A Further Look at the History and Controversy Surrounding First Ascents and Grades.

Gearjunkie have put together a great article, written by Sam Anderson, that covers the history and controversy of first ascents and grade proposals. Interestingly, most of the new established cutting edge grades have either been up- or downgraded or were not even graded by the first ascensionist. This piece covers, Action Directe, Chilam Balam, Akira, La Rambla, Open Air and Biographie.

As accurately stated in the article, Chris Sharma never proposed a grade for Biographie, nor did Sylvain Millet, who did the first repeat. Patxi Usobiaga made the third ascent and he was the first climber to give it 9a+. Previously, the media had speculated that it was 9a+ due to the time and effort Chris put in. It later also states that everyone has confirmed the 9a+ grade, but this is not completely true. Ethan Pringle marked it, originally, as a hard 9a in his scorecard but then later changed it to 9a+. It's also worth noting that the start nowadays is harder in comparison to how it was first climbed, due to a hold breaking. As it stands, Biographie is one of the most repeated 9a+ in the world and arguably the benchmark for 9a+.

Noteworthy routes not covered in this article are, Hubble and Es Pontas. An upgrade for Hubble has been suggested and Es Pontas is another contender that was put up without a grade.

Hubble was put up by Ben Moon as the first 8c+ in 1990. Years later, repeaters and those that have attempted it have said it should be 9a, which would make it the first 9a in the world. Hubble has also only seen a handful of repeats but recently, a new kneebar was discovered which potentially makes it easier; thus, bringing it back to 8c+. The last repeater ,Toby Roberts, said: "Basically, if you’re short and can get the left kneebar in, it is probably 8c+ but I can’t say for certain."

When it comes to DWS and the cutting edge route, Es Pontas, Chris Sharma left it ungraded. The first 9b grade speculation came from the media. Jernej Kruder has said that it's definitely within the 9th grade of difficulty and Jan Hojer has suggested 9a+.

Time will tell if Ondra's, Silence (9c) will be added to the list of cutting edge climbs that were later either up- or downgraded. Feel free to cast your bet!