In reply to Trangia:
Scrambles as the adjective in the Title has always seemed tongue in cheek to me; can see he portrays the fun but still reckon it is a deliberate understatement of what he had witnessed to be a dangerous pastime.
Happy to be corrected here but the only other nation that uses scrambling to describe low grade climbing with serious consequences is Canada. Whymper was paid by (I think) CN railways to come and promote the Rockies as a fine destination for climbing tourists so I assume that is the link.
As one who spends his life trying to break down the "scrambling's what you do without ropes" concensus (that goes along side my other pet hates of "face in to climb down", "3 points of contact", "never use your knees") I would like to see less of a seperation.
I frequently see climbers pitching (because it is graded Diff = a rock climb) from the foot of the First Pinnacle of Pinnacle Ridge of Gillean which frequently ends in benightment, escaping or epics. Equally I've talked to avid scramblers who do mental downclimbing of a grade3 scramble rather than even look at a single move Mod. (because that is a "climbing grade")
I did attempt to start improving comprehension by describing all of the Cuillin ridge routes with a scrambling grade and suffixed with a rock climbing grade- Pinnacle ridge is grade 3/Diff, Cuillin Ridge Traverse, grade 3/Severe, CG Bla Bheinn 3/Diff.
Love scrambling but hate the name