UKC

The BMC have released a groundbreaking video documenting their fastidious efforts to resolve a burning question of the moment - What is the true grade of Scoop Wall?

In order to scientifically validate the correct grade of Scoop Wall, the BMC sent their Grade Measuring Team to Stoney Middleton to calculate the precise grade of Scoop Wall with irrefutable accuracy.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=69738

In reply to UKC News:

It's come to something when we have a national body sending out a coagulation of scientists to measure the grade of a route. Climbers used to be such a happy go lucky bunch - wild and free! That McClusky gizzer isn't half bouncy for an old man!

In reply to salancaster:
Best bit of Marketing the BMC has ever done to promote a new guide,and all started thanks to Alan James..may they all co-exist in perfect harmony

In reply to salancaster:

I suspect they're not real scientists.

In reply to UKC News:

Lies, damn lies and crimp crankers. Everyone knows Scoop Wall is E4.

In reply to UKC News:

Funny in a geeky way but bmc need to brush up on their production skills.
That had the same finish as a 1980s sex education video!
Maybe that was the intention though

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant - really made me laugh. Well done BMC.

In reply to UKC News:

Great to see, we have been using this method on Yorkshire Limestone for sometime now to grade routes, although a little more basic. Not having the money to afford a 'cranking machine' a sandbag is used instead.

In reply to UKC News:

I didn't like the Steve500 hitting the ground! Otherwise jolly funny (although clearly only 9a+ calibrated climbers would be on those crimps and not stuffing parts of their anatomy into the crack!)

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant.

Can we have more vids like this please BMC?

A series by Grimer?

In reply to UKC News:

This is probably the best thing on the internet.

Trust me, I know.

In reply to UKC News:

At last a scientific approach to grading. None of this 'How hard did it feel?' stuff lets have more white coated scientists carrying out thorough measurements to define a grade. With this approach we will have ISO 9001 assured routes in the future. Quality Assured!

In reply to UKC News:

Any plans to calibrate for grit? If someone were to get it working for, say, Froggatt, it could save a lot of disk space on the internet.

In reply to UKC News:

I wish to complain in the most strenuous terms. That crankometer is of a type that cannot be calibrated. The climber in question is infamous for understating his ability. The woman looks very similar to someone arrested repeatedly in the past for scientist impersonation fetishism and has live stalking harrasment orders relating to Stephen Hawkin and the actor Jim Parsons. The commenator was part of the publishing team, has always had a suspect relationship with grades and appears to be confusing decimal places with the decimal system. Its a disgrace and I want my subscriptions from the last 5 years returned forthwith,

In reply to SteveRi:


Right! Three Pebble What's-It-Called finally proved scientifically and irrefutably to be HVS!

In reply to abseil:
3PS is an example of the impact of quantum mechanics on climbing : any attempt to measure the grade accurately means you are more uncertain when this grade applied. UKC logbooks show statistically it must have been E1 sometime in the past in Rockfax but no one can remember when. Its given HVS for the current guidebook period, but could have been anything the exact moment before the grade was entered in the guide.

In reply to UKC News:
Dear UKC,
I think it's about time I leaked the letter to Niall Grimes from Dave Redbullpoint the CEO of BUM (British Union of Mountaineers):

Dear Niall,
I fully expect that at this moment you will be sat at your desk in a darkened room, with a just emptied cut glass tumbler revolving in the fingers of one hand, the taste of that fine malt still lingering on your tongue as you nervously finger the trigger of the Walther ppk inside your mouth. How could you have allowed it to happen you ask yourself, how did it get to this? True there had been earlier precedents: Geoff Milburn's upgrade of Strapadictomy to E5 perhaps being the greatest cock-up but he hadn't had the guts to 'bite the bullet'. But you are of more honourable stock. It was you who had stood firm against those upgrades over the years, you who had insisted that End of the Affair should stay at E8 even though you wished in your heart of hearts that it could be your only E9. And now, the b*******s at UKC are onto you. Now climbers will go to Stoney, read the description, psyche up for the E3 climb of their lives, their own 'personal Everest' and then what. They will find it....easy....... f*****g EASY for the grade. Do you realise what this will do to them?
Please see me regarding signing that contract I mentioned when you were appointed....

In reply to Offwidth:


Sounds like 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' - nice work - research continues - shall we ask Joe Brown again?!

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant! ) Laugh out loud moment when Steve fell off!

In reply to Doghouse: but did you notice the person dossing on windy ledge? Presumably Alex M as he was in the credits.

In reply to UKC News:

Great vid and great guide Grimer (ignoring the grades).

But deep down we all know that overgrading is no joke and the guilt of putting Scoop Wall up to E3 is likely to stay with you for a very long time. Sleepless nights, dirty looks at the climbing wall and people leaving the pub as soon as you enter are just some of the problems that you are likely to encounter.

I would like to propose a way out this nightmare. If you are writing the next guide I think a solemn pledge made now could help. You should pledge to take the 10 easiest E2s in the Peak Limestone South and downgrade all of them. No 'ifs' or 'buts' just put them all down to E1 (which is probably what they were to begin with anyway). MXS was never meant to be easy and besides this is the Peak District where things are meant to be hard. If anyone complains you can just quote those immortal words of Jerry Moffatt: "If you can't take the heat get out of the Peak".

In reply to stp:

Yeah, but that was before Grimer kidnapped him and left him tied up, starkers in a shed and got a singularly willing belayer for Right Unconquerable and Hubble.

You just can't keep a bad man down... and that's a fact.

Mick