In reply to Michael Ryan:
To answer your question, there is a new guidebook being written. Wide canvassing of opinion from ascensionists of the route gave a general consensus at 8b+. It's most likely to go in the new guide at this grade. Caff thought Predator was harder, but that's a fairly extreme view!
The grade change has nothing to do with Emma making an ascent of this route, and I thought this section of the article:
"it is a shame that it takes a historically significant event to catalyse a public change of grade on a route that has been in existence for twenty years."
and Blue Straggler's comment above are a bit unfortunate. The downgrade of Unjustified has been on the cards for some time really, probably ever since Al Cassidy's ascent. The reason this has emerged now is simply that it's the first time in a few years that an ascent of Unjustified has been at all newsworthy.
Indeed, the biggest shame in the reporting of this news story is how the grade of the route has been treated. The standard of reporting of this story is typical of climbing news - state the facts, show some pics, a quick interview with the climber. If internet news sources had taken the trouble to ask a few activists for their opinion on the ascent a more nuanced picture would have emerged.
For a start, the route would probably never have been reported at 8c, and Emma wouldn't have to deal with all the fallout. But also, the ascent could have been put into context with other top-class ascents by women climbers. Basically, the grades of almost all the hard routes climbed by British women are hot topics of debate. Kalea Borroka (8b/+, Lucy Creamer), Unjustified (8b+/c, Emma) and even Mecca (8b/b+, Mina L-W) are all considered candidates for downgrades by those who have climbed them recently, or have already been downgraded in some guides. Interestingly, only Fish Eye (8c, Hazel F) is not considered a downgrade candidate. Despite that, people who have tried both suggest that Unjustified and Fish Eye are of similar difficulty.
This complexity shows two things. First - the grade is
never the whole story and we should probably start to expect journalism that delves beyond a date, a route name and a grade. Second - although there are now four British women to have climbed 8b+/8c, all the discussion about the grade serves to hide the fact that Emma's ascent is ground-breaking, and probably as hard as any British woman has climbed to-date.
Emma Twyford talks grades, car crashes, relationships and more in this UKC Interview.
