UKC

Good stuff. As for the "surely you can't get a 12m E9 7B even if the climbing is nails?" comment, this is definitely a case by case basis thing. 10-12m is bloody high, particularly if the crux is near the top, not to mention the landing and whether there's gear on the route. 

Without a guide to hand can you add some context of how the route was originally climbed and graded, was it done pre/without pads?

It was done originally by Andy earl, he used a couple of pads (which were pretty shit at the time I bet) he got a couple of decent cams in just before the top out. 

There are some photos online of Andy using very thin pads and poor runners at the top. We don't seem to have a UKC report from 2003 or any images. 

http://www.climbonline.co.uk/Articles/Andy%20Earl/The%20Dark%20Side%202003....

Beautiful climbing on those walls, not that I could do much of it.
Equally beautiful photos from Mark Savage.

on a side note, how is Andy now?

Bravo to Tim & Alex.

surely there is video of this to watch.

I don't know Andy, but I could guess he might not want that discussed on a forum.........

The Manic Street Whatses?

or then again

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2015/12/in_the_bubble_-_andy_earls_story-70...

That photo of the cut loose is brilliant.  Love the simplicity of it.  The lack of colour really adds to the drama for me too.   Future iconic photo?

Manic Street Peaches? 

Are these a tribute act?.I mean the manics are a bit meeeh, surely they don't have a tribute act! 

You "in theory" could get a perfectly safe E9, as safe as well protected VS. It would just need to be stupidly hard.  

Exactly, an adjectival grade can be about danger, or difficulty, or both.

Of course. And just because it was less than 12m doesn't mean folk are going to boulder it out.

Really inspiring climbing from the 3 of them

”'We're not looking for high E grades, we're looking for longer climbs of outstanding quality and difficult moves in relative safety; The Dark Side delivered. Why have two good moves when you could have ten? Highball problems are the perfect answer.'”

Perfect, very motivating just as the weather turns crisp 

Also been wondering, in the round up of the day’s climbing for the “pair”, a third person’s ascents are also mentioned named only as “Dan”... but it isn’t clear who this is... is it Dan Varian? Or someone else? Or have I missed them being mentioned!?

Whatever the grading system used Sign of the Devil looks:

a) Brilliant

b) Very high

c) A perfect route/high ball 

When you are as old or as knackered as me there's no such thing as a highball, there are boulder problems and routes, anything over 12 feet high represents a significant risk of injury regardless of the number of pads!

Yes, the same evening Dan Varian warmed up on Over the Edge, on- sighted Peak Technique then did the Tube, followed by a hybrid Morgan/Merlin; the bottom of the former into the top of the latter.

Steve

That pic of the cut loose is absolutely outstanding.  

Tough week for someone who doesn’t know our grading system.

The other day we had an E8 that’s supposedly f7a and now a Font 7C+ that was originally given E9.

f7a, Font 7C+ and only one E grade between them. No wonder Team America were confused. 

What's really impressive about this is not that they highballed it, but that they did it ground up. It is way, way more difficult in this style and way more scary (even with a lot of pads). Even if the top is OK, if you're pumped and you don't know the moves then you could easily screw it up and fall off awkwardly. If you have something dialled you can just motor through without thinking.

Hats off to these two!

Andy had pre inspected Dark Side and took one cam of the appropriate size however on the actual ascent he changed his sequence and found that he could'nt place it where he expected so he just rammed the poor cam into the break and continued...

You can read the full Andy Earl story here http://www.climbonline.co.uk/andy_earl.htm

I remember positioning a rucksack with a coat stuffed in it over a rock under Transformer or similar at Bowden in 1982/3 and wondering of people would consider it cheating. 

Times have changed...thankfully!

Was it not Allan Austin's maxim that if you could jump off the crux and walk away it couldn't be more than VS?

Therein lies the birth of many a Yorkshire sandbag.....

I have personal experience of this on one of his Ravensheugh routes. VS that feels like E2!

My main takeaway from this is that there are routes at back bowden that Dan hasn't done*.

*other than that bonkers looking Watson prow.

Interesting fuel to the grade debate. I'd be interested to know more about how they approach making a highball 'safe'  

I assume that there's an element of getting hold of as many pads as you can. How many did they manage scrape together? Do they try to 'roll it out' and pad accordingly? How are the knees after a few big falls? 

Excellent post from Dan V on the other channel with some detail on Howlerhirst climb and the general approach.

 Keep up! The E8 was Font 6b+, it was the E10 that was Font 7a. The E9 was always font 7C+. There was also another font 7C+ which was as high but with a worse landing but that was never worthy of an E grade! Hope that's cleared things up

Very impressive and it takes balls to maybe fall from this height ,however its debatable if it is on sight ground up if all the holds are chalk marked.Maybe I am being picky? 

If you look at the first picture in the article, there is a gap in the pad set-up big enough to cradle a baby!  I guess their approach to safety is 'throw pads down and get to work'.   I suspect that is more a comment on the level of their focus to the task in hand, but I wouldn't want to look down above 4-5m and see that below me..