In reply to Bart Shaw:
> (In reply to johncoxmysteriously) I'm impressed by the number of people, not just the folk mentioned in this article and other well known names but a seemingly large number of dark horses who climb at this level. Is this a change in standards or has it always been the same?
Amongst my peers there are a fair few people who have on-sighted Welsh E7 or Lakes E6 (same thing) over the past 10-15 years. The difference is most of the keen, younger climbers now have blogs, so you hear about it more.
As for AD, I checked the gear on abseil and led it with no falls, in 2000. It's about F7a climbing, very airy and with tons of RPs, none of which are that inspiring. A superb route, but the equivalent of on-sighting E5 15 years ago?