UKC

Morning all! 

I'm going to take a break from my usual talking rubbish and stirring on UKC to post a (semi) serious question. I've decided I need to start pushing myself more on trad, which means climbing more E2 and I should be trying (and possibly failing on) hard E2 to low E3 but what I'm stuck on is I'm looking for hard E2s and soft E3s in North Wales, Pembroke, Wye Valley, Peak District or the South west to help the progression from E2 to E3.

A couple of boxes that these routes should tick are:
Single pitch or easy to bail and rescue gear from (with easy escape options if it's an abseil approach).
Reasonably well protected with good solid gear, there doesn't have to be gear every metre but something that doesn't mean a horrendous fall or ground fall potential.

Routes in that genre that spring to mind are, The Sun - Rhoscolyn and The Butcher - St Govs but I'm sort of stuck for others? 

What can UKC recommend to me?

Cheers all! 

Many things on the slate. Comes The Dervish comes to mind.

I think you are looking for routes that are E2.9 not E2.5!

Darius and Left Wall are obvious choices. The Sun is a good shout too, as is Comes The Dervish.

Reecastle in the Lakes has a plethora of Hard E2s and a load of well protected E3s too.

HTH

Rembrandt Pussy Horse (E3 6a)

Off the Beaten Track (E3 5c)

Depending on style, the below are good climbs that are nice at the grade:

The Butcher (E3 5c)

Certain Surprise (E3 5c)

Volume Eleven (E3 5c) (or most of the Fairy Cave E3s really)

E2.75? :') 

Space Cadet at St Govans has good gear and is not too difficult for E3.

Tumbleweed Connection, Equus, Prana, Extol if you are Lake District bound.

Endorse the half of that list that I've done (one even makes the exceptionally short list of 'almost' E3s that I've lead) and might add Bow Right Hand on Cloggy - to paraphrase a partner of mine: "can't be E3 - I've lead it"! Wouldn't fancy falling off it, mind.

Bunch of stuff on peak lime. 

Rave On, absent friends, darius, perseus, possibly Robert brown (bit runout at the crux), yew tree wall and the E3 direct variant on it, the beest. 

Left Wall is E2 but if you go there and find it steady then try Foil, the gear is bomber. 

The Sun at Rhoscolyn is a good shout!

Rancho Cucamonga in Avon is soft E3, well protected.

Wraith at Mother Carey's is fantastic!

The Butcher at St Govan's.

Charenton Crack at Mowingword - pretty sustained and good value for E2!

The Goblin King at Goblin Combe, worth doing if you're in the area.

Also, get yourself down to Lower Sharpnose on the Culm coast, loads of long, pumpy and safe E2s to go at, and fall off! (Bring lots of cams).

Hope that helps!

Euan

Surely that weighs in at e2.666?

Edit, didn't know what dervish meant, now upgrading to e2.777!

Definitely felt E2+ to me Silhouette (E2 5c)

Once past the start its safe enough but bring brass for the top Comes the Dervish (E3 5c)

Felt hard at the time but it was a bit damp Holy, Holy, Holy (E2 5c)

I will get someone else on this its brilliant at E2/3 Lethal Injection (E2 5c)

Again E2/3 The Butcher (E3 5c)

Not done it yet but it looks good! Space Cadet (E3 5c)

This was a good pumpy E2 with good gear Still Hungover 2000 (E2 5c)

Oh in the peak maybe look at

The Rasp E2 5b

Darius (E3 5c)

Billy Whizz (E2 5c)

Elegy (E2 5c)

Black Hawk Bastion (E3 5c)

Telli (E3 6a)

A gem of a route but I'd not say that it's merely high end E2.

I don't think Elegy is hard E2, the 5c and E2 bits occur at different places and the E2 bit is a bold but not too hard bit of 5b.

Still a gem of a worthwhile route.

Cratcliffe

Quietus

Samson Arête 

The strand @ gogarth, upper tier

First blood @ st govans east (relatively unknown gem... one of the best at pembroke)

German schoolgirl @ rainbow walls upper, llanberis slate, could be combined with Colossus @ colossus wall

There is a pair of extremely well protected and very amenable e3 6a's at glogwyn gafr in the pass. 2 of the best in the area IMO, at a crag that youre unlikely to share, with amazing views, on perfect grippy rhyolite. And easy to ab if needed.

I didn't mean to imply that it was. Neither are the others I listed. I think it's a good E3 to have a go at if you are at the cromlech and breaking in to the grade. 

Fern Hill and Five Finger Exercise?

Great suggestion: brilliant routes, by no means easy and Extreme Rock ticks as well.

Darius is good value for money indeed, I agree with the new guide grade of E3, which would probably make it ideal for this. 

Do a bit of guidebook research, anything that was once e2 and is now e3. 

The older I get, the better I was really does apply here. 

I'm not sure...its quite a test of nerve and I've heard tales of the gear behind the flake ripping when tested. But I did it late in the day and ended up having a headtorch passed to me so that probably added a bit to the experience. 

Black Hawk Bastion, finish it for me haha. I really wanted to do that climb but it was beyond me. That crux reach for the arete is hard for the short.

I suspect that making out the nuances of the best bits of the Elegy slab for hands and feet would become quite interesting in fading light.

I think I'd have gone for the top rope rather than the headtorch in those circumstances. Chapeau

Surely E2.5 is a climb that is E2 in one guide book and E3 in another - Scoop Wall at Stoney and South Sea Bubble at North Stack.

I thought that route was meant to be easier for the short? Is it not the case?

Dire Straits (E2 5c)

Dire straits at stennis head would fit the bill nicely, as the only E3 I have led in the last 15 years. But I had seconded it previously.

Gets E3 in some guides.

Cheers all for the suggestions, there are some good ones of there I'd not heard of or thought of! I think sometimes the crux for me can be actually starting the route so having some good suggestions will help me pick the right routes

Edit, I've already done the dervish and German schoolgirl and wouldn't say they were both the same grade, I felt GS was more benchmark E2 (not that I've climbed many) and the dervish... Well it's my hardest lead but I'd be reasonably confident to suggest it's E3, bottom of the grade possibly but still E3 

Good job one is E2 and the other E3 then  

:') I know this, but it was suggested somewhere back in this thread GS was hard E2 which I don't quite agree with

Some of the e2s at tremadog are fairly tough for the grade.

Valor (E2 5c)

The Neb (E2 5c)

If you have a reasonably good head for leading, then slate grading does tend to be very soft in comparison to other areas or rock types.

Me neither. Standard to softish IMO

The Wasp (E2 5c) - right at the top end of the grade

Left Wall Direct Finish (E3 5c) - not much harder than the normal route, and even better!

Grond (E2 5b) - another sandbag!! Brilliant route though. Found it harder than plenty of E4’s and I like crack climbing.

Pull My Daisy (E2 5c) - as slate E2’s go it’s quite tricky

Silhouette (E2 5c) - total sandbag, great gear and brilliant climbing.

If you can do these you’ll have done a number of routes that are IMO harder than many E3’s.

Both top drawer routes but neither very hard for E2, surely? (20+ years ago, anyway!)

My recollection of Strand was mildly pumpy but well-protected jug pulling and First Blood had a short, fingery but very well-protected hard bit.

I know in your original post you asked for single pitch only, but with this spell of great weather, best to get on some multipitch in the mountains. I did November (E3 5c) recently, and thought it was awesome. Good gear the whole way and one hard pitch. It'll be fine!

There was a thread recently saying the peg had broken on Rembrandt Pussyhorse. It will be harder unless that has been replaced!

Anyone mentioned  Chee Dale Lower yet? Great place for the E2/3 climber. The E3s aren't much different to E2s. Some are easy, and some, I hear, are hard (Queer Street (E3 6a)).

I think Absent Friends (E3 5c) is a great early E3, it has great gear and some elegant technical moves that are just a bit too hard and sustained for E2. Equally, Two Sunspots (E2 5c) is a great hard E2. In fact I think I've always fallen off it...

I did it a few days ago and still thought it was on the soft side of things.

That’s a brilliant set of climbs. Add Hergiani, and our aspirant will be ready to take the lob off the crux of the wonderful Ceramic

Add Rave On, 42nd Street, Less than Zero, Of Youth, Match of the Day, Goal of the Month... the place is rammed with'em!

I was a bit past my best when I did it so I may have a false impression but I thought the first bit was quite hard and the original post said "Reasonably well protected with good solid gear, there doesn't have to be gear every metre but something that doesn't mean a horrendous fall or ground fall potential." I think without the peg there would be ground fall potential from the first hard bit?

With a side runners in the crack to the left it's pretty well protected. Also on the first part other than the step up to the crack the climbing is very straightforward.

Hi Mike,

The part where you're in the niche which was easier for me with an Egyptian is easier for the short. However, if you're very short like me, at 5ft 3 then the reach for the hold on the arete is tough. Black Hawk Bastion is one route I would have loved to have done.

Black Hawk Bastion (E3 5c)#photos

That's the reachy move I am referring to.

Yep. Maybe Boot Hill too if he cruises those two.

FFE is right up his street.