Obviously powerful problems on an overhanging board don’t have much in common with slabby technical problems on rock. But least the system would have solid benchmarks, in contrast with the current system which uses both technical and power problems as informal benchmarks.

Tricky could also mean ‘requires a trick’ ie. a certain movement or position or sequence that isn’t very obvious. In theory though this shouldn’t be a factor as the grade should be for the easier way to do a problem. So it’s not unusal to find situations where a problem is 6a to climb once you have found the right sequence but the finding that right sequence could require a 6b amount of climbing intelligence and experimentation. The situation can also arise where two people have a different opinion on a grade, because one has found the ‘easiest way’ while the other used a duff, harder sequence.

As power is so much more quantifiable than technique it’s inevitable that it is used as the currency of difficulty in climbing. This goes some way to explaining why technical problems such as Marie Rose feels hard for its grade.

Rather I should say, it feels hard to me for the grade. The consensus on the web seems to be that it’s solid 6a no more and no less. 81% of repeaters on bleau.info felt it is 6a as did the vast majority as 27crags. 32 out of 61 votes on UKC felt it’s easy 6a+.

When René Ferlet did the first ascent in 1946 the rock was a lot less polished than it is now, granted his footwear probably wasn’t up to much, so maybe it all evens out in the end.

In the late nineties I remember reading in the climbing mags that the French climbing team were rumoured to climb slabs with a tennis ball in each hand to force them to focus on balance and body position rather than relying on pulling power. It’s certainly would be an interesting way of comparing two climbers technique while negating differences in finger strength, but the reality is a smeary slab or blank corner problem will do the job just as well.