UKC

As i sit here on another 3 week offshore trip absolutely gagging to be out climbing in this nice weather and making totally pointless threads on UKC im slightly envious of all the pictures of people climbing amazing routes. Especially those up in the high mountain crags of the Lakes which come into condition all too infrequently.

A lot of the routes that for me look totally amazing and insipiring are currently well above my pay grade. Im steady at HVS, so-so on E1 and havent yet plucked up the courgage to try an E2 but the routes im dreaming of climbing are E5/E6. Things like King Wad and The Cumbrian, routes that would likely be a lifetime goal and probably beyond the realms of possibility for me.

So for no other reason than just because im bored, what routes do you dream of doing that are way in excess of your current ability?

I recently climbed right next to a well known climber working an E8/9, had a bit of chat with them and had a good watch whilst bringing my second up. It was quite insipiring to see how someone works a route that to us mere mortals is akin to trying to fly.

In reply to J Whittaker:

I really want to climb King Kong (E1 5b) but HVS is top of my grade for Trad leads and I think this one must be a sandbag at E1. Maybe one day I'll get someone else to lead it for me

In reply to springfall2008:

Why don't you just get ever so slightly better and lead it?

E5 might be well outside your paygrade, but E1 is not. If you've climbed a lot of HVSs, you can climb E1 already.

In reply to Jon Stewart:

Agreed. Go for it Springfall. Even though i havent climbed E2 there will be ones i could do right now, similarly there will be HVS's that will spank me.

In reply to J Whittaker:

The range is even wider than that. I've led E4 and fallen off E1 in the same week. I think theoretically I could probably lead E5 and fall off HVS too, if I chose the right/wrong routes!

In reply to J Whittaker:

Kalea Borroka, 8b+ in Siurana. 

Picture: https://hazelfindlay.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/214120.jpeg


Gob smacking line across one of the best pieces of rock in the world. I wish one day to be good enough to just try it.

In reply to J Whittaker:

For me it's the routes about 2 grades up that have the most allure. I'm not that arsed about routes that I can't feasibly ever do (E6+). Never been very into watching films of waddery, etc. Unless it's Birkett in which case I'm a bit like a teenage girl with a justin timberlake obsession (or whoever teenage girls drool over these days, I guess that's about 2 decades out of date and he's probably now some flabby, past-it bastard who's turned to drugs and bourbon).

It's the adventurous E5s that gnaw at me - if I really applied myself I should be able to train and build up to them, but I'm never motivated enough to put in the required work and sacrifice: Shere Khan, The Cumbrian, Fear and Fascination. Black Magic, Il Duce, Darkness at Noon. I reckon if I was going to get to that level I'd have done it by now, and the fact is that I'm still wobbling up Lakes E2 (which are f*cking hard btw). But that's fine too, the routes I'm doing at the moment are amazing, and whatever you do you always look at the next rung up and feel the envy...

In reply to J Whittaker:

A few years back, it wouldn’t have been- but I’ve climbed so little in the last couple of years that it currently seems over the horizon: Integrity on sron na ciche. 

Once the kids are a bit older and I can get out more often, it might become a realistic option again...

edit: oh, and for a route that I will never climb, ever, even after unlimited training, and practice on a tight top rope, but that looks amazing: Archangel at Stanage. 

In reply to Jon Stewart:

I ground to a halt on Chequers Crack just a few weeks after doing Right Wall.

 

In reply to Robert Durran:

Classic! Did you head straight back up to Reiff to massage your ego better?

In reply to Robert Durran:

I led an E3 and then the very same day (not tired or anything) failed on a HS slab route. Sounds like a record to me

The HS is now an E1 so that is something I suppose

In reply to Jon Stewart:

This was 1984. I made my first visit to Reiff 25 years later! I ought to have another go at Cheuers Crack sometime........

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

It's a nice route, and fine if you are confident at (or about) the technical grade on grit: if you can get started on it, you'll manage the rest - there are no tricks.

Don't bother with practice though: the point of things like this is the mental adventure.

In reply to Robert Durran:

I wouldn't bother, it's rubbish.

In reply to J Whittaker:

Not for for sport or trad cragging, but if I could find someone to drag me up Belle Helene I would be in heaven....

 

CB

In reply to springfall2008:

I don’t recall it being a sandbag at E1. Think I had a rest or fell off but it was early in my E grade career. Not a soft touch but not nails either. The top of the first pitch is quite overgrown unfortunately. Second pitch is good and clean and possibly worth E1. 

In reply to J Whittaker:

Routes well above my pay grade are of only cursory / historical interest. It’s the routes one grade harder than the best I can lead that are so enticing. The kind of thing I should be able to do if I trained hard and only went out climbing hard routes. Basically various classic E6s.  

In reply to Misha:

Good to know

For me there's a difference between 15m of E1 and 60m of it!

 

 

In reply to J Whittaker:

I lead E2/E3 consistently and have done so for years.  I also regularly nearly fall off VS, and usually find HVS harder than E2.  Don't ask me why, but probably something to do with the style of climbing.  I've come to terms with it, but dread having to do a VS because I know I'm likely to have a mare and/or make a tit of myself and/or hurt myself and probably scare myself for good measure.   I nearly barn-doored off Freedom at Wintour's a little while ago

In reply to zv:

Jesus christ, that looks fecking awesome! Straight on the wishlist! 

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

I thought this for a while and then one day just pulled on and it happened. Once you decide you're going to the top there's nothing to stop you, if you can do the first move you can do the whole route as it's the same move over and over! 

In reply to MischaHY:

At Burbage,Wizard Ridge. I have top roped the route with rests.The move out would be a tad difficult,as master Dawes has commented.

     The lower arête would be even more difficult than the upper.

   The arête to the right would be unimaginably difficult.I only managed to pull on for about 2 seconds.  First see the route....then try it.

       Also,Wuthering roof and the wall right of  Ulysses.J D and I top roped most of that wall  decades ago.The direct start would be the hardest bit.We traversed out from the right.Multiple mats make  that project a real possibility.Even Wuthering roof,with hefty spotters.

 

   

 

  

 

    

 

  

In reply to profitofdoom:

Hmmm, missing V in the guidebook grade methinks (or had something fallen off it?)

In reply to MischaHY:

quite, but strangely, and possibly because I'm left handed, I found Don a lot easier (its the other side of the arete from Archangel for those not familiar). I top roped it, and that is why it's my well-above-my-pay-grade wishlist climb! My most dreamed of route!

 

In reply to Jon Stewart:

I could fall off any route from Diff to E12

In reply to springfall2008:

It’s easier above the overlap. The second pitch has a couple of tricky sections. 

In reply to mutt:

But you toproped it clean? Just go and do it! 

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

 

This is a totally realistic possibility for most climbers. It's 5b, technical, it's all about keeping the head together. Falling off from about halfway is OK aslong as you put a side runner to stop you bouncing down the slope into the boulders (I got away with  a slightly sprained ankle).

In reply to MischaHY

 

I like your advice of course, and  I certainly will but only with about 3 mats because there is no gear for a long long way and I value my ankles. Not-withstanding the ethical problems I agree. Get on with it!

 

In reply to Jon Stewart:

I think that I must have been you in a previous life!

 

In reply to J Whittaker:

Goliath at Burbage South, Cemetery Gates (Grim Jim finish) and Left Wall - Direct Finish

In reply to springfall2008:

I find this a ludicrous reply. The poster is talking about punching above your weight and you mention 2 grades that are more often than not one of the same or the other way round. I've found E2 easier than some HVS, I've finished E4 and there's HVS that still stump me. I think the OP was looking for people with 99p dreaming of their first million, not their first £1.50.

In reply to IainWhitehouse:

F*ck! A message from beyond the grave.

In reply to springfall2008:

I don't think it deserved the upgrade to E1 personally. There are certainly harder HVSs around on grit. If you can hand jam you'll find it steady.

In reply to J Whittaker:

Consolation Prize at Wimberry. Never sure if trying would be brave or stupid...