UKC

Hi. I am hoping to be in the lake district in a weeks time. I am looking in scrambles and easy climbs in lake district book(sparks&brown). Bowfell sounds great. anyone done it and advise on unroped ascent?

In reply to tonanf:

Depends on your solo ability and the condition of the route. It's around HVD 4a with a pretty secure crux section up a short wall off a ledge but some of harder sections are exposed and polished and hold damp.

In reply to tonanf:

Looking at your profile as someone who climbs E3/4 you should not have a problem. It is a fantastic route on good rock all the way to the finish.
The bottom pitch gets greasy when it is damp. The top pitch often appears mossy and wet but a hundred years of travel has provided lots of clean foot placements. The crux is no way near the HS grade it now gets. The old debate used to be whether or not it was a diff or a Vdiff. I would say diff on a dry day Vdiff on a damp day.
In wind and rain it is a different proposition.

In reply to tonanf:

Its also easy to see the way, just follow the Scratches! : (

In reply to Blimey:

Surely such routes when wet are more eqivalent in difficulty to a dry HS (UKC average vote is top end VD with the inevitable confirmation bias).

In reply to Offwidth:

With all due respect I am not 'going there' as regards any debate or otherwise concerning grades. I have climbed it many times over a lifetime of climbing, winter and summer. Depending on the conditions I have sometimes found it harder than expected but never that hard. There are holds all over the place and I have generally found the major limitation is whether or not I can feel my fingers. It was only an opinion, albeit based on experience of the route.

In reply to Blimey:

You did go there though in that the local guidebook team gave it HS and you were pretty negative about that (it has got Severe technical standard, ie 4a moves in my view ... and that of people like Graeme Hammond who I know well and trust). If you are the very able climber you seem to be and know it well you might somewhat lack sensitivity in grading at around VD. Soloing big VDs is a funny thing... I'm very happy doing it even in slightly damp conditions despite rarely pushing myself into extreme grades but some much better climbers than me won't solo big VDs in the dry.

In reply to tonanf:

Around 90% of people who logged it on here must have thought that ropes were good idea.

In reply to tonanf:

Well, people do solo it. And if you look at the logbook you'll see that. But, it's not an easy VDiff. Which you'll also see. The rock is generally sound, but it's quite polished and slow to dry, with some 4a moves. I doubt anyone would advise an unroped ascent; only you can really answer that question. How much soloing have you done? How do you think you'll feel when you get to a delicate move at 50 - 80m up? It's not my cup of tea, personally. I'd rather find a partner and move fast with a small rack.

In reply to tonanf:

delicate 4a at 80, 100 or 200 feet will be fine. Its good to hear its an easy route/line to follow. no lose rock, no resident spitting birds. As for the grade debate which almost broke out, I cant really tell the difference between those grades below hvs...

In reply to tonanf:


Its 4a in the dry. Nails when wet.

In reply to Rick Graham:
Is there this much controversy over the winter grade? Iv in the 60's vi in the 00's? Neve romp v powder fest?

In reply to smithaldo:

Grade creep. Sandbag grading. Conditions

Probably originally graded IV because of its length.
Zero and Point 5 used to be V cos they had a 600 foot snow slope after the hard pitches , whereas Vanishing got IV
All much of a muchness.

VII on the day was once suggested to me about BB.

V,6 seems to suffice nowadays in the guidebook.

In reply to tonanf:

I soloed it this time last year. Had actually set off up to Gimmer but a frosty start and the thought of scaring myself silly on the NW face sent me puttering off toward the sun soaked little Buttress on the horizon to bag my last Lakes Classic Rock.
Like all Lakes routes it is small, intricate and perfectly formed from the clean base to the detached summit.
Crux wall is a 4b move but no big deal. It's steeper but easier than Tryfan Pinnacle Rib routes. Took about twenty minutes. Wouldn't even consider it in the wet myself.
I was on top of Bowfell at nine am in blazing sunshine and kind of regretted not going to Gimmer

In reply to Rick Graham:

It's VII in slush

In reply to Rick Graham:


I'll drink to that Rick. I solo'd it in the rain and cold in 1974. But only because I couldn't get down, there wasn't another soul about and nobody knew I was there. I thought I was a goner.

In reply to Rick Graham:


In this day and age?