UKC

After a few recommendations of routes to try for my first E3 in the Lakes, I've done a bit of searching but all I could find are recommendations for Wales and the Grit. As normal, easy for the grade and ideally well protected none bold routes! Tend to lean to face style climbing rather then brutal cracks and corners.

Currently got my eye on Guillotine and Thumbscrew at Reecastle, did think adding Snickersnack to the list but even though it currently is dry I could be waiting a while for it to dry by the time I can make another trip up there! 

If anyone has some ideas for harder E2's to maybe start with too that would be good. 

Those reecastle ones are the best place to start. White noise is a bit harder than the others. 

Paladin is OK, but I cocked it up - save some oomph for the final thrutch over the lip. Spectacular route!

Roaring silence is superb. Get your mate to do the second pitch!

I think the other ones I've done have either been scary or nasty! 

The lakes is full of hard e2s. Castle rock is a good place for those - Ted cheasby is solid e3 really. Pink panther on Dow is a brilliant hard e2. Kern knotts has some good ones. Equus, tumbleweed, ichabod... Loads to go at! 

Saw you on White Ghyll last night you could always give Paladin (E3 6a) a bash not exactly face climbing but its on good holds with good gear....

Reecastle is awesome if you manage

The Finger Flake Finish (E2 5c)

You will be on for a good shot on Guillotine / white noise (bold start) / thumbscrew.

Lakes e3's that arent bold & more face climbing could be things like

Castration Crack (E3 6a) short hard section more like face climbing than a crack

A Face in the Crowd (E3 6a) great wall climbing with very fiddly gear

Gimme Shelter (E3 6a)  face climbing with abit of a one move wonder with good gear

Shifter (E3 6a) OK its a groove / corner but its awesome & has plenty of face holds

The Nazgul (E3 5c) the crack on pitch 1 boasts brilliant holds with plenty of gear a really good route a lot easier than white wizzard

Prana (E3 5c) a really nice face climb / slabby(ish)

Cruel Sister (E3 5c) I know this is supposed to be bold but it isn't really....very committing though

Battering Ram (E3 6a) good wall climbing after the initial moves & groove Porcupine is also good but people seem to think its hard

Eastern Hammer (E3 6a) is well protected but pretty hard

I'd air caution on things like Powerglide (E4 6a) which is almost certainly e4

Cascade Direct (E3 5c) gets e3- (not a real grade) but it isn't.......

Double Trouble (E3 6a) is also a fairly serious prospect........

Ted Cheasby is going up to E3 within the forthcoming Lake District Rockfax. I had a total nightmare on it, felt like E4 5c to me!

What about rigor mortis Rob?

I went to  Burnt Crag a few weeks back and was on Shifter (E3 6a) I only did it on second but it's an amazing line and well protected which I'll go back to lead at some point. Probably one of the best E3's in the Lakes. 

I’m out the office at the moment so don’t have the file to hand, will check when I’m back this evening.

Great list btw! Think I’ve done most of them but there’s a few I haven’t.

Looking forward to the guide awesome to see the amount of route checking you guys are doing!

Have you done Langdale cowboys on gimmer? the hardest e4 5c in the world..... e5 6a/b all day long hahaha

If you like bouldery routes Pocket Crack (E3 6a) (well protected,) and Needle Arete (E3 5c)(crux well protected - sequence on utube if you want to have a look,) at Black Crag Wrynose were two of my first.

I thought hard E2/soft E3. Certainly uncharacteristically safe feeling for Lakes E3!

Humdrum on Esk felt ok for E3 to me.

Great stuff. A few there I haven't heard of to check out.

Humdrum is one I'm keen for, but heading to shady crags atm. 

It is good. My grade calibration is very rusty - I've done maybe 10 trad routes at most since my son was born - but if that's hard E2 then that's a positive as far as getting back into things goes.

For the OP, I'd have thought the easier Reecastle ones were obvious choices. I thought they were easier than Equus, although I think that says more about Equus!

Great thanks for the excellent responses! I've done a few of the recommended, i.e. Pink Panther and Needle Arete but I seconded both those and didn't find them too bad. 

I'll have a further look into the recommendations!

Lots of good suggestions for routes to do , Joe.

As for a first E3 tick, your suggestion of Guillotine or Thumbscrew is probably the best. 

Both have lots of good gear, Guillotine being more sustained and Thumbscrew a bit more cruxy.

Should both be well chalked atm so sequences should be more obvious to work out.

FWIW ( but I have done them all dozens of times)  I usually find FFF harder to climb than these two so a good hard E2 that you requested.

Having climbed with you last weekend I am sure you will piss up all three.

Ditch a few cams and carry more small to medium wires.

( the cam rack last saturday will be about right for White Noise, the other three routes eat wires.)

Further recommendations for Guillotine and Thumbscrew - both steady for E3, both safe with good protection, both great routes. Then work up to White Noise which is also brilliant. 

Battering Ram also very fine indeed - I'd recommend microcams to protect the slanting V shaped cornery thing on pitch 1. Bold without, but very safe E3 with microcams.

Good luck!

Just goes to show you, I thought it was middle of the road E2 at a time when E2/3 was really my limit. Has it changed? Or is there some mystery move?

Thanks Rick I'll bear that in mind!

White Noise E2 if you can jam (maybe, it's the best and easiest of the E3 collection there anyway). BUT....in this weather it would be well worth going for some of the more rarely dry / clean routes to really take advantage of it. Anything at Reecastle / Burnt / Shepherds / Black / Castle / Pavey etc etc can be climbed any year, they're a waste of a heatwave.

Castration Crack is a good call. 

Snickersnack as you say.

GTX at Raven Threshwaite might be worth a look. Should be good in the Easterly breeze.

On Ted Cheasby, the peg , might have been two in at one time , does not inspire so much confidence.

Gear to stop a deck out takes a bit of sorting, but is quite good if you work at it.

There used to be a big flake on Angels Highway that came off about fifteen? years ago.

Def does not feel E2 anymore.  Even Ed would give it E2++, Pete Gom wouldn't notice.

Aye hence I'm currently not looking to immediately push my grade and enjoy climbing in the high crags atm! 

Are you trying to be deliberately wrong or what? I reckon thumbscrew < guillotine < white noise. And guillotine is maybe the best to start as it's just a bit pumpy rather than an awkward crux with fiddly gear. 

Aye! 

Agree with Jon & 99% of other people - White noise is the hardest save that for last.....

I remember Snickersnack and Dream Twister both being very steady for the grade, also a great place to escape the worst of the heat at the moment

Just don't go near The Vikings (E3 5c)

Just checked and it's still in at E2 5c. Also get's an illustrious space within the Top 50, which makes me wonder why I did Thirlmere Eliminate (which, incidentally, is also up to E2 5c).

Regarding the various comments on Ted Cheasby, the pegs that have been mentioned elsewhere are definitively not what they used to be. Maybe my imagination got the better of me, but I really really didn't want to fall onto them. They were paper thin and looked - for want of a better word - shit. I managed to fiddle some gear in, but it was (as Rick suggested) fiddly and I still wasn't 100% sure about it by the time I was done and the prospect of falling a lot way/hitting the ground was very real.

Suspect it'd feel very different if those pegs were good and/or if I had greater faith in dodgy fixed gear. Thankfully I didn't have to test it, but I felt for the poor sod who did whilst pushing their grade on a supposed E2!