Findlay does Muy Caliente and suggests 8a+ R/X instead of E9

Hazel Findlay, one of the best female trad climbers in the world, has done Muy Caliente in Pembroke which she thinks is 8a+. At the same time, she calls it R/X meaning there is a big risk for a very bad fall that could even mean death. Originally the climb was graded E10 7a but later consensus has reached E9 6c, UKCreport.

In the UK, trad climbs are given an overall E-grade based on their difficulty and how dangerous they are to onsight. A very safe 7b+ climb can be graded E5, and so can a 6c with the potential for a lethal fall. An E9 can vary in difficulty from 7c to 8c+ based on how dangerous it is. In some cases, this has meant that due to the use of crash pads, downgrades have been suggested as some routes have become less dangerous.

About 15 years ago, I suggested that you should skip E-grades above E7 and replace them with the American trad grading system. This created a long debate but in the end, the UKC editor-in-chief agreed with my thoughts. For some reason, UKC and the climbing media has kept the E-grade tradition and reported that Muy Caliente is E9. In a follow-up interview on UKC, Hazel says that the American trad grading system is more informative.

"I often think that when it comes to harder routes, maybe E7 and above, using french grades plus the American system of PG, R/X and X is more informative compared to the UK trad grades. The technical grade in UK trad grades don't make sense to me and the single hardest move never really tells you that much about the rest of the route; there could be one of those moves or there could be 10 in a row. So using this system Muy Caliente would be 8a+ R/X."