UKC

Langdale Boulders

I'm a beginner climber and only got into bouldering outdoors in the last two months, I first climbed a little indoors about 10+ years ago and did a bit of top rope, lead climbing and bouldering but not enough to stop me feeling like a complete newcomer picking it back up again now.

Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if anybody thinks the grades at langdale boulders are a bit confusing?? I'm also looking for the name of one of the two problems i did today as it seems to be different on here to what it is in my guidebook and none of them have descriptions or photos that would indicate which one it was either

So far my grade range has been VB to V0 sort of stuff, f2 to f4+, climbing at burbage south valley boulders and the roaches, mostly in the lower tier. I'm up in the lakes atm and tried a bit at settle earth boulders and now langdale where I did my first two 6As and felt pretty good about em... until I then tried neighbouring f4s and f5s and could hardly get off the ground?? Obviously you're always gonna be better suited to one problem over another but this seemed really extreme. The first I did was Ed's traverse on the back boulder and it felt no harder than most f4s I've done (I only used the crack and face holds) and looking at the feedback from other users it seems plenty others have felt like it was quite soft for its grade too. I then did the blunt arete on the back of the top boulder from a sit start which was also graded a 6a but I did it onsight and that shocked me. maybe I did it wrong? my line matched up with what I can see in the photo in my guidebook... This is the problem I can't find on here, if anyone knows what it's listed as on UKC then pls let me know, it's 14 on the top block in Greg Chapman's lake district bouldering but it doesn't seem to be problem 14 on the top block here. The f4 I found really hard is number 19 on the top block, it's a crack climb but I couldn't even get to the crack lol 

Anyway sorry if this topic has already been discussed, I'm struggling to find my way around this forum...

tl;dr - how come 6As feel like 4s at langdale boulders and 4s feel like 6As? also does anyone know what problem 14 in greg chapman's lake district bouldering is logged as on here? 

Cheers

I think part of the problem is that these boulders have been documented in different topos over the years, but, yes, some of them are complete sandbags whilst others feel artificial or too easy. I think it doesn't help that some people like to deliberately sandbag people whilst others just plain can't grade.

The UKC page is a mess, but the poor moderator will be in an awkward position trying to work it out and resolve, moving people's logbook ticks around in the process. It is a bit irritating, too, that the new guidebook doesn't name the problems, only numbers and grades them. Personally, having encountered this at Windy Clough, I named all the problems based on features mentioned in the description (e.g. Sandy Crack, Blunt Arete, Centre of the Wall). At least this began to give form and shape to the morass. A new topo reproduced these names, so it was obviously effective to some extent. The Langdale Boulders moderator needs to do the same, I reckon!

p.s. I think, looking carefully at the logbook, that the short rounded arete (problem 14 in 2019 guide) is probably problem 14 on the UKC page, given 6B with votes for 6A. From the entries, it looks as though this was once given 7A, then downgraded to 6B, then to 6A. Tha LOLz.

Problem 14 in the original Rockfax is also Problem 14 in Greg's Book so I would imagine it's problem 14 on here! V4 in the 2006 Rockfax.

I've climbed that little arete quite a few times and there are different ways of starting it, very low holds hard, higher holds easier. As you climb more you will probably get to know if it feels right or not.

To be honest there's loads of low grade stuff in the lakes that feels hard for the grade (Carrock 6as!) But loads of easier stuff that get 7a and above etc.

I only climbed there once about 15 years ago but I remember thinking the grades were all over the place to the extent that I wondered whether there were rules for some of the problems that hadn't made it into the guide. I onsighted V6 Traverse (7a) and honestly wouldn't have argued with V4/6b+ for it.

Thanks for the info, it's definitely felt more up and down here than in the peaks where the grades feel a bit more consistent to me. I'll log that problem as 14 on the back boulder, I was confused by someone saying that their guidebook described some pockets that they couldn't find... I did find a pocket up at the top of the arete that my guidebook didn't describe! So I figured it must be the wrong one.

I had the same thought process about ed's traverse and thought maybe none of the face holds besides the crack are in but the guidebook says face holds and the crack, suggesting you should only avoid using the juggy top lip of the boulder... I thought maybe the case was the same for the rounded arete and maybe it didn't want you using something I did use but it didn't say anything is not included, only to go straight up the arete