In reply to static266: Hi
So as Alan has already said on the app we could not use a + grade to indicate the route was hard for the grade. As such routes that were + in guidebook became the next grade up in the app. As such the app will have some seemingly overgraded routes, but I dont think this is much of an issue, as for me as the author I prefer to err on the side of caution.
This cautionary concept felt important to me in a walking-scrambles book, as whilst rock climbing nearly everyone has a rope and a harness, so should the worse happen they will at least have a fighting chance to protect a fall. In scrambling many people choose to solo and as a result one slip is potentially a death sentence. As such I felt happier with a slight upgrade in the book for some routes, usually a + grading whereas others I might have added a whole grade.
As the author of this book, I did feel very conscious that we are mixing walking through scrambling to easy rock climbing. As such there is potential for people with less experience to be branching out to scrambling. As an author of several guidebooks to north wales I do feel I have some responsiblity to give a clear account of the route and difficulty involved. I appreciate that people will disagree with the grading or even the cautionary principle itself.
In reality this meant that if some routes felt wiggy for the grade, In that there might be an overly exposed section, loose rock or hard scrambling involved for a route of that grade, then I upgraded them.
In the case of this book, I did use the voted grades data in the logbooks as a guide, in some cases the number of votes was pretty low and so went instead with how I find them based on often numerous repeats, often with a range of clients. Which gives you a different persepctive of what people might find difficult or challenging. I am not say my grades are right, but they are the grades that I personally believe best represent the route.
Of course the good thing is that you can vote to down grade them in the app or logbooks and next time we will have a much broader consensus.
> Crib Goch N ridge - grade 1 to 2 (Seems like classic grade 1 terrain to me)
So for me the looseness on NR of CC meant I wanted it to be 1+ rather than 1, the 2 is in the app only.
Again, this was 1 plus in book, as for me the top of the first gully is feels harder than Tryfan NR, even if you take the North Tower. I actually think for a novice grade 1 scrambler the North Tower on the NR of Tryfan is also 1+ or maybe even a grade 2, but thats a seperate debate.
> Penmaenbach arete - 1 to 3 (IMO much harder than grade 1)
So for me this was always a grade 2 in terms of difficulty, however I personally find it hard to justify that grade as there is really no option for leading it as the rock is so compact that it does not really take gear. So I choose to put it in at grade 3 because it is an exposed solo.
> Idwal staircase- 2 to 3
So for me the inital staircase is probably grade 2, but the buttress above this is definitely more grade 3 in my mind.
> Main gully - 1 to 2 (probably deserved)
> There are some others too.