What's his podcast?

​@@dezmilcoisasit's called "The Careless Talk Climbing Podcast" and is hosted by Aidan alongside Sam Prior

Probably because they’re v5

@@EKdlwoasred it’s so obvious now that I think about it 😱

@@EKdlwoasred my god, you’re right

I agree with your sentiment, but this issue has been around a lot longer than social media. In short: people (including ourselves) are interested to know how difficult something is, especially when it’s at the cutting edge. Fair play if Aidan doesn’t want to comment on it, but is it unfair of others not to ask/enquire? I think not…

@@ukclimbingofficial Yes, of course people have the right to be curious, I didn’t mean to suggest that. I have just seen more people than I would expect throwing shade at the fact he only spoke about it on his podcast.

Now get on Burden of Dreams!

Here's there now, so hopefully he'll get it done/dusted

Love them.

Max - you're on KZfaq!! Please tell us that there's some content coming...

Exciting time, isn't it?!

Considering that will bosi is climbing v17 in like 10 days, probably we will not have to wait a lot lol ahah

basically admitting that pro climbers are a bunch of stardom chasing divas, ey?

@@assaqwwq More like people who like a good challenge

@@romanformicola5904 yeah. Everything above v13 is a good challenge. Go for it!

@assaqwwq How else are we supposed to support the addiction ​😅

@@romanformicola5904 Yeah, it physically gets a grade harder when you label it V18.

I could see why you might think that - sorry to disappoint 😅

Yeah that was the clickbait for me too.

@@ukclimbingofficial No worries, still glad your reporting on this stuff. Just got me all hyped up for a second 😅

That’s how I read the title as well

Yeah, I wonder - maybe that's the case

I think you might be right. If a grade is proposed then that gives us something concrete to discuss, as opposed to something you’ve to speculate on. That said, I perfectly respect his reasoning for not giving them a grade; however, it’s also our role - as the climbing media - to try and contextualise these achievements. Hopefully we’ve treated the matter with respect 🙏

@@ukclimbingofficial I’d be surprised if Aidan didn’t expect people to speculate about the grades. The wait just make me want to know that much more.

We’ve got an interview with him in the pipeline, so watch this space (although I think it’ll be written, as opposed to filmed).

@@ukclimbingofficial first question: so what are the grades? 😂

🤣🤣🤣

Was it Isle of Wonder Sit Start? That features a particularly horrendous looking shoulder sidepull: www.ukclimbing.com/news/2022/08/aidan_roberts_on_isles_of_wonder_sit_8c+-73129

@@ukclimbingofficial I'm quite Jackson is right about it being Sundial Low. He spoke about it long after having done Isles.

exactly my thought, they've been diminished down to Numbers rather than Boulders

Wedge did something almost identical back when he was projecting them. A title, by its nature, is a short summary and the shortest summary we could think of was what we wrote. We could have written “Two Hard Boulders for Aidan Roberts” but it would have lacked the context without the grade attached. The fact that there could be 2 x New 9As is a massive deal and - dade I say it - probably the reason why you clicked on it in the first place 🤷🏼‍♂️

Genuine question, but did you watch the video? Yes, we talk about grades, but we also talk - at length - about the process and do that before we delve into how difficult they might be.

@@ukclimbingofficial No and yes. I had listened to Aiden's podcast prior to this so I had already known that he had done both of his long term projects. At this point if there is news regarding Aiden, the assumption I make is that he's done something special. I think the title would have been just as impactful if it outright stated that Aiden Roberts had done two long term projects. While I understand that this is a KZfaq channel and there are algorithms working against you I think there needs to be a shift in how these achievements are written in titles considering a good proportion of people will simply look at the title, watch the first few seconds of the video and be done. That's where the nuance and message is completely lost.

The problem is that for those who don’t know who Aidan is, they’re not going to have that context, whereas for those who’re unfamiliar the title we’ve given will attract them in as they’ll be aware that we’re talking about two problems at the absolute top end - and not just two spuriously difficult boulder problems. You’re completely right about the algorithm though - I suspect it’d have done much worse as a result of the way that works had we not included a number 😭

Good question, I suspect they’ll be curious irrespective of the grade, but that’s because they all know what Aidan is capable of

Wills definitely gonna jump on the lakes one, he's too close not to

We very much hope so!!

Very much so - hence the question mark

😍

quite possibly, but I doubt it

The idea of someone who’s already really strong at that style having to get stronger to do it is blowing our minds a bit 🤯

It doesn't suit shawn well though. Super small holds aren't his best style. I reckon Will has a great shot

@lawsong6663 I don't think will has the potential for these super tensiony snapy moves. Idk he is proving everyone wrong over and over

@domab2604 I'm not saying it suits will perfectly, but I reckon he has the best shot. Definitely suits him better than it does shawn

@@domab2604Will probably is the best to try it. His fingers are super strong even on micros and he has done 3 v17/9a boulders now

Jam?

I love the Vapour S even more now that I’ve seen Aidan wearing it 🥰

@@ukclimbingofficial yeah, was my second shoe. Might have to get it resoled and wear I again👀

Rightly or wrongly people tend to root for people from their own country 🤷‍♂️

@@ukclimbingofficial Weird stuff... I personally root for every climber pushing the sport

@@00Platypus00 Great!

​@@00Platypus00a lot of underlying racism in the uk unfortunately

Grades that don’t exist *yet*

I actually agree

He doesn't give them grades because that's all you guys care about, The climbs mean more to him than just a number

I’m inclined to agree, they shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, but if it is an issue for Aidan, or his priorities are elsewhere, then we fully respect his right not to offer a number. That said, hopefully he respects our right to speculate. I don’t see grades as reductive as some do. We’re just really excited that he’s done them and the fact they took as much effort as they did just goes to show the difficulty/challenge they represent. Here’s to hoping they get some attention from others 🤞

@@ukclimbingofficial I agree. unfortunately it is not the job of the professional climber to climb and have a good time, their job is to give good climbing performances and publicise their ascents, grade (people like Aidan aren't paid to climb v7s) their performance because this is is tied to their sponsorships, which are what allow them to climb in turn. This create attention for sponsors so they can sell their products. Of course a person can choose not to do any of that, but they'd probably cease to be a professional climber (not get paid). I think this relationship defines most jobs people are paid to do. You're paid to do work that of a high standard (high grade), and that work needs to me obligations set by your employer. Ideally a person should enjoy doing their work and meeting their obligations. It'd be amazing if I wasn't paid by how many hours I worked or thing I put out. In conclusion you cannot separate grades from experience because its the metric that is used to measure performance. Perhaps not ideal but probably the best we have for now.

dude he is gonna grade them, he doesn't owe you anything he doesn't need to immediately rush to social media and post the grades. give him some time to process these massive achievements.

thanks for your input 😅

@@ukclimbingofficial :-)