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Worlds hardest slab...E12 9-Jan-2009 At 10:59:49 AM foreverabumbly

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On 8/01/2009 StuckinLara wrote:
>Another James Pearson route copping a major downgrade has started some
>debate on the UK scene (both on the internet and in the pubs.) His gritstone
>micro-desperate of 2007, The Promise has dropped from E10 to possibly E7
>after a trio of ground-up repeats by local climbers in December.

The promise was repeated by Americans Kevin Jorgeson and Alex Honnold doing a tour on grit. They thought the route was E8, not E10. Two main reasons for the downgrade was that they had pads at the base of the route, James didnt which inclreased the danger factor of the E grade (I personally dont think that should make much of a difference) And they also found a new easier sequence.

But Kevin also flashed The End Of The Affair, which is a benchmark E8. When he was done he commented that he thought it was more like E6. If you then compare this with his comments of the Promise then what he feels is E8 should really be E10?

I would suggest that all this downgrading that is going on in the cutting edge has more to do with the fact that climbers have simply gotten better, E8 for example is simply not as hard as it was once thought. The conjecture is that if the promise is still two E grades harder than TEOTA, then if it drops down to E7, then surly a massive downgrading across all of grit is going to accur.

Or simply James Pearson keeps overgrading all his projects, as Dave Mac has downgraded the Walk of Life from E12 to E9.

Anyway this is all I discovered while trolling the internet waiting for my breakfast to cook, I got it all from James Pearsons blog here