UKC

Having recently ticked his 1000th 8a, Steve McClure writes about what he feels is 'the magic grade'...

8a. THE magic grade. There's something special about the number, it has a certain ring to it and any route with an 8 in the grade is universally recognised as hard. Grade 7s are relatively achievable, but 8a and above is a different story. A dream for many, a reality for few!

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That's mint, really fun read! I can't believe Zeke was his first 8th grade route, very Steve. I assume he actually did that on the 1st October rather than 31st September (as September's only got 30 days)?

Brilliant. Well done, Steve.

I wonder how many E7's and above he's done?

Great article. 1000 8a routes is mind-boggling, even if he acknowledges others have done a lot more.

Have I got my maths wrong? Looking at the chart of 8s and above assuming this is what he is referring to…. He’s actually climbed 1658 routes of 8 and above?? 
Legend!! 

The reds already include the blues, so you're probably counting the blues twice.

Congratulations Steve!

Reading the article brings back memories of Steve's 'Magic Grades' series of articles on planetfear.com back in the day. I think the grades he chose were E1, E3, E5, 7b+, 8a, 8b+, and 9a. The articles were lost when planetfear disappeared, but if you have time you can hunt them down on the Internet Archive. Here's the E1 one: https://web.archive.org/web/20071026233759/http://www.planetfear.com/articl...

That series of articles was really inspiring for a younger me. I haven't managed to tick all of the 'magic grades', but I'm 9 years younger than Steve, so there's hope yet! (Though I think the chances of reaching 9a are slim-to-none!)

In one of the photos Steve is climbing 'Gerrymandering by the Right', Costa Blanca.

Does anyone know which crag this is at?

Haha! I was one of those 17yos and have a photo of you doing Liqueur de Coco somewhere Steve, if I remember right you wrenched your shoulder doing it?  Great times. Glad to see you're still climbing  hard 💪K.S.

Amazing - happy birthday Steve!

Almost enough for the armchair experts of UKC to allow you to comment on grades...

Hmm, good point! Not sure exactly why.. amazed you spotted that as I never did. Bit long ago to investigate! At least I have proof I actually did it (observers as opposed to video, barely invented then!)

The route Gerrymandering is in The Lost World, which is above Sella and near Benidorm in The Costa Blanca. Rich Mayfield from The Orange House bolted it and knows all about it. Awesome place, you won't meet anyone else there!!

Ah mate.. Kev yeah?? Wow what a trip that was. 

Yeh Steve, Kev here. I'll have to dig it out and scan it, though I know the quality is dire being on a disposable kodak point and shoot 🤣 

Awesome.

I think we all agree that 53 is still young enough for Ste to pull his finger out and get that 9b+ in the bag No excuses now youth!  

Why the loose shoes?

I suspect they're merely not done up rather than loose - in a similar vein but 3 million grades lower, I've got a pair of pinks that I rarely need to actually do up.