All climbs

Given 8C/+ by FA but seems likely to be 8C+ which would make it the first of the grade in the UK. In the words of Jack Palmieri:

If Superpowers isn’t 8C+ then you can remove me from the list as I haven’t climbed 8B yet. To think of that thing as just one grade harder than benchmark stuff like Bewilderness is crazy. Just don’t see how it could get repeated. Woods is busy in the states getting schooled on something Aidan put up in a few hours over 2 very hot sessions [a reference to Railway]. [1]

In 2026 it was reported that a hold had broken and the problem was likely to be much harder and perhaps impossible. [2]

References

[1] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,26074.msg618619.html#msg618619

[2] https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-careless-talk-climbing-podcast/id1626857390?i=1000784226436

One of John's training problems for The New Statesman.

The provocative cover line from editor Geoff Birtles on Crags magazine asked the question "Can this be Britain's first 6c" (referring to the UK technical grade, meaning somewhere upwards of French 7b+), an example of Betteridge's Law of headlines. Supersonic was a relatively sustained route for its time which perhaps excused the hyperbole. The line had been envisioned by Tom Proctor but it was left to Fawcett to complete, his last route of the long hot summer of 1976, two days before breaking his ankle.

The grade is now thought UK 6a or around French 7a.

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

[2] Kelly, P, Hoey, G, Barker B (2013) Peak Rock. p197 UK: vertebrate publishing