UKC

Following on from a conversation recently had at the crag....

Where do you find granite in England / Wales other than Dartmoor and Cornwall?

What would make a good route for an E5 onsight attempt?

(the crag conversation was along the lines of 'how many rock types do you think we could onsight an E5 on?)

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Lundy.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Eskdale in the lakes has some good granite, plenty of routes and bouldering.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Antiworlds, Lundy

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Widespread Ocean of Fear is the obvious suggestion.

jcm

In reply to Somerset swede basher:
Northern Ireland
for on sighting granite. For a good first E5 I vote for supersonic at HT.

In reply to Luke01:

Been to Lundy and, although it was awesome, am unlikely to go back. It was also ' Lundy - island of rain ' when we went so didn't get loads done.

In reply to DWS gibraltar:

Cheers, that would be cool but again, unlikely to head over that way.

In reply to petegunn:
We have a winner! I've bouldered on the common in the past, what crags are granite around there? Just taken a look in my copy of Lake District Rock and it looks like just Hare Crag and Bell Stand but neither have an E5 in this book.

In reply to petegunn:


Not really granite, though, is it? But then maybe the OP isn't as pedantic as I am. Maybe anything igneous would do.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I thought Brantrake was granite, no?

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Sticking with the "why not visit an island?" theme, and with the obvious caveat that - whatever Jersey's actual status - it probably isn't "in England" (or indeed Wales), Tax Exile might fit the bill.

In reply to jon:


OK, I'm going to back down immediately, I'm wrong! The big crags might not be granite but quite a few of those small Eskdale ones are. I just never think of Lakes climbing as being granite.

In reply to Dave Garnett:
Brantrake is referred to as granite in my guide, and it has an E5

In reply to Dave Garnett:
It may only be a small area but there is some granite in the lakes
Take a look at this image of the rock types in lakeland The pink area with the letter G = Granite.

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg/Map-Lake-District1300.jpg

E5 routes:
Butterballs 2, Hare Crag, Steep and fingery.
Hare of Dog, Hare Crag, "The London Wall of Granite!"
Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow, Hare crag, Unprotected boulder problem high on a slab.
The Birthday Present, Bell Stand
Enigma Wall, Bell Stand
and
Art for Art's Sake at Brantrake, A superb bold slab!

In reply to petegunn:

This is pretty good for getting an idea of the rocktypes: http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html

In reply to petegunn:

Thanks, that's really handy. Best get some granite mileage in before I give one a go.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

I can really recommend Interrogation direct at Haytor, not difficult to get to, it's hardly ever done which is a shame as it's a good route, there's no need to clean it either (in my experience) despite appearance.
Jb.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Scotland has stacks of granite, Cairngorms, Arran, Glen Etive, Ballatar, Aberdeen sea cliffs etc.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

I went to Lundy last week and did a few E5s. Of these Supercharged was by far the easiest and Widespread probably the hardest. The Cullinan is also soft if it suits you, Antiworlds might be if in great nick but as birds nest all over the first pitch it's more likely to feel tough. If you get the conditions it's generally a great place for the grade though.

In reply to Adam Long:

I'd be interested to know the ones you did that were easier than Widespread. When I was active on Lundy (15 years ago) the consensus among the island regulars was that WOOF was the easiest E5 around. Mind you at that time Supercharged was E4, I think. Cullinan - yes, I've heard that, NTBDFU; if you're good at that kind of stuff.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Interesting. Horses for courses yes, but if the Cullinan suits so should Widespread. It felt hard enough to drop any ideas of jumping on Watching the ocean anyway. Maybe its was just the aspect, time of day and lack of chalk. I suppose the gear wasn't as good as I expected too. Olympica was very clean and fairly short-lived in comparison, but seemed to be the one with the rep (though the start has changed and the we didn't follow the guidebook line). Antiworlds was filthy low down (I suppose it always is), but if clean might be more like 3 E4 pitches. But then the climbing on it is so good it doesn't feel hard. Grades are funny things though, often the reputation's a bigger part of the feel than the rock.