UKC

The new BMC guides to the Peak District contain a 'graded' list of routes in the back. Are these in some kind of subjective order of difficulty? ( they seem to be, with Three Pebble Slab (HVS 5a) for example appearing at the bottom of the E1 list and The Toy (E1 5c) at the top in the Froggatt guide).

The reason I ask is that it's useful for putting a training plan together if I know what routes are considered 'hard' or 'easy' for the grade ( without going through the UKC logbooks which is another way of doing it ).

Cheers,
Andrew.

In reply to planetmarshall:


Yep, they are! Hence endless fun in arguing about such lists!

In reply to planetmarshall:

This is also useful, being (I think) a distillation of UKC voting:

http://www.rockfax.com/databases/graded.php?area=1

In reply to Coel Hellier:

Ah that's useful, thanks.

In reply to Coel Hellier:
Not true. Its closer to UKC votes than the BMC guide but is still modified by editorial opinion (especially on grade boundaries). You can check the voting for yourself by clicking on the routes and see it doesn't always match. Comparing UKC votes is flawed because you get the obvious bias effects at grade boundaries and then the fact that different people are voting on easy VS climbs on Stanage compared to Curbar VS brutes, leading to the overgrading of the former and undergrading of the latter. Its only fun in any case because few individuals climb at average standards we all have comparitive strengths and weaknesses (graded lists are good for highlighting these though).

In reply to Offwidth:


Well yes, there are folk who think that Veranda Buttress is only 4c!

In reply to Coel Hellier:

Who know Coel, who know They also know the normal way its done is 5b or 5c.

In reply to Coel Hellier:

Just did some quick processing of the Western Grit list. Of the 461 climbs, 209 are contested at the grade, a far higher proportion than the Eastern Grit list.

In reply to Offwidth:

Sure, but it doesn't need to be perfectly objective ( and it's never going to be ). I was just looking for a rough idea so I can build a progression pyramid. ( I could further subdivide routes by style, but I don't want to be too anal about it ).

In reply to planetmarshall:

You would be better off looking for lists of routes of particular style. Thats not anal, its pragmatic as the progression of difficult will more likely match what you want to improve.