UKC

After his unprecedented E10 flash, we got in touch with Seb to ask a few questions about how it all came about.

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In reply to UKC Articles:

bah, what's he done on Grit...

In reply to HeMa:

Is it me or is this joke just really tired these days

In reply to Andrew Wells:

It's beyond that. It's past the ironic stage, past the status of sort-of-funny-because-it's-embarrassing awkward uncle joke, floating like space junk in a dungeon dimension where the humour level is absolute zero.

In reply to UKC Articles:

An amazing effort. I like that the interview keeps presumably Seb's original "Belgiumism" in his English, it makes the interview feel more sincere, or something like this. His use of the perfectly understandable but novel to me at least "betas" did make me wonder - where does the term "beta" come from in climbing?

As a native English speaker I would say the plural of beta is beta, but don't actually know if that makes sense. Could Seb's "betas", for discreet bits of knowledge on how to execute different moves (or place different bits of gear), actually be the more logical usage?

In reply to TobyA:

I've heard it's from beta-max video tapes, but I have no evidence for that.

Phenomenal effort from Seb.

It would be good to get Ondra on Rhapsody or Lexicon, I reckon (from my armchair...) that he could quite plausibly do an E11 flash, or even onsight. He must have a very good % chance of doing 8b/+ first go and his previous exploits make it seem like he'd not have too much issue with the mental side of facing a big fall.

In reply to Andy Moles:

I don't think it's entirely beyond redemption. Like all widely known in-jokes, it would need to be used inventively with some kind of fresh twist to get a laugh from most people now. Which that example didn't really even try to do, but I'm sure it's still possible. A lot of humour is founded on a surprising twist on a familiar formula one way or another.

In reply to Fellover:

He's certainly no stranger to taking big whips. He's flashed 9a+ as well, an E11 flash/onsight doesn't seem unrealistic. Depends on his risk appetite I guess, and his motivation to climb UK trad when he's got the world at his feet.

In reply to Strife:

That brings me to an observation that's been steadily becoming more common. It seems that many of the big number E grades in Britain in recent years (decades?) have been steep, hard and continuous but with big fall potential. 'Muy Caliente!' (E10 6c) is the one that most readily comes to mind, but I've noticed quite a few.

Clearly these E10 or harder routes are physically very hard, with climbing well into the 8th grade, but as long as the climbers are prepared to take the fall (and it seems that plenty are) then there are plenty of potential suitors nowadays, given that sport climbing standards have risen so much.

The eGrader thread touched upon this as well but only tangentially. My suspicion is that routes with a big and scary (but reliably safe) fall potential may be seen as being the 'easiest' ones of their grade to get on - and hence (by the logic that higher grades represent a smaller proportion of climbers able or willing to climb them) some of these type of routes potentially may not be as hard as similarly graded routes with higher risk potential.

I stress that I haven't been on any of the routes I'm thinking of, and I'm purely going on media reports and apparent popularity. I personally would not be happy climbing at my limit ten metres above good gear and a clean fall, and I'd much prefer slightly more controlled climbing with a greater risk. But I suspect people who think my way are gradually becoming less common among the top climbers of today.

In short, I'm not sure the prospect of a big but safe fall nowadays adds to the E grade as much as it might have done 20 years ago.

In reply to john arran:

At some point I suppose it has to though, because otherwise you'll end up with a safe 8b+ and a safe 9a getting the same E grade, which wouldn't make much sense.

In reply to john arran:

You could be right, and it could be a factor, but I think it's also just a style (big runouts but safe) which many top climbers enjoy a lot, and therefore they search out those routes. The death routes may not appeal, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily harder overall challenges.

In reply to Andrew Wells: Err no, because one's harder than the other and the E grade isn't a danger grade, it's a combined difficulty grade

In reply to Andy Moles:

Pretty sure Jerry made that joke about Adam Ondra when they took him to the school room with Magnus, and Adam then went on to flash the Ace. I couldn’t tell from the video but it looked as though Jerry was doing a very good job of pretending to be happy for Adam whilst secretly seething inside 😂

In reply to Guy Atkinson:

I didn't think he was even doing a halfway decent job of pretending!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Not sure if it's been mentioned already but Megos flashing The Path is probably of a similar level to Seb's effort.