Steve McClure's Magic Grades: 7b+

First of all, before we even get started with this magic grade thing, sport climbing and trad climbing are entirely different. Similar yes, but the same, no. Compare rowing and white-water kayaking, road cycling and mountain biking, same kind of tools, different way of thinking. In a way you could say sport climbing is the boring rowing of the boat world, or the constant mindless slog of the road race. It's not the radical air of a 10 foot drop-off or the nearly-stuck-in-a-stopper-almost-death situation. For those who despise bolts, climbing is all about risk, take that away and all you have left is a physical exercise. There is also the bolt placing thing too but let's not even go there! OK, so sport climbers are left with just a day at the gym, might as well have gone on the rowing machine I guess. Well not exactly, not for me anyway, trad and sport have different attractions, and for the first time in the UK both sports exist almost happily side by side. It appears a compromise is being reached, slowly.

Adrian Berry on 'Double Penetration' 7b+ Claret, France.

Us Brits like to think we invented climbing and have the best grading system in the world. When the Frenchies thought up their own grades for sport routes we tried to convert back to what we understood. 7b+ was E6 6b, and 6b+ was E3. This is how it went for a while with heated arguments about how bolt protected E6 6c's should be E1 because they were safe. At last sanity has prevailed and generally we use French grades for bolts. This keeps 'Trad' real and sport climbers a bunch of French wimps.

In Britain there isn't much sport climbing in the lower grades. The quality stuff starts at about 7a+ and unless you can manage 7b+ you will soon run out. This equates to a safe E6 6b in old money, not exactly entry level stuff. Some will argue that this article is totally elitist, which it is really. Not many people can climb 7b+, but in the world of sport climbing the general consensus seems to be that this is the grade where it all really starts. Climbing at this level is completely different from climbing at say, French 6a. Hard training is required. Campusing, dead hangs, weighted pull-ups, running, early nights, cake abstinence and general hard work are all essential, or at least a few of these anyway. Motivation and dedication are key. It's a far cry from just popping over to Wales for a few classic Very Severes and ten pints in the pub!

Christian Klemmow on Indescent Exposure, 7b+, Raven Tor.
The Peak District, England.

These days most climbers have had a go at sport climbing, and I doubt many hated it, particularly if they were on some sun drenched pristine wall in Southern Spain. With the risk removed (actually reduced would be a better word), a whole new area of climbing can be explored. Ages ago Airlie Anderson was utterly slated for her joking comment "trad climbing is not real climbing!". This did not go down so well, but everybody's definition of 'real' climbing is different. For me the bolt protection allows for 100% concentration on the climbing alone, complete focus on the flow of moves. This is altogether different to being aware of gear placements, ropework and weighing up risk.

However, I did used to think sport climbing was a bit odd, I was brought up on wires and steel krabs so using bolts had to be cheating. Funnily enough though, I had that trad attitude that if the bolt was old and rusty, placed by an aid climber, or was even some massive metal quarry bolt, then it was fine. A new bolt was bad, but an old bolt was good, right? Was that because it might break if you hung on it? I went to the Verdon to check out how the Frenchies did it and suddenly it all made sense.

My first taste of 7b+ in the UK actually coincided with my first taste of Peak Limestone. Psyched to check out the climbing Mecca of the Peak Limestone, three of us set out from Sheffield on fully laden mountain bikes for that awe inspiring crag that is Raven Tor. I must admit, having just come from back the Verdon, the crag was a bit of a let down. Still, at least the route I fancied looked like a piece of piss. 'Sardine', E6 6b, or 7b+ in fancy grades, appeared to be an easy wall with jugs all over it. Surely this was the easiest E6 in the world! And there were bolts too, perhaps I would like this crag after all.

Steve McClure on the Malham classic Obsession 7b+ Yorkshire, England

Unfortunately the first hanger at 20ft was gone, no doubt removed by the ethics police, to leave just the threaded stub sticking out. With buckets that big I wouldn't even need it, but I looped a wire over it anyway, just in case. Ten foot higher and after a traverse out left the relationship between the size of the holds and my pumped arms was all wrong. All I could do was hang onto the ledge, feet suddenly dressed in roller-skates, and stare at my now very poor looking balanced wire wondering what was going to happen. Somehow it stayed on as I crashed my way through the trees to meet my belayer in a game of human conquers. Feeling somewhat deflated I dogged my way to the top, lowered off and swore that I'd never, ever come back to this place of hideous polish, crap loose rock and desperate climbing. I'd already climbed E6 by then, and on-sight too, having bolts in didn't seem to make things easy!

Anyway I did go back, as you might have guessed, and finally managed Sardine too. It still felt polished and desperate, though this time it felt awesome too. A fantastic flow of hard moves all done in complete safety, completely absorbing. I'd got my head around the sport climbing thing.

Top Five

Obsession
Takes the upper wall of Malham cove, Britains most impressive sport crag. Incredible exposure the moment you leave the mid height ledge. Crimpy and technical from bottom to top.

Sardine
First Free ascent in Jan 1981 by Ron Fawcett. A major precursor of future developments. First a test piece, then a trade route, later a training exercise and now a warm up, but only if you know it well! Intricate and complicated crux

Lucy Creamer on Chulilla 7b+

Empire of The Sun
A true classic at Ansteys cove, the finest sport crag in the south. On a sunny day you could be in France with a crystal clear sea lapping below you. Apparently the original route is only 7b but is a touch dangerous, the technical direct is 7b+ and more commonly done.

Frankie Comes To Kilnsey
A route with history! First climbed on trad by Martin Berzins in 1987, then bolted, then de-bolted and then this process repeated several times. Finally settled down as a pure sport route only to try and be a trad route again when one of the bolts ripped out under bodyweight! Ironically it was Berzins himself who was sitting on the bolt!! With the bolts in this is the ultimate technical wall climb.

Chulilla
An excellent short and intense power-endurance problem at Brean Down. This crag is a surprisingly good little gem right on the Bristol Channel.

Indecent Exposure
Another Fawcett spectacular. Also the scene of the first E6 done by a British woman, ote editor Gill Kent! The name says it all and isn't exaggerating. Most of the tricky start is avoided by climbing up a well placed tree and so it seems to get easier every year! (one day it will suddenly get a lot harder!)

Railway Children
Ethically dodgy placing of bolts in mountain rock. Still a magnificent route up the tunnel walls on Creag a'Bhancair, Buachaille Etive Mor, Scotland.