I think British trad climbing has roots in/is influenced by the British class system, because it's unavoidable like the water you swim in (and something I don't like which is perhaps why I'd be happy for the E-grade to be adjusted to get rid of the tech part)
Interesting perspective! Can you expand, I'm not seeing the links myself? Obviously mountaineering has upper-class roots in the Uk, but by the time tech grades were imported (from font, in the seventies right?) my impression was that a lot of the movers and shakers were working class.
Otherwise, yeah some of that is true, some of the time. I don't think it's the whole story at all. I don't think I'm particularly 'attached to... a wider idea of being British', for starters.
I'm not sure about the class system, although I think it (the trad grading system) evokes a sense of belonging to the British Isles like reading the poetry of T S Elliot, Wordsworth or the writing of Tolkien. The traditional grading system is evocative of this in a way which would be poorly represented by adopting any other system, a bit like using a Rock Fax guide as opposed to something more authentic / sincere. A shit map of a map. In the book 'You and Your Profile, Identity after Authenticity' the authors discuss pre-enlightenment ways of being in the world as having a strong degree of sincerity - this referred to knowing your place in the world - like John the Blacksmith's son John who was to be a Blacksmith. Maybe the traditional grade is related to the class system at this level of sincerity. You don't have to be attached to the wider idea of being British when it's implicit in your sense of belonging to the place.
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