UKC

I mentioned the other day the possibility that the upper grades in bouldering are being condensed. What used to be a solid 8A+, 8B or 8B+ is now one grade lower, for example Slashface, 8B+ -> 8B, Shadowfax, 8B+ -> 8B, Ganymede takeover, 8B+ -> 8A+, La Soucoupe 8B/+ -> 8A+, and so on. I'm sure some...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=55028

Some of these replies were posted on Björn's old blog website, and so won't be from registered UKC users

Nice man.

I agree in your speculation in that perhaps 8B and above, isn't as hard as it used to be.

Well, ofcourse it is still as hard as earlier, but more and more climbers are getting stronger.

It would be weird if climbers didn't evolve. Just by the fact that more people are getting into climbing (especialy bouldering), the top level of climbers will increase.

That has been the "evolution" in every other sport and it would be very strange if climbing would be any different.

It is also easier for every new generation of climbers to get better, as the knowledge of other climbers about training and beta are passed on (hopefully).

To me all the whole debate about grade inflation just feels old. Ofcourse, there will allways pop up new areas that are either helium graded or sandbagged.

Thankfully as more and more climbers are traveling around the world trying new areas. This will in the end make grades more even, neither helium graded or sandbagged.

Right, a grade is a way to try to tell how hard a given problem or route is on a scale, not a measure of difficulty in itself, as this is very relative.
I hope I got that right... pretty confusing.