In reply to Offwidth:
> (In reply to victim of mathematics)
>
> Some guidebooks opened at random: North Wales Rock: Grochan, HVS 5b beats 5a by 4 to 2; North Highland North Rhue 5a beats 5b 4 to 3; Yorkshire Lime Malham 5b beats 5a 12 to 11 with a 5c and a 6a. Bosigran 5a beats 5b 6 to 5. You must climb too much at pembrooke the natural home of the HVS 5a.
So I was bored this afternoon and picked 4 guidebooks at random and recorded the technical grades of all the VSs, HVSs and E1s in each (actually I only did the Eastern side of Borrowdale because I got bored).
Mean tech grades:
Symonds Yat
VS - just below middle of 4c
HVS - bang on the middle of 5a
E1 - 3/5 of the way up 5b
The Cuillin
VS - 2/5 of the way up 4c
HVS - 3/10 of the way up 5a
E1 - 3/10 of the way up 5b
Borrowdale
VS - just below the middle of 4c
HVS - bang on the middle of 5a
E1 - 2/5 of the way up 5b
Stanage
VS - 8/5 of the way up 4c
HVS - 1/5 of the way up 5b (!)
E1 - right at the top of 5b
And as for the width of the HVS grade, the standard deviations are:
Symonds Yat 0.69 of a tech grade
The Cuillin 0.69 of a tech grade
Borrowdale 0.46 of a tech grade
Stanage 0.88 of a tech grade
So HVSs are technically harder and the grade is wider at Stanage than in the rest of the UK (according to my representative sample).
This is definitely the coolest thing I've ever posted on the internet.