UKC

I was wondering what the most ticked F7A boulder problem is in the UK. 

I assume it's The Green Traverse at The Plantation.  Does anyone know?

This Trackside (f7A)?

If you search 8a.poo then the most climbed peak 7A's are:

The Green Traverse (f7A)

Gorilla Warfare (f7A)

then

Trackside (f7A)

Bear in mind that most of the people ticking The Green Traverse won't have done The Green Traverse.

that old chestnut!

Over 120 DNF in the logs

It's not an old chestnut. Plenty of problems have rules. You either do it properly or delude yourself with a tick (known as The Green Traversty... maybe this should be added to the UKC logbook to make it clear).

Are the rules that you’re not allowed the slopey top or is there more to it?

I’ve only played on it the once and that was my interpretation.

Well, let's put it this way:  youtube.com/watch?v=alwm0U29bV0&

Apols if you know this guy

Does the confusion not come from a guidebook error?

What are the rules btw?

I think it's: no heel-hooks at the start and you must match the low crimp rail. 

But I could be wrong. It's not the sort of thing I can get excited about.

Oh, but you should; you really should. 

Do it the easiest way.

(For me, this is to drop down to the rail and pop up left, feet on smears, which means I have an official "official" tick recorded in my brain and validated online by the National Association of Beta Nazis...but it's no easier using other methods, so the rules thing is even more pointless than it at first appears.)

In reply:

Depends who you ask and which guide you use. The OTE  (1994) and the Rockfax 1998/2000 both call what most people the green traverse Dope on a Slope with the Green Traverse starting further round to the Right before joining Dope. I can't believe this bit has been done without heels. Modern guides list these problems with the names swapped round.

The 2nd part depending on who you ask but most people/guides say you use everything (the lettered holds?) but don't specify the obvious bit (?) that the top of the block is out so no hands or heels on the top!

There are plenty of variations only using certain holds/missing some out or insisting you drop down completely onto the low rail.

When I was trying Green Traverse, I chastised my mate for using a heel on one of the starting handholds. A dude stood nearby laughed and said it was fine as long as you didn't use the top of the block. He was Martin Veale, and as it's his problem, he probably gets to say what the rules are. Avoiding the low rail is a different matter, reaching across and missing it out is Ron's Reach - a different problem but a similar grade.

Quite. Dropping down to the rail and powering back up defines the original problem. 

Hang on. I thought "no heals" was your middle name? 

Heels along with hands on the top of the boulder are obviously out of bounds on the original Green traverse though you need them for the Full Green. Using a heel at the drop down at the very end of the traverse is ok too IMO though I don’t use it. I always thought that a heel on the starting jug was off limits as its virtually at the top of the boulder but will obviously defer to Martin Veale if he thinks it’s ok as stated above.

But doesn't using a heel on the starting hold negate "powering back up"?

Which would almost start to imply not only that you had been wrong in the past, but also that the error was quite fundamental.

I appreciate that this could be interpreted as inflammatory.

You still have to match the low finger rail before going back up. 

It's a little known fact that you can only climb The Green Traverse at Stanage if you pay council tax in postcode S6. Any sequence deployed by somebody from outside the Green Traverse Zone will be pulled up on some infraction by a properly accredited GTZ resident.

Any chance that could stretch to S7?

So it's an eliminate?

Blimey

I’ve done it from S10 and S7, but not when I lived in S6. Live in S32 now, so I guess I’ll never get the official tick.

You got it

Sorry, back around.

Well I've only done it the S7 way, so clearly no tick for me!

But then again, unless one has done it before Martin's wintry, critical gaze, followed by the most tiny smile of amused approval, can one really say that one has done it at all?

And no heel-hooking!!!

Maybe my tick's back on again (and maybe it isnt'...)

Mick

I know heel hooking is criminal, but how about a crafty toe hook, as long as it isn't on the top, I match on the crimp, have an S8 postcode and start around the corner in Burbage?

Hi Mick,

with the eliminate police patrolling, if you de focus your eyes it feels like 1983 all over again,

i think it was Ron who told me that Top was out and toe hooks were ‘in if you need to’ and who are we to question that?

paul

Hi Paul,

I think I've got the 'Ron was there' tick as well! Now this certainly used to be easy, if you went to the Plantation but, as 'the world's worst boulderer' (yup - it's official), I think I've only been on (what we laughingly call) the Green Traverse twice. The first time was 'cos Will Perrin wanted to do it and we saw Martin; the second time, there was only Big Ron and me (yes, I know, I know... from the sublime to the ridiculous) on the crag.

I love the Grimer tale about doing that traverse on the big boulder (is it the Pebble?) Egged on by his mates, as he approached the corner, he muttered, "Arms, do your stuff!" Grabbed the corner in triumph, only to be confronted by Big Ron coming round it from the other side, wagging his finger roughishly and giving a reproving, "Tut, tut!"  To everyone's delight, poor ole Grimer went bright red with embarrassment.

Who says bouldering's boring?

Have a great year!

Mick

I've always done it the Ron's Reach method with no heels or toe hooks. 

I've always understood I should drop down and match the low rail for the proper Green Traverse, but I've never done it that way.

Sorry, no S7 extensions. I have never lived in Sheffield, as you can tell from this documentary footage.

youtube.com/watch?v=jDP7F9Z8y8g&

vimeo.com/23612847

Lagers’ excellent video is essential viewing for anyone concerned about what is, and isn’t, GT. 

Excellent. It's not the first time I've been called tall and lazy.

Ron's Reach? Surely a misnomer.Not remotely a reach for the tall Fawcett.