Belated congrats to climber, and business man, Benidict Moon. Ben first shone, along time ago, when some of todays stars weren't even born, but to many people, me included, hard climbing reached a certain level of maturity when Ben first pulled his strong finger out, and vanquished the world famous route Hubble! Hubble was the hardest route in the world for a while, until the more famous Wolfgang Gullich did Action Direct, a year later. Why was Hubble eclipsed by Action Direct? Who knows! Politics perhaps, the climbs were the same grade, and indeed they still are. Was it sympathy due to Wolfgang dying in an unfortunate car crash?
Ben Moon makes clothes, and some climbing stuff, like wood panels, and rungs, and pull up finger boards, but he is still good at the finger stuff himself. His last route was the 9a grade, and is in his opinion harder than his first effort all those years ago. So why all that time between Mr Moon? Work, life, money, stuff.
Ben looks like he is firmly back in the saddle, which should give the rest of us hope. Yes your dreams are not over, but you have to work, and work really hard according to Ben! So get to work. Did you work really hard, Ben? "Harder than before", he answered. I met, and talked to Ben at the Out Door show in Germany, and had a little chat. Ben has set his eyes on another 9a, Northern Lights a route of his own that he never quite finished. It's a long story, but Ben was trying it a different way, and it's possibly a grade harder this way. Long stories are unfortunately the way to go sometimes, otherwise we miss the obvious. Was Hubble 9a, is Action Direct 9a! This is the question, and the answer my friend is now blowing in the wind, because grades have changed, they have got softer.
Grades in the old days were based on Boux grades from France, and these grades are tough, as tough as granit. Grades today are soft cheesy things, influenced by money, and fashion. I wish Ben all the luck with his appointment with Northern Lights, may Moon shine as he always does, and has.
