Tom Randall Instagram – Is the British E-Grade system broken? Or does it just have some issues in certain areas?🧐
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Over the last 10 years we’ve had the distinct feeling that the E-Grade scale has become incredibly compressed at the top end. The hardest trad routes of the 90s were given E9, yet 30 years later the same grades are still almost the default for the hardest routes of today.
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Grading can be a highly emotive subject, and with the many different levels of complexity at play, it’s easy to get lost. With development in protection, padding, and belay tactics, it’s harder than ever to objectively asses danger, and with the general reaction to over/under-grading, erring on the side of caution has become common practice.
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Whilst sternly graded routes are not necessarily a problem, an unbalanced grade spectrum is. Without linear, logical progression, grades are meaningless.
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The product of months of discussion between ourselves, @neil.gresham @ste_mcclure and the technical support of Danny Tomalin at @reyt_uk is what we’ve termed “eGrader” which is linked in our stories or you can find details in the pinned comment.
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How does it work though?
👉Go to the website (it’s free to access)
👉Put in the French sport grade of your route
👉Add in the danger factor (D Point)
👉Make an assessment of whether it is padable
👉Get an E-Grade!
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Now surely it can’t be that simple, you’re thinking? Well, yes and no! The task of spitting out a grade literally takes a few seconds, however, there are always caveats to these things as no system is perfect.
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1. This is just a tool to add to your current methods, but it hopefully allows you a more objective viewpoint
2. You’ll notice that many top-end routes result in upgrades. This is not unreasonable in many cases.
3. Danger factor and padability is still subjective. Every scenario (and grade) can be manipulated.
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Let us know what you think! | Posted on 04/Apr/2023 20:28:18
