Less interest for Era Vella after risking a downgrade to 8c+

18 months ago, Jonathan Siegrist compared Era Vella with 8c and 12 months ago, Magnus Midtbö was the first one to call it an 8c+. In the picture you can see Pablo Barbero. (c) TrilobitePro Prior to these statements, Era Vella was by far the most popular 9a in the world with 30 ascents during just five years. After these downgrade suggestions, however, it has just been repeated twice in 18 months. This route, put up by Chris Sharma, is one of the highest star-rated routes in the 8a data base so you wonder if the drop in popularity is because some climbers have chosen to redpoint another 9a instead doing something that is at risk of being downgraded?