In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:
> My mother is 89 she will never climb Font 7a no matter how hard she tries. I could find tens of millions of people in the UK who would also have no chance no matter how hard they tried. Therefore the statement is demonstrably false.
Indeed.
On the other hand, I'd arge that Font 7A is not a grade reserved exclusively for super-elite climbers, and that it's potentially attainable for more people than maybe realize it.
My evidence for this is that I've climbed Font 7A -- N.B. only a single Font 7A outdoors, by means of finding one that really really suited me and projecting it over multiple days spread over the course of a holiday.
For reference, I was 39 at the time (41 now), didn't start climbing until my mid-thirties, I'm flexible, lightweight but not especially strong (can do a few pull-ups but only a few, generally weaker than many people I boulder indoors with), okay crimp strength, not bad technique (if I do say so myself) but also fairly clumsy. So, some advantages, some disadvantages, but I think it's fair to say not an elite climber.
So I wouldn't say "If I can do it anyone can do it". But if I can do it, it's probably attainable for a lot of people who (like me) don't start out seeing it as a possible goal.
And it was really hard. And getting to a level where I could regularly climb outdoors 7A (rather than cherry-picking and projecting a single one) would be a whole different level of work and training, and might or might not be possible for me.
The whole "anyone can do 7A if you just put in a bit of effort, anything below that is a warm-up, if you can't it's just because you're not trying" blah-blah-blah is thoroughly obnoxious, I agree.
And depressing/discouraging to anyone who actually finds 7A (or 6C, or 6B ...) really difficult.
But on the other hand, I'd say 7A (at least getting one 7A) wouldn't be an unrealistic/impossible goal for The Horroffice to have or work towards. It may be more within reach than you think.