UKC

Despite a trainspotter-like knowledge of top-end sports/trad/alpine climbing, I seem to have largely overlooked what goes on amongst the pad people.

What's the hardest Font grade climbed? 8c+? Is 9a a possibility? And what's the consensus on the hardest problems in (a)Scotland, (b)the UK, (c)the world?

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:


http://eliteukbinventory.blogspot.co.uk/

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:
About the hardest font grade climbed, not sure if there are still any 8c+'s they all seem to have been downgraded,and 9a seems unlikely as 8c hasn't been consolidated yet. There's a great article (I think by Nalle) about it which is worth seeking out.

In reply to bentley's biceps:

Thanks for that. So Gaskins' North Lancs testpieces appear to be the hardest Brit problems, with Natural Method perhaps now vying with them. I had no idea that Dave was so far up the bouldering bandwidth; he's clearly the ultimate all-rounder.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:

Worldwide, several problems originally graded 8C+ have been downgraded by repeaters. Several others have had no repeats to confirm the grade. The exception is Christian Core's Gioia, which was first given 8C. Adam Ondra repeated and suggested 8C+.

In the UK, Gaskins stands out above the rest with his three 8C's and a short 9a+ sport route which is reputedly of 8C difficulty. One or two other British boulderers have climbed 8C's abroad, but it's still a rarified grade.

There also seem to be a growing number of UK boulderers hitting 8B+, and there are 8B+ problems in most of the popular bouldering areas (peak, yorkshire, northumberland, lakes, wales, scotland).

In reply to Jamie Bankhead: Also, it depends what you mean by a boulder problem. Would you say traverses count? Because I *think* that there's a traverse at a crag near me that gets a F9a, as in a sport route grade... I don't even know how that compares to bouldering grades, particularly, but I just thought to put it out there.

In reply to Madden:
>F9a, as in a sport route grade... I don't even know how that compares to bouldering grades

8B+

In reply to Jamie Bankhead: Lets not forget Onda's Terranova, which he graded V16, 8C+.

In reply to PeterJuggler:

Given Ondra's form, it's not unlikely that this will stick at 8C+, but this is not the first problem for which that grade has been suggested by the FA.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:

Given Ondra's current form and superhuman climbing tekkers, I wonder how he'd fair on Shadow Play, or any other Gaskins problems...

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:

I think its difficult to say what the single hardest problem is as there are so many hard problems that have seen so little or no attempts/repeats, that grades cannot be confirmed. For example there are the numerous unrepeated Gaskins 8Cs, Paul Robinsons Lucid Dreaming 8C, Fred Nicole's unrepeated Le Boa 8C, Ondra's unrepeated Terranova 8C+ etc.. all of which are definitely nails hard, but haven't seen sufficient attempts/repeats to call them the hardest. Another prime example would be Fred Nicole's Oliphant's Dawn in the Rocklands (which he never graded just suggested around 8B - 8C), which has seen attempts by ondra, and supposedly daniel woods & paul robinson and so on, all of whom couldn't touch it, ondra even quoted 'after one hour of sessioning I walked away having done none of the moves. And I heard that bunch of people walked away with same result. All my esteem to you, Fred!', so must be pretty damn hard!

The only ones I can think of that could be confirmed to be up there as the hardest (I'm sure there are loads of others) would be Christian Cores Gioia, which as mentioned above Ondra suggested an upgrade to 8C+ and has also seen failed attempts by daniel woods amongst others who all suggested it was extremely difficult. Also Nalle's Livin Large 8C in the rocklands has yet to see a repeat and again had been tried by loads of very strong climbers, including Ondra.