate on indoor competition)?  Though I vaguely recall some very good junior climbers have had success at Osp/Misja too? So does the climbing style there perhaps particularly suit women and others with a "gymnast build" i.e. tending to slim with good crimp-strength (but perhaps less brute power) or are they not home to many "reachy" hard routes? 

Regarding why France / Spain... I just assumed that the allure of a big-name "tick" (e.g. one of the mega-famous Buoux, Verdon, Ceuse, El Chorro, Siurana classics) might often outweigh any inconvenience etc.  I know from my meagre experience that it is often a route's lack of intrusion on my "day-to-day" climbing that provides the mojo for wanting to ultimately climb it..though, that said, I don't often get around to climbing those routes and probably never would if they needed any kind of "projecting"!

[saltbeef]

killian fischuber did a short one in austria if i'm not mistaken.
spain probably gets more than anywhere else because the climate seems more predictable, the routes are longer... blah blah they're still really hard.

[Houdini]

Once upon a time, sungs were sung about great warriors who slew the giants of the dark forest and the beasts of the wild mountain. Nowadays, numbers replace the stuffed animals as trophies of victory. Internet banter usurps the songs of old, with rumours twisting and changing in a digital world every bit as prone to exaggeration and mystery and tall tales as the ballads of yore. Numbers are meaningless things in isolation...but of course, they are eternally surrounded by stories ravenous as vultures.

Yeah man, The Forest of Doom was reasonable, but I never did crack Citadel of Chaos.

[r-man]

Google tells me you may be referring to the fighting fantasy book series. Oddly though, I initially thought you meant:



Like I said, the world needs heroes...