UKC

Do you have any lasting memory of the many good routes you've exclusively seconded? Is the pleasure derived from leading?

What are your best/most memorable/enjoyable/thrilling climbs at every trad grade you've climbed and what style? If no style is noted, assume lead/alt lead I guess?


Mod- Traverse of the Three Pinnacles (M) three cliffs bay- Great setting, albeit a scramble.
Diff- The Ordinary Route (D) Cwm Idwal - solo, part of a longer day
VD- Pinnacle Rib Route (D) Tryfan-First mountain route, set off towards heather ledge at 4pm... Didn't have the nads to jump adam and eve.
S- Balcony Buttress (S 4a) Stanage-What an unreal route!
HS- Left Hand Route Direct (VS 4b) Near cheddar- Absolutely desperate and thin.
VS- Lost Horizon (VS 5a) Baggy point - Very hard, could not have been closer to spilling the beans.
HVS- Eastender (HVS 5a) cheddar - Done in a 120cm 8mm sling as harness. Good climb.
E1- Looning the Tube (E1 5a) Slate - Pretty fantastically scary. With a 'don't f*ck it up clip.'

In reply to zimpara:

Good list, my memory is shocking with routes and I tend to forget just about everything about them within a day
Why did you use an 8mm sling as a harness on Eastender?

In reply to zimpara:
The Crack (VS 4b) at Castle Naze...I've had the pleasure of seconding it twice now, and would dearly love to lead it one day. If I can stop telling people how nice it is!

In reply to deacondeacon:

What climbs do you remember then? I managed to forget my harness at home.

In reply to zimpara:

Some that stick in my mind are:
'Wings of Unreason' at The Roaches. An unforgettable move up a lovely blank gritstone slab.
'Matterhorn Ridge'in Winnats Pass. One of those routes where you tend to giggle all the way up, as you're getting higher and higher away from the crowds in the valley down below.
One of the long routes on Tryfan (can't remember which one) with a couple of mates. 70mph plus winds and had to crawl along the floor after we topped out. Another one of those days when you're pissing yourself laughing all day.
'Snakes and Ladders' in the slate quarries with 3 foot of snow was great. Really atmospheric and the whole day felt like a black and white photo.

If you forget your harness tie a bight of rope round your waist and finish it with a bowline. It's much more comfortable if you end up weighting it than an 8mm sling

In reply to zimpara:

Mod: none done I think?
Diff: The Tunnel (D) because I am a deviant; or possibly Cyfrwy Arete (Summer) (D) (although I did it with the VD bit).
VD: Great Gully (S) - the horror, the horror (do it, it's great - I'm not lying when I say I enjoyed it although I would be lying if I said _you'd_ enjoy it). Sandbag grade: 3 grades minimum! Also Lockwood's Chimney (VD) and Bosigran Ridge a.k.a Commando Ridge (VD).
S: Avalanche/Red Wall/Longlands (S 4b) (sandbag grade +1?) is the obvious one, with an honourable mention for Shangri-La (S 4a) (another +1 for the nasty nasty start) which (once established) is just 30/40m of pure uninterrupted joy.
HS: Erotica (HS) for sheer silliness. Demo Route (HS 4b) for 'sheer sandbaginess' has now been replaced by Direct Route (VS 4c) for 'oh my god this is hard how the hell is this HS?' :P Useful tip - don't do Parson's Chimney (HS 4b) about 2 hours after rainfall while still green and ridiculously slimy just because you want the classic rock tick. We got much muckier than doing Great Gully, and it was well hard too!
VS: Under Milk Wood (VS 4a) for basically everything about it, or at least the tube section - entry, passage and exit... Honourable mentions for The Black Thief (VS 4b) (go to Fair Head, it's great!), Lost Horizon (VS 5a) for being just generally great, and finally Sleepy Toes (HVS 5a) for being a no-star wonder route.
HVS: Outward Bound (HVS 4c). Totally outrageous route, but much easier than it looks... yet plenty fail or fall off! Snakes and Ladders Approach (Old) (HVS) for adventure (and when you see how sketchily some of the ladders are attached, you see it totally deserves the HVS grade...)
E1: Cemetery Gates (E1 5b) because it was my first, Satan's Slip (E1 5a) for position and style and The Indy 500 (E1 5b) for quality (although I only seconded).

(PS Looning the Tube is totally not E1 :P)

In reply to zimpara:

Sev. I was new to the mountains and this always stays in my memory Gambit Climb (S)
HS. Is Sea Mist (HS 4a) one of my first season cliff routes and stepping across to the arete was amazing at the time. Been back since and still a cracker.
Vs. One Step in the Clouds (VS 4c). Just for the second pitch. It was one of them moments when I was wondering if I was off route. This can't be vs. O. There's a good wire. Shit I feel run out. O. More gear. I must be on route. Brilliant.
Hvs has to be Orange Wall (HVS 5a) at the yat. Ever since I seen the cc guide front cover I wanted to get good enough to have a go on it. 18 months it was on the wishlist. Out of body experience going up the final arete.
E1 has to be The Arrow (E1 5b) just because I had put it on a pedestal and it made me nervous thinking about what being on it would be like. Topping out was a feeling I've not had since. Similar to orange wall feeling but could not stop laughing. Like I was high on weed. Apparently....
E2 is Deranged (E2 5b) is actually felt in control and not a moment of hesitation. Love it.
E3 and my only one is Archangel (E3 5b) is did crescent arete and someone there said it was easer climbing but higher. I really remember being at the move before the break and gear thinking this is to high to bail. Just go for it. Few. I made it. Haha. Will live long in the memory. So many routes have been better than some of them I've mentioned. But just not felt the way them did at the time.
Luke.

In reply to andrewmcleod:

I assumed the cam slot would be a 00, 0.5 or a 1 Helium.

Great post by the way.

In reply to zimpara:

Not to derail a thread but which is the scary bit on looning the tube? Has it changed recently?

In reply to zimpara:
'F' Route (VS 4c) - first time climbing pretty much at my limit on a big mountain crag
Twisted Smile (HVS 5a) - incredibly hot summer about 12 or so years ago, first summer of climbing grit up on the moors
Arcturus (E1 5b) and Golden Slipper (HVS 5a) - as a kid I'd looked up at Pavey, overawed by the place and seen tiny climbers like ants crawling up the crag. Never imagined that it'd be me one day.
Elegy (E2 5c) - second time lucky (the first time involved getting stuck for about 45mins and eventually getting rescued from the middle of the slab having taken a wrong turn). After a summer of jug-hauling on sea cliffs, a reminder of just how intense 18m of grit can be
Voyage of Faith (E3 5c) - weaving an improbable way up the best crag in the world, everything trad climbing should be (except difficult, which it isn't, but you don't always have to be nearly falling off to be having a good time)
Star Wars (E4 5c) - it looks awesome, scary but not desperate...and that's exactly what it is
Darkinbad the Brightdayler (E5 6a) - didn't lead this, but it's down as a tribute to Tim Newton who I miss climbing with. We had a pretty full-on time on the route, but in a calm, collected and competent kind of way. Thanks Tim!

Nice idea, good chance to look back over some good memories.


Edit: sorry, didn't read the OP properly and not sure others did either. These were all ones I led except the last. In answer to your question, no seconding isn't generally memorable!

In reply to neuromancer:

Only the traverse (unless you don't like short 3/4m runouts well off the deck between bomber bomber bomber gear, in which case you probably shouldn't be on an HVS). Probably not?

(lengthy and unnecessary response below)
The only bit which would go very badly for you is if you fell off the traverse before getting to the first bolt - you would probably break something. Clip the traverse bolt, and you are probably pretty safe throughout. Sling the massive chain next - my friend also got a cheeky sideways size 3 wallnut in (surprisingly good actually) between the chain and cam slot above. I guess if you only placed one cam in the cam slot really badly and ended up ripping it you could fall a long way and possibly hit the big spike on the way down? But you could probably place at least three cams if you had the right size. Bolt just before the crux, and then you can sling the obvious flake at the top. Not really beta since you can see of all this (apart from the cheeky nut) from the bottom! (although knowing the cam size saves you taking a bunch up, as I'm sure zimpara now knows it's not small/micro cams!)

(I have seconded it twice, but not lead it yet - it should finally be my turn next time around!)
Given that a bolt protects the crux, and the rest of the route is not particularly run out except for the initial easy traverse out, if the crux is only 5a then E1 is just silly (Rockfax grade is E1 5a); the Slate guide gives HVS 5b which makes more sense.

In reply to andrewmcleod:

From the rusty chain to the bolt without a cam... oooo my goddddddd!

In reply to zimpara:

HD - Dental Slab (S 4a)my very first lead so I still remember stepping off the ground on the sharp end - fantastic and the start of a long happy addiction!
S - Green Gut (HS 4a) my mate seconded with one arm behind his back to add some challenge - this spurred me on but also taught me that climbing is about your own challenge
HS - Christmas Curry / Micah Eliminate (HS 4b) I think - my first experience of disco leg except it turned into a full body shake! I still remember what your mind can do to your body if you let it
VS The Long Climb (VS) didn't get far before realising this was way bigger and harder than we'd expected and that more isn't always better!
HVS - Cascade (HVS 5a) - first experience of flowing and doing something that afterwards you don't know how you did
E1 Cenotaph Corner (E1 5c) because it's unfinished business - have failed at the top twice and the first time I had to abseil off as it was going dark and I couldn't do the crux even after hanging and resting.
E2 The Strand (E2 5b) an unplanned experiment with how pumped you can be and still stay on - just
E3 - have seconded some but nothing as memorable as leading the above

This was a surprisingly fun trip down memory lane. Hoping my list will keep growing.

In reply to Lessworkmoreclimbing:

Cracking post as is everyones elses. You fail on cenotaph corner on the same move both times?

In reply to zimpara:

In response to the OP - I don't find seconding very memorable to be honest. Defintely have been some memorable climbing when seconding, but don't really recall the routes that well.

Highlights over the years:

Heaven Crack (VD) - surprisingly interesting and steep (but not hard) climbing for a VD.
Christmas Crack (HS 4a) - despite climbing at Stanage on and off for years, never done this until recently. Lovely climbing.
Knight's Move (HVS 5a) - again, one I'd wanted to climb for a while but never got around to it. Made memorable by the crux hold being sopping wet, made pulling through the bulge a bit interesting.
Shivers Arete (E1 5b) - memorable as it was my first E1 after a long layoff and a very shakey year or so back on the sharp end. Nice climbing but easy E1.
A Touch of Class (E2 5c) - sandbagged onto this by a mate at Uni (could have sworn it used to get E1?!). Good climbing throughout but friable footholds! Remember being very pumped at the top!
The Witch (E2 5b) - first E2 and onsight. Final move is fun but easier than it looks.
San Melas (E3 5c) - had seconded this a while back and thought it really tenuous for E3. Decided to lead it one day, head was in a good place and loved it.
On the Verge (E4 5c) - at the end of a good week of pushing my grades in the County. Did a load of E2s and felt like this was worth a go. Seemed easy at the time, but was just climbing well I think.
Peak Technique (E6 6b) - Headpointed over a few sessions and then decided to lead late one summer's evening. Sketchy slab which doesn't get many repeats and a couple of youtube vids around of people coming off it and hurting themselves. That was back in 1998 and I can still vividly remember the feeling of hitting that top hold - quite a buzz off that route and didn't sleep that night as I was so wired!