Matt Bird: So Will, what grade is it then?
WB: I have been thinking so much about the grade ever since I started work on the project. I find it so hard to grade short, powerful boulders as so much of the grade weighs on fewer individual moves and the grade can shift dramatically around based on small changes in beta and whatever style suits the climber.
However, providing a grade based on my own experience of other hard boulders as well as boulders on Raven Tor and Peak Lime, I am pretty confident in suggesting that this sits as a low-end 9A boulder.
MB: Ok, let’s break it down then - why is it not 8C+?
On Raven Tor itself, to the left of Realm, are two boulders which are essentially one-move 8A+’s. The crux move on Realm is at least one to two grades harder and is
comparable to the first move on Burden of Dreams. Stitching the crux move and the last move took so many sessions. Even matching the final hold is a real effort!
Looking at other hard single-move boulders I have done elsewhere, the crux move is significantly harder than other lines such as Forgotten Gem (8C/V15, Chironico, Switzerland) and Silent Singer (Bowderstone, Lake District, 8C/V15).
Comparing the whole boulder to other short, powerful 8C+ boulders, it feels harder than Brain Rot (8C+/V16 Magic Wood) and Ephyra (8C+/V16 Brione).
It is incomparable to 8C+ like Honey Badger (Badger Cove established by Bosi in 2022) as it is 20 minutes down the road but feels like a totally different boulder problem. Honey Badger has way more moves making it difficult to compare with Realm as they were different styles. However, I put in way more time on this boulder than I did on Honey Badger, which consciously or subconsciously made me think this was a harder overall problem.
MB: So, how does it compare to 9A’s you have done?
Straight away, we can discount Return of the Sleepwalker and Alphane as comparisons because they are such different boulders in terms of style compared to Realm.
So the comparisons from my own experience come to Burden of Dreams and Spots of Time. I think Spots is the best comparator as it is in the UK. I did it recently [Winter 2024], and it is a short boulder similar to Realm.
For me, the crux of Realm is slightly harder than the crux of Spots simply because the key hold is flat, slippy limestone, but when you put all of the moves of each boulder together, they come out around the same grade. I do think Spots and Realm are a step above the 8C+ boulders I have done to date, so that is why I am proposing a low-end 9A boulder grade. As always, I am excited to hear what others think as they try the problem as it is at Raven Tor, so I am hoping it will get a lot of attention! [1]