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ARTICLE: The Five Best E1 Routes in the UK?

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 UKC Articles 11 Jun 2014
Astral Stroll , 4 kbWhat are the best five E1 routes in the UK?

Read this article and find out which ones Tom Ripley has picked out. Have you done them all? And has he picked some clangers?

And can a Peak Limestone route really rank that high on a UK ticklist?!

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=6377

 Tom Last 11 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

Err, Astral Stroll most definitely not in Devon
 Jack Geldard 11 Jun 2014
In reply to Tom Last:

Thanks! Sorted.

Jack
 Coel Hellier 11 Jun 2014
In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor:

Seeds are sown, not sewn.
 The Pylon King 11 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

Cool. I like E1
 dnichols 11 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

In its past tense it's "led" not "lead"
rtwilli4 11 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

Are these "5 best" articles just to sell guide books?
 Carl Smethurst 11 Jun 2014
In reply to dnichols:

Lead for led - the most common misspelling on UKC. Grates on me every time!
In reply to UKC Articles:

Three reasonable choices and two absurd ones.

jcm
 alasdair19 12 Jun 2014
In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

I'm trying to figure out the absurd kilt rock and sirpplum I guess... hombre is kinda left field too.

nice article tom.
 simes303 12 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:
I wouldn't put Moyer's Buttress on any best of lists. I've done it twice, and it's crap.

Sirplum however, is brilliant.
Post edited at 09:23
 Owen W-G 12 Jun 2014
In reply to simes303:

Superdirect, The Grooves, American Dream, Debauchery, Coronation St?
 GeoffRadcliffe 12 Jun 2014
In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor:

> Thanks! Sorted.

> Jack

And while you are sorting. Isn't it Praying Mantiss?
pasbury 12 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

I haven't done any! I suppose whether they are the 5 'best' is moot. 5 jeffing good E1's is a less catchy title though.
 Bulls Crack 12 Jun 2014
In reply to simes303:

> I wouldn't put Moyer's Buttress on any best of lists. I've done it twice, and it's crap.



crap? I don't understand.

However Coronation Street MUST be in any top 5
 Tom Briggs 12 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

Gormenghast?! And I'm from the Lakes. Looking forward to the 5 best E2s with Extol listed

In reply to dnichols:

Grand to see folks bother'd 'boot proper spellin' and English like eh?
In reply to Tom Briggs:

> Gormenghast?! And I'm from the Lakes.

I've done it twice and thought it was very good.

What would you have had as your Lakes routes? Red Edge, Philistine, CB, North Crag Eliminate...?

Cheers,

Tom
 danm 12 Jun 2014
In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

In the Lakes, I'd probably go for Catacomb, Red Edge, and Intern/Whit's End Direct link-up. I really rated Capella too. But the stand out route of the grade has to be Totalitarian?

Further afield, what about Fairhead? All of the E1's I've done there are as good as anything else I can think of.
 Sean Kelly 12 Jun 2014
In reply to Tom Briggs:

> Gormenghast?! And I'm from the Lakes. Looking forward to the 5 best E2s with Extol listed

Extol. Now there's an underated climb!
In reply to Tom Briggs:

I don't know - the youth of today - Gormenghast was always HVS.
Totalitarian a great E1, always was, just needs a bit more traffic to keep clean.
DC
In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I haven't done Gormenghast but I have a distinct memory of my brother, John, being a bit underwhelmed by it (at HVS), roughly along the lines of 'It's OK, pleasant enough, but a bit scruffy'. To have that ahead of CB seems quite mad.
In reply to Dave Cumberland:

I've had loads of people raving to me about Totalitarian being outrageously good.
 Neil Foster Global Crag Moderator 12 Jun 2014
In reply to Tom Briggs:

> Looking forward to the 5 best E2s with Extol listed

No, they're saving that for the "Most Overrated E4s" article, Tom.
 Tyler 12 Jun 2014
In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

> What would you have had as your Lakes routes?

Why do you have to have a Lakes route?
 Tyler 12 Jun 2014
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

> I haven't done Gormenghast but I have a distinct memory of my brother, John, being a bit underwhelmed by it (at HVS), roughly along the lines of 'It's OK, pleasant enough, but a bit scruffy'.

> I've had loads of people raving to me about Totalitarian being outrageously good.

My experience has been the total opposite, I was surprised how good Gormenghast was and thought Totalitarian was a completely rubbish. It may be to do with expectation but to be honest I think my expectation of both was pretty low.

Looking through my logbook surprisingly few E1s standout; Shrike, White Slab, Manzouk, Unicorn and the Grooves were pretty memorable but that's it.
 Jon Stewart 13 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

Quite leftfield choices.

There's no way anything on Peak limestone can get further than a "best on Peak limestone" list. Scotland is always terribly under-represented in these things, possibly best to have "in England an Wales" as really the top 5 would all be in Scotland and include Black Streak, Hoofer's Route, Jack The Ripper, Bloodlust, and a few I haven't done.

Gogarth doesn't excel at E1, and Hombre has an appalling faff-climbing ratio. A Pembroke choice would be better I reckon - Lucky Strike (it's nowhere close to E2) or Strait Gate.

The obvious and best Lakes E1 is Central Buttress. Best E1 pitch in the Lakes Whit's End Direct IMO. I haven't done Ghormenghast, walked past it a few times though (including today, assumed it was bird banned) - not a great endorsement!
 dnichols 14 Jun 2014
In reply to rtwilli4:

> Are these "5 best" articles just to sell guide books?

Yep, and specifically ROCKFAX guidebooks
 Jonny2vests 15 Jun 2014
In reply to UKC Articles:

I've always thought Aplomb to be way better than Sirplum. You get to do that crazy traverse, miss the rubbish bit of Sirplum then finish like a hero up the Sirplum jugs.

Rock Idol would make my list too.
 Bulls Crack 16 Jun 2014
In reply to Jonny2vests:

What's the 'rubbish' bit of Sirplum? I'm myatified!
In reply to Bulls Crack:

> What's the 'rubbish' bit of Sirplum? I'm myatified!

The first pitch!
 Jonny2vests 17 Jun 2014
In reply to Bulls Crack:

> What's the 'rubbish' bit of Sirplum? I'm myatified!

As above. If you think that's good, I know some great quarries you would love.

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