| The E9s & E10s |
SAFE
but
technical |
| Samson |
E9 7b |
Burbage South |
Very large Friend (size 6?) in Goliath, and/or flared Flexi-Friend 4 in pocket, should protect this offering from Moffatt, which takes the wall to the left from half-way up Goliath, via some pockets, small holds and a big dyno. Rumoured to be tech 6b if you undercut the pocket - not sure how true this is but it's a nice annecdote. Needs repeating to confirm the grade: fancy it Seb? |
| Equilibrium |
E10 7a |
Burbage South |
Desperate arete above Yoghurt with gear in The Boggart at about half-height - certainly feels a grade harder than Parthian. Might not be that safe if you fall off the top crux. See here for first ascent eye-witness. Unrepeated? F8b+ish. |
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SAFE
but
sustained |
| Parthian Shot |
E9 6c |
Burbage South |
| Put in this catagory as it appears to be the safest E9 on grit, though clearly that is up for argument!
Audacious route up 'The Prow' just right of Braille Trail. Side runner protects the first hard moves, traversing
left and gaining the hanging flake (big dyno for the short - hard to dog). Several RPs go behind the flake that amazingly
held 5 falls from Seb Grieve, and several more from Bentley and Sellers. Two long reaches from the top of the flake take
you to the crux - slapping into a very slopy pocket and a despo rock-over onto the hanging slab and the top. The first
ascensionist, John Dunne, placed all gear (3 wires) on lead, and while he's the only person to climb it without falling
off, he had to be rescued a couple of times from the crux before he psyched through to the top. Neil Bentley thought the
route F8b to place all gear on lead. The epitomy of hard grit. F8a+ |
Climber: Seb Grieve © R.Heap |
|
| The Great Arete |
E? 7b |
Caley |
The last great problem of Caley: the arete right of The Great Flake; finally climbed by Steve Dunning. An exception achievement: graded as a V13 boulder problem, it nevertheless features hard move a long way up, and could be considered as a fine gritstone micro-route - The Flake is! F8c+ the rest. |
|
BOLD
and
technical |
| Born Slippy |
E8/9 6b/c |
Curbar |
Knocking on Heaven's Door without the 'hand-placed' peg, and with a slight deviation just below the slab to place gear (F0.5). Very thin slab climbing on old bullet wounds, which is curiously more edging than smearing. The original route, Knocking on Heaven's Door used a 'tapped' in peg off-route with a long sling attached so it could be clipped en route and has settled at E7. This has now been soloed by Ben Tetler as an 'ethical statement', though it makes more sense to do Born Slippy and have a little gear - even so a very serious lead. F7b to top-rope. |
| Harder Faster |
E9 7a |
Black Rocks |
Climbed by Charlie Woodburn, Nov '00. Carry on straight up from the rest of Gaia, if you're not scared enough already. More of a direct finish than a major line. |
| Widdop Wall |
E9 7a |
Widdop |
The direct start to Savage Earth combines very hard and technical wall climbing, serious ground-fall potential and 'unusual' protection (small slider and filed-down tri-cam 0). Gear placed on lead. E8 6c up to the break and gear, harder moves above to gain very sloping finishing holds. Unrepeated? F8a+ |
| Doctor Doolittle |
E10 7a |
Curbar |
| Arran does it again! Parallel line to Slab and Crack featuring very technical undercutting
and smearing on crux, with a very poor hand placed peg as pro. Unrepeated? F8a+/8b |
Climber: John Arran © C.Ryan |
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BOLD
and
sustained |
| The Zone |
E9 6c |
Curbar |
John Arran route up the wall left of Peapod, which uses the left arete of that route a little near the top. Hard and crimpy. Protection is two reasonable skyhooks at about half height (which John really should have weighed down with an old hex). First ascentionist used BIG mattress and lots of spotters, and down climbed from the skyhooks before more toprope practise and final summit push. An account of the ascent is here. F8a |
| Meshuga |
E9 6c |
Black Rocks |
| Probably the last blindingly obvious line on Peak gritstone up an overhanging blunt prow via some reasonably positive holds and some unreasonably sloping ones. Many blind moves are truly blind unless the chalk marks are still there. No need to use your knee unless you've got Seb's inflexibly long legs. Not much gear until all the hard climbing is completed (though initial pocket may take a F1.5). Instead, protection would appear to take the form of several futon mattresses and a wandering clutch of Frenchmen lashed down to prevent them from running off. The landing is possibly the worst on gritstone although Neil Gresham miraculously only got concussion when he fell off the crux slap. One other thing to think about to savour the full atmosphere is that The Promontory is a historically popular suicide spot. Toprope grades of F7b+ to F8a have been suggested, so basically we don't know! |
Climber: Seb Grieve © R.Heap |
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| Blind Vision |
E10 7a? |
Froggatt |
Links the bulge of Moffatt's SlingShot problem with the technical headwall; protection being a small cam in a seam above the bivvy ledge. Font 8a + F7c+ |
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