Time Comparison  - A reference to No or Personal grades

Grades are important for selecting your challenges and to measure real progress. At the same time, many climbers want to stay away from personal gradings as it sometimes create polemics. Time Comparison Grading (TCG) can be used as a grade reference for both the guys who want to share or stay away from personal grades. If the prerequisites are the same when it comes to; Beta, Style, Condition and Form, one could speculate that there are one grade step in between; Onsight, Flash, 1, 4 or 30 sessions invested, see the TCG diagram. There are of course many exceptions and some climbers have a more steep or flat performance curve, also depending on type of rock. Once you have done a personal best you should be able to enjoy personal best' in all other Time/Effort categories. TCG is the base 8a have used when we have speculated on both down - and upgradings over the years and it might be the best way to explain how gradings work in practice. Please feel free to share your opinion.

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Keenan Takahashi did the FA of Ego Death (8C) last September a couple of months after he did his first 8C+. "Immediately upon walking up to it, I knew it was something special if it was possible. It’s the sort of thing I’ve dreamed of since I started climbing, steep compression, at my limit, decentl…

Spanish sends: Primo (two 8c+/9a) and Raquel (8c)

José Luis Palao 'Primo' (pic with him on 'Digital System' ©Christian Checa) trained for a week under Patxi Usobiaga's advice in order to get the power-endurance needed for his projects in Sta. Linya and it was well worth it cause he quickly sent two hardcore routes there: Analógica Natural (8c+/9a in the topo) and Fabela pa la Enmienda (9a in the topo), both 8c+/9a in his opinion. We had a short chat with him in this interview in Spanish. A month ago, the strong woman with an eternal smile in her face, Raquel Hernández (pic© Eudald Ros), sent her first 8c, Fish Eye in Oliana. In the Spanish site we had a great, long interview with her decorated with beautiful pics, where she, amongst other things, tells us that the process was a "story of patience and self-improvement" with an unexpected setback in the middle which forced her to "completely stop climbing and start from zero level."