Aidan Roberts has returned from a very successful winter in Rocklands, where he feels his form was 'a step up' from the bouldering trips he's been on in the past. Aidan had one month in Rocklands and came back with a varied tick list which included first ascents, a Font 8C and a Font 8B flash.
Did they get downgraded because he flashed them? They may have been downgraded now but that was pretty impressive level in 2007 or whenever he was flashing 8Bs like it was going out of fashion.
AFAIK Secret Splendour was new at the time and was originally graded 8b but was subsequently downgraded around the same time as James’ ascent, and has stuck at 8a+. Not sure how many ascents the Swiss ones had had at the time, I would assume not many again. Impressive level at the time for sure.
Good to see Aiden getting some credit here. Definitely well deserved. I thought his companion Nathan Philips had a pretty good trip too doing a bunch of 8B's including first ascents.
It would be interesting to know who the other <10 Brits who have climbed 8C are. I can only think of 2 off the top of my head: Ned Fee in Font and Tim ? who repeated The Finish Line in Rocklands.
I feel UKC news under-reports bouldering achievements (and to a lesser extent sport too). For instance I would expect every British 8C ascent to be reported - it's the top grade any Brit has climbed. In fact probably 8B+ ascents too. It's useful not just as current news. Full reporting means the site becomes valuable historical resource too. It's so much easier to look something up than troll through a bunch of old magazines in some dusty attic. Also it gives current news a useful perspective too.
