And by all likelihood, it's even more difficult if you have to take the risk factor into account as well... This is, I think, the thing that Team America's rampage through the English Grit has taught us more than anything else. Kevin J made fast work of The Promise a few weeks back, and more recently The Groove. Both routes given E10 by James Pearson. Equilibrium on the other hand, he worked for 7 days without success. In the end he was stopped cold by a split tip, but in his own words he "felt nowhere near ready to lead it". Some routes suit you, and some don't, that's why a grade isn't a dot but a span. Like I said, grading is very difficult, and I guess another lesson learned (not for the first time), is that we shouldn't attach too much importance to what the first ascender says, but instead regard it as a suggestion in need of confirmation by others. I understand James is sick and tired of all the crap he keeps reading about how the grades of his routes are being questioned, because if this route isn't this but that, then this route is probably not this... I'm not saying I'm not guilty of these speculations myself, quite the contrary, but hopefully I've learnt something...
Photos from the top: Kevin Jorgeson, Alex Honnold, Matt Segal with unknown local