UKC

We went up to Creag an Dubh Loch and did Mousetrap.

We were about to do Black Mamba the next day but weather came in.  Reading the logbook entries, I'm quite glad we didn't start in suboptimal conditions. 

12 of the 60 entries are "dnf".

Is there another route with a higher failure rate than 20%?  Let's say routes with more than 50 logs.

Cuillin Ridge Traverse (Summer) (VD)

How about The Chasm (Summer) (VS)?

T.

The Overhanging Crack (E2 5c)

259 logs, 54 dnf (20.86%) but more impressive when you consider the 68 dogged (25.25%). That's a failure rate of 46%.

 In reply to Deadeye:

I think that Green Crack at Ramshaw must be a contender with 19 dnf out of 58 logs.

If you make allowances for those caught out by the weather, I'd guess half of the rest are those who had gone too slow and time caught up on them, and the other half are the ones stuck behind the aforementioned!

Goliath at Burbage South. 28% dnf, 18% dog.

We did this last year  (like most things)

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rocktalk/most_dnfddogged_summer_routes-64...

I'd be interested if anything's changed....

Edit: three other old threads linked in that thread too, with some interesting anomalies appearing, including one route that has 10 dnf's for every other style put together - failure rate of 1000% !

I failed on King Rat twice.

Firrst time we got to the first belay and the heavens opened. Second time we got the top of the second pitch and the heavens opened.

I'm not going to try for the hat trick.

I don't think that's how percentages work...

I'm surprised one of the classic oft-dogged grit HVSs isn't up there.

Do people always fess up to their failures?

I'm not sure why they ever do!  OK, I guess if you fail near the top of some multipitch epic (especially if it's for reasons beyond your control) it's fair enough but why do people feel the need to record (and advertise) not being able to get off the ground on some gritstone microroute? (Marmoset comes to mind). 

I appreciate the transparency but why the self-flagellation?

It is - Goliath. I'm one of the contributors!

In reply to:

Gin Palace, Slate.

13% redpointed it, the rest ran away. No onsights!

People are basically honest, plus if 4 of your mates watched you fail on a route and they know that you log routes on here there's a good chance they will peek at your log book later, so they'll know if you're being "economical with the truth"

I'm not suggesting you should lie about the style, but you're not obliged to record it at all.    

I often don't record routes I did get up, especially if I've done them before.

But your mates woud know, and, know why

In my case, protection against a failing memory!

3PS?

Rainbow Bridge (7a+) has over 32% DNF over 280 attempts. So much so it has a 'Rainbow Bridge Diluted' version on the logbooks for the climbing up to the hard downclimb section.

I imagine all DWS have a high failure rate as the ground up style is sort of enforced, and they can be very conditions dependent.

Here's a tough one for the grade: at a rough estimate, about 25% dnf/dogged

Bulging Flies (E3 5c)

I was thinking something like Flying Buttress Direct or Tody's Wall. Every time I walk past FBD there seems to be someone slumped on a rope on it.

Interesting question, but surely the point becomes a bit moot when you think about pretty much any high-end route (regardless of style). These will all have been projected and will have had many many failed attempts before the eventual first ascent and any repeats subsequent repeats but these attempts won't have been logged.

Silence has had 1 ascent and Ondra reckoned something like 100 attempts so about 1% success rate.

I think most who dare set off up that have a fair chance. It's not easily dogged!

On that basis I looked up Quietus (E2 5c) which normally seems to have an in-situ dangler (usually with copious swearing before during and after). About 32% dogged or DNF.

You've lost me.  I get that you should be honest about not claiming the onsight for any subsequent successful ascent but how much of an attempt are you obliged to record?  How about not liking the look of something you spent the entire previous evening in the pub saying would be a piece of piss?  Where's the cut-off?  Gearing up?  The first runner?  Half-way? Falling off?  What if you reverse without weighting the gear?

I was thinking dnf in the context of setting off with a swagger, but ending up asking for a rope to be lowered.

BTDTGTT.

Defo a contender for most dangled rope. Maybe there should be a DNF (rescued) option on the logbooks.

I bolted these in the Dinorwic Slate Quarries (Australia), not a single clean ascent listed for either....

Glasgow Kiss (7c)

Toe be or not Toe be... (7b)

Probably a boulder problem like Deliverance - maybe average 10-100 DNFs per day depending if per person or per attempt

Or maybe some sandbag V0 in the Castle 

No match for climb id:349250

This?

I thought it would be this 

Austrian Oak (8b)

But it seems Simon hasn't been logging his attempts!

I don’t record Did Not Start, but do for dogged because I can’t remember stuff and in 18 months when my partner says we have done this before I don’t start of thinking everything is fine or when I am having a bad spell I can see that I have got over them in the past, to me there is nothing worse than sandbagging myself ????????

Orpheus Wall at Birchen.

Pod Crack (E1 6a)

pod crack at castle naze has to be up there. 

Probably one of the routes I've done most number of times.

Not quite the same level as other suggestions, but I think a good number of people climb Damascus Crack (HS 4b) intending to do the left hand finish (Damascus Crack Left-hand Finish (VS 4c)) but bail out to the right.

Of course this counts as completing a route, just not the intended one. I'm on 3 bail-outs for 3 attempts...

It's a beast, for sure!

Definitely. It took me 4 attempts over several decades before I finally succeed. Every previous attempt was beaten by adverse weather and low cloud. The disadvantage of living several hundred miles away, and in those days, of very limited holiday time which always coincided with crap weather.

It must be the most commonly failed route in Britain.

I don't know whether its in the all time list, but for me Chequers Crack was the one I kept trying and failing over many years until final success and the relief of never having to try again.  Gritstone 'HVS' at its finest.

This. Personal reference, so I don't go back on a future occasion and think I've onsighted it just because I have a terrible memory.

Also I like to keep track of my nemeses, so I can return one day and settle the debt of honour.

(See: Verandah Buttress.)

If I did it would be logged as dogged

Good topic! There was a similar thread on this a few years back, after I noticed similar on Gates of Mordor (E3 5c)

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rocktalk/the_most_failed_on_route_in_the_...

The Unprintable (E1 5b) must be up there. 53 of 249 (21.29%) dnf 46 of 249 (18.47%) dogged. 'Only HVS for Grit Gurus'

If you count dogged routes, as well as DNF, then Time Was Once On My Side (8a) has (on UKC) a 100% failure rate - though I know Cailean Harker has climbed it cleanly.

From my point of view, it gives others information on the climb, obviously if there's a route with lots of DNFs and people are usually climbing that grade, then there's something weird about it. It might even tempt me to give it a go.

Obviously I don't need to post any DNFs because it doesn't happen, but I like to know of other peoples issues

Broken Crack at Froggatt is a great example, I've never lead it cleanly, it's a VS, so I should have been able to lead cleanly but I didn't, I'll try again sometime.

Since I used to log all my climbs, it would be weird for me NOT to log my DNFs, and it helps my crappy memory.