So far this summer has been a good mix of some easier FA's and some good repeats of existing classics, a balancing act I've enjoyed. However, as the summer begins to cool down we saw a burst of development in late August/September and I expect to see the same this year. Maintaining the balancing act of development against established routes I hope to get a hard copy of my targets down and we'll see how many I get done...
So far we've established some cracking routes and repeated some gems too, the most important being recorded in this list and new routes in bold.
1. Rivers of Sand E4 6a - Roseberry Topping. A pseudo-adventure route on slightly sandy rock with a bold starting groove!
2. Thor's Axe E3 5c ** - Thorgill Crag. A photogenic sharp arete, consisting of a short technical crux.
3. Love or Confusion E4+ 6b * - Ingleby Incline. An interesting climb, culminating in an undergraded bold finishing mantle. Closer to E5/6? for the onsight.
4. Ellis' Eliminate E3 5c * - Ingleby Incline. Pete Whillance soloed this... however camming devices protect at halfway on the traverse. Another excellent neglected route.
5. Psychosis E5 6b *** - Smugglers Terrace/Fox Holes Crag. A super crack climb with a hard committing crux protected by RP's.
6. Sea King E1 5b ** - Smugglers Terrace/Fox Holes Crag. A pleasant line of weakness and relatively long route. A good addition from the youths!
7. Time Captain E4 5c ** - Ingleby Incline. A tremendous route, long in nature and pumpy. Not technically demanding and generally well protected, however the route retains an overall feeling of commitment.
8. The Parochial Dream E5 6b * - Thorgill Crag. A sweet highball following a line of pockets up the barrel shaped wall. Bold in nature but protectable with modern age pads. Still worthy of an E-grade.
9. Peel Out E4 6b* - Wainstones. An excellent highball up a slightly eliminate line. Lovely technical climbing deserves more attention especially in the age of bouldering mats.
10. Stargazer Direct E5 6b ** - Highcliffe. An exciting and technical wall climb, with a high and committing crux. Fiddly gear protects (filed down RP or RP + coin); certainly originally graded (E4) for a rehearsed ascent.
11. Beaver Fever E1 5c * - Round Crag. While only being a short line, this little climb packs a few more moves than might be expected. Well protected and technical this adds a low extreme to the crag and helps to create a more 'rounded' grade skew. Awfully named.
12. Slip and Fly E4 6b * - Esklets. An Ian Dunn route, given E3 6b when the peg was new, is now closer to E4 with a heavily rusted peg. Perhaps it would hold? I'll let you find out. A great route, but you need a fair old span on you!
13. Cold Moor Dynos E2/3 6b ** - Cold Moor North Buttress. Removing the aid and side pull from 'Overhanging Wall' via a dyno and then a FA up the scoop to the right of 'Spine Chill', via a large jump. Excellent one movers!
14. Grand Master Flash E5 6b *** - Scugdale. The amazing Dave Paul extreme. Highball in nature these days, it's still not really a good idea to fall off! Technical throughout, powerful low down and with just enough to get the nerves twanging. Super.
So whats left to do?!
Well, Ch-Ching (E6 6c) is high on the list, after I fell off ground up and hurt myself on the nearby rocks. I'll certainly approach this as a highball with pads and treat it differently to an ascent of Stratagem (E5) up which the route finishes and which is also on the to-do list! Psycho Syndicate (E5 6c) is another one, I've not managed a method that involves monos while Franco easily yarded to the top via an undercut mono. I will probs throw a rope down this one and see if I can work out a 'normal' way to do it! If its mono-dependent, i'm not stoked!
What else? Well Steve Crowe put a few bits and bobs around the place when guidebook checking and he gave A Reach Too Far (E4 6b) three stars. It's got to be worth doing! Bit of a hike to the crag just to do this route, so I've kept putting it off. We'll wait til it's windy or not midgey!
Theres a couple more things at Ravenscar I'd like to do, Screwed (E5 6b), Gangrene (E3/4 6b), Three Screaming Popes (E6 6c) and maybe Rock Bottom (E3 going on E5 6b?). Round Crag is still important to me, I'd love to do Scut de Scun Ai, but i'll be waiting til its cooler. Its a bit choppy, I'm not sure I can justify another E7 6b... Pippi the E6 6c however looks excellent but a hard old start. I still need to do Time Out, E3 /4 6a ***! Would be nice to tick the whole block.
Esmerelda E7/8 6c or Original Sin (E7 6c) are Waterton classics and I'd love to do one of them. Can you shunt Es with the overhang? I'm yet to try.
So what about new routes? Theres some good stuff to get into but it's whether we choose ground up or headpointed ascents. Time constraints are the issue for me here. Ingleby, Smugglers, Stoupe Brow, Thorgill, Kay Nest, High Crag, Highcliffe all seem to have hard and superb routes ranging from nasty highballs to long committing routes of the well protected or choppy variety!
The List I would like is;
Ingleby RH - E6 6c WORTH DOING
Ingleby Direct E5 6a/b PROBS NOT WORTH DOING
Ellis' Direct E5 6c? NOT WORTH DOING
Landslip Arete E8/9 6c HARD START!
No Expectations E5/6 6b DONE, a cracking little route.
Kraken Arete E7 6b (with 6c start) DONE, a classy piece of arete climbing
Kraken Wall E5 6a/b (with 6c start) DONE, a powerful crux.
On Crack E6 6b? TRICKY START ON POOR ROCK
Tranmire Slabs (x4) E4 to E7? WORTH DOING
Kay Nest Wall & Slab E7/8? NOT SURE
So far we've established some cracking routes and repeated some gems too, the most important being recorded in this list and new routes in bold.
1. Rivers of Sand E4 6a - Roseberry Topping. A pseudo-adventure route on slightly sandy rock with a bold starting groove!
2. Thor's Axe E3 5c ** - Thorgill Crag. A photogenic sharp arete, consisting of a short technical crux.
3. Love or Confusion E4+ 6b * - Ingleby Incline. An interesting climb, culminating in an undergraded bold finishing mantle. Closer to E5/6? for the onsight.
4. Ellis' Eliminate E3 5c * - Ingleby Incline. Pete Whillance soloed this... however camming devices protect at halfway on the traverse. Another excellent neglected route.
5. Psychosis E5 6b *** - Smugglers Terrace/Fox Holes Crag. A super crack climb with a hard committing crux protected by RP's.
6. Sea King E1 5b ** - Smugglers Terrace/Fox Holes Crag. A pleasant line of weakness and relatively long route. A good addition from the youths!
7. Time Captain E4 5c ** - Ingleby Incline. A tremendous route, long in nature and pumpy. Not technically demanding and generally well protected, however the route retains an overall feeling of commitment.
8. The Parochial Dream E5 6b * - Thorgill Crag. A sweet highball following a line of pockets up the barrel shaped wall. Bold in nature but protectable with modern age pads. Still worthy of an E-grade.
9. Peel Out E4 6b* - Wainstones. An excellent highball up a slightly eliminate line. Lovely technical climbing deserves more attention especially in the age of bouldering mats.
10. Stargazer Direct E5 6b ** - Highcliffe. An exciting and technical wall climb, with a high and committing crux. Fiddly gear protects (filed down RP or RP + coin); certainly originally graded (E4) for a rehearsed ascent.
11. Beaver Fever E1 5c * - Round Crag. While only being a short line, this little climb packs a few more moves than might be expected. Well protected and technical this adds a low extreme to the crag and helps to create a more 'rounded' grade skew. Awfully named.
12. Slip and Fly E4 6b * - Esklets. An Ian Dunn route, given E3 6b when the peg was new, is now closer to E4 with a heavily rusted peg. Perhaps it would hold? I'll let you find out. A great route, but you need a fair old span on you!
13. Cold Moor Dynos E2/3 6b ** - Cold Moor North Buttress. Removing the aid and side pull from 'Overhanging Wall' via a dyno and then a FA up the scoop to the right of 'Spine Chill', via a large jump. Excellent one movers!
14. Grand Master Flash E5 6b *** - Scugdale. The amazing Dave Paul extreme. Highball in nature these days, it's still not really a good idea to fall off! Technical throughout, powerful low down and with just enough to get the nerves twanging. Super.
So whats left to do?!
Well, Ch-Ching (E6 6c) is high on the list, after I fell off ground up and hurt myself on the nearby rocks. I'll certainly approach this as a highball with pads and treat it differently to an ascent of Stratagem (E5) up which the route finishes and which is also on the to-do list! Psycho Syndicate (E5 6c) is another one, I've not managed a method that involves monos while Franco easily yarded to the top via an undercut mono. I will probs throw a rope down this one and see if I can work out a 'normal' way to do it! If its mono-dependent, i'm not stoked!
What else? Well Steve Crowe put a few bits and bobs around the place when guidebook checking and he gave A Reach Too Far (E4 6b) three stars. It's got to be worth doing! Bit of a hike to the crag just to do this route, so I've kept putting it off. We'll wait til it's windy or not midgey!
Theres a couple more things at Ravenscar I'd like to do, Screwed (E5 6b), Gangrene (E3/4 6b), Three Screaming Popes (E6 6c) and maybe Rock Bottom (E3 going on E5 6b?). Round Crag is still important to me, I'd love to do Scut de Scun Ai, but i'll be waiting til its cooler. Its a bit choppy, I'm not sure I can justify another E7 6b... Pippi the E6 6c however looks excellent but a hard old start. I still need to do Time Out, E3 /4 6a ***! Would be nice to tick the whole block.
Esmerelda E7/8 6c or Original Sin (E7 6c) are Waterton classics and I'd love to do one of them. Can you shunt Es with the overhang? I'm yet to try.
So what about new routes? Theres some good stuff to get into but it's whether we choose ground up or headpointed ascents. Time constraints are the issue for me here. Ingleby, Smugglers, Stoupe Brow, Thorgill, Kay Nest, High Crag, Highcliffe all seem to have hard and superb routes ranging from nasty highballs to long committing routes of the well protected or choppy variety!
The List I would like is;
Ingleby RH - E6 6c WORTH DOING
Ingleby Direct E5 6a/b PROBS NOT WORTH DOING
Ellis' Direct E5 6c? NOT WORTH DOING
Landslip Arete E8/9 6c HARD START!
No Expectations E5/6 6b DONE, a cracking little route.
Kraken Arete E7 6b (with 6c start) DONE, a classy piece of arete climbing
Kraken Wall E5 6a/b (with 6c start) DONE, a powerful crux.
On Crack E6 6b? TRICKY START ON POOR ROCK
Tranmire Slabs (x4) E4 to E7? WORTH DOING
Kay Nest Wall & Slab E7/8? NOT SURE
1 comment:
you forgot No Expectations!
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