UKC

Climbed this today but without a guidebook. Local heroes at the crag said it climbs the middle of the starting face. Over The Moors has it starting in the left hand gully, and one of my old guidebooks without topos gives the impression it starts up Mather Crack.
I ended up starting up 'Ultimatum' (I think) then scuttled into Mather Crack.
Finishing up the very cool upper Arete.
What's the proper/original start?

While I'm here I'll also say that Viaduct Wall is a proper sandbag. Just as hard but more dangerous than Honcho. What a bastard!

In reply to deacondeacon:


No idea.


No it's not! It's miles easier.

In reply to deacondeacon:
It's been done all the ways. I did it from a bit left of the arete, maybe starting in the corner on the left? I think it got e3 but felt easier, maybe e2.

It goes direct as well, but a bit harder.

Will

P.s. honcho is harder

In reply to deacondeacon: It starts in the gully up the crack, as detailed in OtM. The guy who said it climbs the middle of the face is fibbing - that's a different route. There's a new (2014) direct start to The Arete which just follows the thing in it's entirety.

You must have been having a bad day if you think VW is more dangerous than Honcho. It's a couple of 5c moves above a flat landing. Or maybe I'm just awesome.

In reply to deacondeacon:

Wierd, we must be unintensionally following each other. I was there with my GF today on one of the easy routes as we got thrown off a private crag earlier in the day. Looking at the book, the Arete seems to follow the nose right from the floor. Perhaps older variations exist before the book.

In reply to olddirtydoggy: Interesting - which private crag did you get chucked off?

Which book shows The Arete following the arete from the floor. That's not what's shown in OtM - Peak Grit West maybe?

In reply to kingholmesy:



Perhaps I was being too strict on Viaduct Wall. I pressed the mantle out to a very small slot (a long way above the floor for E2). It looked like if you strayed a fair way left you could make it a fair bit easier.

In reply to Frank the Husky:




As a boulder problem I'd agree that that Honcho is a tad harder than Viaduct Wall but as a route Honcho seemed much friendlier, with its pegs and gear on every tricky move.
I climbed Honcho a while ago now though and perhaps I just got lucky on it.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Nice one. New Mills saves the day again

In reply to Frank the Husky:
We got asked to leave Boozers butress (aka mans head locally) in the lower Rivelin valley. It's such a shame as the rock is of exrtremely high quality due to there being virtually no climbing been done on it and the protection it gets from the weather. I've edited and put notes on the logbook page.
The direct diagram is in the Rockfax West Grit, I had a quick look.

In reply to deacondeacon:
I think Viaduct Wall was always hard to grade, like Kayak on Froggatt, the grade is height dependent and boldness orientated. Honcho is just hard , probably 6a rather than 5c. Both are probably rendered easier by a bouldering mat.

In reply to Al Evans:

I agree. Viaduct wall is hard. I normally boulder by myself at New Mills Tor, and with one pad, the crux reach felt out of control and scary.

Honcho is physically harder but less reach dependent. It's also an absolute pleasure. I tend to do a variation of it every time I boulder there. I still think it's a better boulder problem than many V4s at other well known crags.

In reply to deacondeacon:
Talking about the grading there, does anyone else think that the Grim Reaper traverse is a bit stiff at F6a+? It's another classic I really like but when I introduce new people to the crag, it normally takes them more time to do than Honcho does!

In reply to Al Evans:

Yep as is often the case
I didn't bother with one on Honcho but was glad I had one on Viaduct Wall.

In reply to zmv:

YES!
I did 2 6Cs one day at new Mills and couldnt get close to grim reaper traverse