UKC

Are there any Sandbags on Slate? Or are all the routes overgraded?....

The Wow Wow (E4 6a) ?

Harder than most e5s I’ve done.

True Clip (7b+) is nails.

Agree, True Clip = 7c!

Yup, True Clip is hard. One of yours, Glasgow Kiss (7c) is tough, that foothold is awful!

Agree, Glasgow Kiss = 7c (probably)

I wouldn’t argue with that. Albeit a cruxy 7c with a lot of steady climbing to get to the hard bit. Still, the crux is incredibly drop able.

I reckon finger size is pretty crucial on this. Smaller the better. I thought it was harder than e4 but definitely not e6. 

Fresh off a Euro sport trip a couple of years ago I got on True Clip full of confidence... shut down!

Never been back on it...

Yeah, it’s not e6, but I would say e5, especially if comparing to the other e4 cracks on slate. Would much much easier with daintier fingers

I was happy just to be able to get the moves on that one! Hopefully I'll link it one day.

We are heading to the slate soon. Mate wants to do gin palace. All ive heard and seen about it is that its nails for the grade 

Beltane (7b+)

Yuck.

Na it's soft if you're 6ft+

Only 7b+ I’ve done, not 6 foot (as far as I can tell via conversion) and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do 7b+ anywhere else.

Same here (except the 6ft bit), I simply haven't got the power endurance for steep routes harder than 7a/7a+.

If 'Beltane' is 7b+ there is no way that 'True Clip' is 7b+ !!!

I climbed 'Beltane' when it was given 7b and thought that was about right. 'True Clip' felt a few grades harder, though having never climbed a 7c I had to accept it as a hard 7b+ at the time.

After climbing 'True Clip' 7b+ I went on to redpoint 'Tambourine Man' 8a and then 'The Medium' 8a basically jumping from 7b+ to 8a. 

So if 'Beltane' is 7b+ then 'True Clip' is more than certainly 7c this would make more sense with my progression to climbing a couple of 8a's...

What would ypu say was the crux on True Clip? The move i keep dropping involves a high right foot on a tiny 'nubbin' before semi mantling for a higher right hand just before half height. After that it seems to ease off until a big move to a mono higher up.

All I remember is that it was tricky to work out from the first move up until about half height. I learnt so much about redpointing from 'True Clip' a quality route, surprised it doesn't get many ascents.

I dogged my way up the groove before comprehensively failing to get established on the headwall.

Maybe just down to the faff of having to abseil down there to work it?l, and then ascend the ab line, or German School Girl to get out?

I'm currently projecting True Clip as my first 7b+ on TR solo, having easy access to the top anchors is turning out to be quite useful. Although I can imagine if I had a belayer at the bottom, getting both of us up and down would turn into a faff.

Massive thanks to Sl@te Head for bolting so many great routes, Rock Yoga (7a+) might be one of my favourite routes in the quarries for compact technical moves.

State of the Heart (6c+) is burnt into my mind as being potentially sandbagged, or maybe it's just a weird 3d route. 

Thanks

State of the Heart would be so much easier and better with just one extra bolt!

Tricky to grade slate sport compared to other rock types but I thought Beltane was about right for 7b+, wouldn't argue too much with 7b though. Despite being tall my flexibility is rubbish which makes the top hard. I really enjoyed it.

True Clip must be 7c...

id say Beltane is a gift at 7b+, its a slab with technical climbing and reasonable small holds, im pretty crap at thin climbing (and fairly short) but got it second go, I think I fell off goose creature around the same time!

I rekon raisin Frumpsnoot is pretty nails at 7b+ seems harder than forsinain mospur (7c)

But surely the biggest sandbag is the 'very big cop out' on the rainbow slab given fr 8a+ by calumn muskett but E5 in the latest slate guide 

I thought Beltane was quite hard (harder than Forsinain Motspur in my view), although I see I am out of step with many people here. The crossover moving left low down was very tough and the finish thin, even though I had done the top bit previously when doing the direct on FM, I still nearly fluffed it when climbing Beltane. 

Raisin Frumpsnoot feels harder than FM too. I would give RF 7c.

yeah fair enough I've not tried any of the others. I thought 7b was fair because its a slab and you're hands off a lot of the time, a 7b hands off slab is always going to feel like total desperation. These sort of routes are pretty specialist and I thought they were graded for/by people that had some skills in the field, with slate its standing on high crap feet and scraping your way up the wall to the next edge. It doesn't matter how strong you are to a degree, there's not many holds, if you've not got the technique youre not going to get too far (for example friend of mine who climbs e1/e2 on normally rock and 6c/7a on the occasional sport probably onsighted this or got it fast, he loves the slabs....)

I thought the bit going left was the crux although there was another hard move up and right not long after it. I thought the finish was totally fine and youre on pretty good holds by then (from memory?). 

Yeah your comments are totally reasonable about it being a slab etc. I may have just found it hard and had not climbed on slate for a bit when I did it (too much limestone), although I seem to remember being annoyed because I expected it to be really easy from what people had said so that annoyance is probably colouring my opinion. Anyway, more to the point, Beltane is a fab route and a great compliment to the other fantastic routes on that wall, whatever the grade. I loved it.

I generally find slate grading to be a little on the softer side but I do seem to have a preference for the climbing style.

There does seem to be some discrepancy between True Clip and Beltane. I tried True Clip then Beltane and found True Clip much harder – perhaps by a full grade? TC felt pretty impossible for me whereas Beltane seemed very possible. I’m intrigued to try TC again as I managed the first half but couldn’t seem to make the big moves above. Anyone around 5’4 done this one?

I think Beltane is a bit harder if you’re on the “shorter” side but not sure if it would warrant the plus and even then it’s considerably easier than True Clip. The guidebook says “7b for the tall” – I suppose “tall” is down to interpretation. I think sometimes “tall” is used a bit too vaguely and inconsistently in guidebooks – I guess it’s subjective and hard to judge. I found some tenuous stretched out sequences and some powerful dynamic moves that I felt would be easier with a few extra inches of reach, but no doubt those tiny slate edges are easier for smaller fingers and toes to use.

The Carbon Stage felt hard for the grade / out of keeping with slate grading, and the bolting is a bit trad!