UKC

Do some of you just not enjoy one of or most classic crags?

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: It's nice enough stuff. Not my favourite though, nor second. But pleasant enough. But if one were to form a near-fetishistic devotion to a rock which encourages an individual climbing style and which is located near an urban area then Pexhill sandstone would be my first choice.

Though thankfully, such choices have only to be made on internet forums rather than in life.

T.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

Meh, personally I think its overrated.

I would much rather climb at Avon or Cheddar on limestone then any gritstone crag in the country.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: I've enjoyed climbing on grit but I prefer rock with holds.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

Everyone is all ways like oh gritstone this gritstone that, like its the best thing since the wheel when the truth is its short, slopey, bold and generally down right awkward to climb on.

In reply to Quarryboy:
In your extensive experience?

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

Some us just don't live anywhere near the stuff but enjoy other superb rock types (for both quality and quantity) closer at hand...

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:
Not especially. Bit short really, doesn't feel very adventurous. The floor always feels quite close as well.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: I hate Almscliff. There, i said it.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: The thing that a lot of people don't get about grit that it's the highballing and soloing where it comes into its own. A spring evening soloing somewhere quiet like Baslow or the less-climbed bits of Stanage is absolutely magic. And of course, because of the friction, you can do really inventive, weird moves on no holds, which is also magic. I think hard moves are best appreciated on safe highballs, where you get a buzz but not the same leg-breaky fear you get on grit routes.

I agree grit routes can be pretty annoying. When I'm climbing at the top of my grade, it usually just degenerates into ledge-standing. Can I do this uncertain move with a big chance of breaking/spraining something if it goes wrong? Yyyyyy.....no. Yyyyyyyy.....no. Yyyyyyyyyy....no. F^ck it, I'm backing off.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

Mourne granite is God's Own Rock.

Fact

In reply to Niall:

Edited for you. Not that I can really comment having never climbed on Grit.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

I hate the stuff. Give me Llanberis slate any day.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

Is this thread about a rock type or a crag????

Grit's on my doorstep and I think its brilliant and like Jon said, you can't beat it for soloing and its minimalist technical wizardry-ness. And it's photogenic (limestone almost always looks shite in photos).

Having said that, I have to drop a grade and a half on grit, I tend to be better at less technical, more physical stuff. I'd rather live in N Wales, but there ain't too many jobs there in my line of work.

In reply to Quarryboy:


Then you are lost my Padawan learner.


Short yes, slopey sometimes, bold? You sound like a foreigner who only knows what they print in the magazines. Awkward - sometimes, think of how much you could learn though, its only awkward if you don't know how.

In reply to royal:

i will verify the first point and ditto the second.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: i love grit,it doesnt like me and likes to deprive me of my skin.last 2 trips have resulted in 2 massive flappers.hopefully font sandstone will treat me better

I of course started this thread as yesterday I got spanked on a severe..

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

I have never really enjoyed grit which is just over rated sandstone. Also it lacks height being little more than single (occasionally two) pitch climbing, which means it doesn't in any way compare with proper climbing on multi pitch routes.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: I've never been a big grit fan. I think probably because I don't often get on it so I never gain the grit climbing skills needed and so climb poorly on it.

Just not a fan of the balence and smearing and messing about. I like crimps and goodd edges

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

I don't like quarried grit if that counts.

The rest of it is pretty good especially the shorter stuff.
jk

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

With grit I can't understand what all the fuss is about...I saw on here once, someone said all climbing was training for grit...I like routes with stature, scale, big multi pitch stuff...I can't get excited about some scruffy 25 foot route...Millstone is ok as it's higher, can't say I've ever been inspired by a gritstone crag...

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

I didn't get the obsession with The Grit until I did a few weekends bouldering on it last year with good wintery friction conditions. Improbable moves on improbable holds, deliciously difficult slopers...it was brilliant.

I've not enjoyed the trad half so much as stuff I've done on Cornish sea cliffs or in the mountains. Seems rather short and brutal.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

I'm not a huge fan - I don't choose to go to grit if I have a choice - although I boulder on my local crags. I appreciate that its 'classic' and that it better routes demand a certain committment in style and pschology. However, it's a bit small and minor....and I'm not very good at it!

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: They're all heretics and should be burned at the stake.

Which Severe did you get spanked by?

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:
Its OK but prefer the bolted quarries in Derbyshire-longer and more varied routes-no queues-quiet even on a bank holiday.
Grit routes -you are on them for about 10 minutes at most then you have to de-rig and get back to crag base.
Other advantages-few student groups and no scary belaying/protection to witness-May it stay popular!

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

It's sort of a love and hate relationship for me. Sometimes I love it, sometimes it kicks me in the butt so hard that I hate it. Most of my climbing, including the hardest stuff I've ever tried, has been on grit... but I still hate slopers. :-P

Basically, it's the kind of rock that can show you any faults in your footwork and spit your off quite quickly.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

I just like climbing rock. Why do you single out grit?

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: Awkward and not something I would make a long journey for. When I have climbed grit I find most of the route is spent pondering, and trying to convince myself that I'm on the correct path. Then it is never high enough to have confidence in one of your bits of pro popping without the next catching you before you deckout.
Not much adventure climbing 12 meters and then walking around the corner back to the bottom again and spending more time with my head buried in the guidebook deciding what to do next. But that is only it not suiting my climbing character which is very much adventure.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

I've only climbed two days on it and enjoyed it a lot. (Almscliff was a bit underwhelming tbh and Stanage Plantation which was decent, but didn't seem as extensive as I'd expected) It didn't blow me away, but it was certainly nice to climb in a different style for a change. Looking forward to trying it again but I'd not stick it at the top of my favourites list.

In reply to Dominicandave:

Go to Millstone. Bigger routes (30m in places) and getting lost is hard.

In reply to DaveHK:

Because its an internet forum and he/she's curious?

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

Yeah, I quite like it. I love the cracks at Alsmcliff, almost as much fun as proper indoor climbing. Not really an outdoor climber tbh, too many insects and wind and rain, plus there's generally no cafe and half the time there's nowhere to park, jeez, all to save the £6.50 entrance fee at a wall? I don't get it, surely you use that much in petrol to get there?

In reply to Tiberius:

I was at Froggatt once, halfway up a route and two kids walked past in awe and proclaimed

"Wow. Its like an actual real life climbing wall".

Funny.

In reply to jonny2vests:

I was explaining the history of climbing to my young cousin when I took her to the depot, then Leeds wall. I described how first there was bouldering, then people had the bright idea that you could build a taller wall and use a rope to climb instead of having mats on the floor.

Then, some people had the idea that if you put bolts in old quarries, then you could climb outdoors and save money.

Finally, some people invented cams and nuts so that they could climb cliffs where that hadn't been bolted yet




...ok, I'm an evil person

In reply to jonny2vests:

Fair do's but you wouldn't hear some one asking if they didn't like sandstone or granite in the same way. It's this assumption that grit is some sort of magical medium and better than other rock types.

C'mon the sandstone!

me, I hate grit.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: Are the toughest routes in the country not set on grit (or am I wrong?) which could also make it more interesting and popular to many.
Infact that could just be my imagination that more high grade climbs are done on grit than other rock, in which case forget I mentioned it.

In reply to Dominicandave: Rhapsody at Dumbarton, Rainshadow and Overshadow at Malham, Hubble at Ravenstor... the list goes on. ill forget you mentioned it.

In reply to DaveHK:

Maybe.


Yuck.

In reply to Dominicandave:

The hardest UK trad routes are in Scotland, but grit does have a reputation for hard routes, despite the fact that its classic at every grade (apart from E11 of course).


Its been in and out of vogue over the decades and has been at the cutting edge a few times, but not so much recently.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna:

As Gordon Gekko said; "Grit is good."... Let's just leave it at that, huh?

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: I love grit, i was told i would like it even more once i found my grit feet, unfortunately they are still stuck to the legs of Jordan Buys ;0)

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: I like it. Its hard for me because I have rubbish technique and it makes me really think about my climbing.

In reply to Fidmark: I think that's why I've seen people take 30+ minutes to climb 12 metres.

My main problem is that I have no idea how to climb chinmeys that you cant get your whole body in. Now I just read in a little book about a kind of whole arm jam which must make them quitw straightforward

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: I think they are called offwidths.

In reply to Lupine Lacuna: It's not for me.
I started climbing on Cornish sea cliffs, so I am used to the sea crashing at my heels. The first time I went to The Peak I found the whole experience very underwhelming and my opinion has never changed, despite numerous visits.

In reply to artif: Grit is OK but that's about it for me. Bit better than Southern Sandstone. All over in a flash as it's so short.
I wonder if Grit would be so popular if it was further away from so many big cities? Would people rave about it if it was all in the Highlands?
I much prefer multi pitch routes, even on Limestone.