mike_anderson wrote:Wow, apparently I hit the right button.
Yeah, apparently you did. Don't you know that people get obsessive about these things?
mike_anderson wrote:I've always felt that the people struggling at those grades are the best suited to make those judgments.
I am not sure about this. If it is a grade you are struggling on (say, a grade you have redpointed a couple of climbs at, several leter grades about your best onsight), it is very likely that those climbs you managed to redpoint play up to your strengths, while the climbs at the same consensus grade that you can't send are most likely something that requires skills you lack. So of course they would feel harder and you will be biased.
I think someone is more qualified to make judgements about climbs that are somewhere in their onsight/flash range, maybe near the top of their onsight/flash. E.i. a grade that they are relatively comfortable on, because likelihood is that at that grade they have climbed a variety of climbs in different styles, not just a few that play up their strengths.
There are many 5.10s I get on now that i feel very sure I would not have been able to climb at all, let alone onsight, when 5.10 was my upper limit. And yet, looking at those climbs now, I can see clearly that they are not anything harder than 5.10 -- even though they might have one move that to me personally feels harder.
But you are right, of course, that it is impossible to compare things you've done years ago to things you've done recently. Things get distorted in the hindsight, and of course you have to take into account any progressionin climbing skills that might have occurred since then, as well as conditions, time of the day, etc. etc.
Which is why consensus is the best we can hope to get, and no matter what consensus is, there would be people disputing that grade ...
I'm afraid you missed one or two though then your list will be complete!
