Alex Honnold is the one giving most personal grades

It is probably a well-known fact that Adam Ondra is the one among the top climbers suggesting most personal grades, including also some upgrades. As an example, Adam made the first 9a onsight which he thought was 8c+ and if he had not suggested so many personal downgrades, he would have done well over 200 routes 9a and harder instead of the 194 he has logged.

However, if we include everyone who regularly sends 8c+, Alex Honnold is the #1 when it comes to personal grades. In November he did his second 9a, The Eggporkalypse, calling it 8c+ and possibly for around 20 % of his hardest routes he has suggested a personal grade, including many also in Kalymnos.

From a historic perspective, we can see that grade inflation is a dilemma for the media as the difficulty of many of the reported ascents were not correct. If it had not been for guys like Adam Ondra and Alex Honnold etc giving their honest opinions, the grade inflation had been much stronger. My personal recommendation is that whenever you are in grade doubt of a FA, go for the lower grade. The hardcore climbers known for giving the hardest FA grades are Alex Huber and Ramon Julian Puigblanque.