In reply to martin heywood:
Grades + Style + Year.....
Obviously it could be taken that i am a bit biased to Ian as he is a great friend of mine, but i always think it is hard to compare climbers that essentially operated in a differant era.
When Ian climbed in the Uk on a regular basis he was in a league of his own. At the time his RP of True North was probably the fastest ascent of an 8c in the world. He on sighted 8b in Europe and the UK. He was European Champion, no other uk climber has ever come close to this. In his good trad year he os around 14 E7's in a time before people realy thought it was possible.
After winning the Euros Ian essentially retired and only now on sights 8a and 8a+.
I am not biased though every great climber in the UK has his place, like Jerry and Ben before Ian, and now Steve Mac who is the best sport climber in the Uk at this moment. They have all been simply world class in their time.
Gaz