In reply to GrahamD:
It's a real shame. I had always wanted to believe he had done them all.
Comments from Dan Varian (carlisle slapper) and others in the 'Chasing a spectre' thread on the other channel are as conclusive as they could possibly be:
After spending many years looking up to Gaskins', trying Gaskins' problems, and grading all his first ascents on a scale relative Gaskins' climbs, Varian eventually came to the conclusion that Gaskins could not have climbed a number of his claimed first ascents. Gaskins' suggested grades for a number of them were way off (in both directions) and his comments about beta were not consistent with anyone who had actually tried the moves.
Gaskins was clearly very strong but it seems clear that he couldn't have climbed a number of his claimed FAs. (From my armchair perspective; I had one extremely optimistic session on Karma of the Trees sit, but other than that, I've never tried any of the problems in question nor am I in the same league as anyone who can climb them).
It would be great to see some of Aiden and Dan's hardest problems get repeated to see other people's opinions on the grades. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a number of upgrades being suggested.
https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,30355.msg594221.html#msg5942...
Post edited at 00:18