2nd attempt after missing the key hold above the roof my first go and resting on a cam. Very intimidating standing below that roof but the climbing is fine once you know how it goes!

What a thriller

Returned after some falls back earlier this year. Went uneventfully, getting much less pumped after not going direct to the cheese block but the flake to the right first. HVS for exposure, reputation and situation, didn't actually feel too much like 5a.

Great to do this again.

Yesssss! Have been coming to the Roaches for about 10 years and at first this route always seemed like it would be beyond me, with successive returns though the roof seemed to get smaller and more attainable. In one pitch, with sling placement and hex in pocket. Guys before me seemed to hang around forever, but knew I wouldn't be able to do that. Do or fail moment on the last big jug and managed to wedge myself in crack for a bit of a rest. Climbing isn't really that hard, crux is definitely just summing up the will to go for it.

Even better second time around when you know where you're going.

After climbing a few years back.

Had left this until I thought I was good enough not to screw it up. Didn't disappoint. Getting stood up after the roof was definitely the crux. Font 5 boulder problem 15m up.

Tight rope to get one piece of gear out 2/3 way up roof and then again on the lip to try to remove large nut... failed to remove the nut, so lowered Chris off at the end to retrieve it! Got to give it to Chris for leading the hard bit.

Stupidly did not have the right cam and the result. Was a embarrassing dangerous dog. Be back in style soon.

Easier than expected. Jug haul fest with a couple of edges for final pull over. Brilliant. Good climbing charlie.

An awesome route for my first outdoor climb.

Just as good as the first time!

Climbed in a three with Dave and Ed after leading Pedestal Route. Easier than expected, absolutely gigantic holds until you round the lip.

Proper 4star route if there ever is one. Enjoyable romp/solo to the pedestal, take a moment and haul on the jugs to glory. No need for any jamming either.

Really cool, quality route. The overhang is outrageous but not too long. Also really well protected all the way up. Just don't hang around! First proper route on grit!

Pretty good like. The bit getting over the final bulge is harder than the roof!

I remember my first ever time climbing outside was at the roaches. And I saw this huge roof and thought wow I so want to climb that. Deserves it 3 stars great funny monkeying from one jug to another. Very safe and never hard, maybe I should of got on it years ago might of been a different kettle of fish. You just need to commit fun fun

In trainers. Actually easier since the big chunk of flake has come off, agree now only HVS.

Mega. Having backed off seconding this a year or so ago and after falling from the lip on a rainy December day it was a great moment to pull through the lip into the top crack. Climbed tot he pedestal and saw there was a jammed nut in the cheeseblock I climbed up to inspect it, clipped in and then down climbed to the pedestal to give the rope a tug and make sure it wasn't going to disintegrate when weight was added. After a short mental battle and psyching myself up I went for it the jugs keep on coming and at no point is jamming required once I found the jugs on the other side of the lip(where I fell of on my very rainy attempt) I knew I could pull through it some fun with offwidthing technique to get through the wide crack. Great route. Didn't need any gear beyond the cheeseblock the climbing is so secure but so out there its a mega experience. Such an awesome HVS great to watch Oscar cruise it in the dark as well. What a route so chuffed

Absolutely classic. I led this when it was starting to get dark. It looks so intimidating coming up to it but as you climb the roof gets smaller and smaller. I had a bit of a mental battle setting off up for it but found the climbing to be very easy with a few drop knees and heel hooks and whatnot.

Once on pre-placed pro, and once again seconding Oscar. Really fun route, just sublime slothing.

Wow, what a route! Probably would have been even more enjoyable if I knew how to jam. Lack of jamming ability was no impediment at all until trying to round the lip.

Spent ages attempting to clean the nut next to the cheeseblock, didn't know it was abandoned. Then struggled to clean James's cam in the roof and found myself hanging in the air.... Will try again sometime!

Saw this route a year ago. Returned competent and confident. What a great roof

Get 1 bomber cam in the roof then run it out in a mad dash for the top

seconded 5 years ago, finaly got around to actually leading it! felt pretty steady, not sure where the "feels like e1" comes from... ace route.

had a scrap fest on this with a lot of rests

One small rest on this. Great climb!

superb!

Got pumped at the roof removing a cam and fell haha

What a climb. Been dreaming of this route for twenty years but never thought I'd have the balls to go for it. So pleased to have got it clean on the first attempt. I got to the pedestal and felt very vulnerable. I went up and slinged the cheese block, trapping and backing it up with a good wire. I then went back to the pedestal to rest my arms and psyche myself up. I decided I'd go up and try and get something further out on the roof. I moved out from the small flake onto the right flake and got my feet up. It was all very big jugs and I found myself moving out to the end of the flake. I managed to get a cam in and my instinct just took over. I reached for the left flake and moved my feet up further - totally committed now. I moved further left and toe-hooked where my hands had just been and mantelled with my left arm while trusting the friction of a grit sloper with my right hand. I pulled myself up and jammed my knee in the crack to rest and to take it in. The Sloth, a twenty year dream, ticked. Elliot didn't seem to enjoy it, I don't think he likes grit!

Felt horrible even on the top rope great lead by Rob?! Was still a little messed up from the nightmare on Valkyrie, need to get used to this style of climbing felt very different but was my first visit!

Easier than it looks, still daunting though. Very cool.

Brilliant, glad to finally do it and just as good as expected!

Got rope caught in roof cam, nightmare!

8am climb before the crowds, stunning time of the day to be climbing with such good weather!

Took a year to build up to this one. The climbing was easier than expected but that didn't stop a minor panic on the lip. The exposure was immense but really rewarding once you commit.

Woke up at 7:30 after a beautiful bivvy underneath the sloth and got straight on it. Unfortunately I fell off just after the roof but got it clean on the second go. Definitely a classic and feels really cool going out across the roof! The climb was so nice I did it twice... nothing to do with falling off!

Much nicer than it looks, but terrifying!

spent a while whinging on the ledge, once you commit it's easier than most other HVS on the crag i think

Fantastic, took a while to commit to the roof but well worth it once you throw yourself at it! Had to do the roof in 2 attempts as got pumped after placing the hex, so downclimbed back to the ledge before having another run

By headtorch

Nice moves up to the roof and then jugs all the way.

Fun route

Seconded at the end of the day to get gear, felt surprisingly together on it. Well psyched to come back to lead.

Well, as far as its possible to onsight the sloth anyway!

Pitch 1

Super pumped on the roof and retreated back to the ledge!!! Dammit, next time

Pitch 2

Blew my onsight lead attempt. Went back on the second and got it, after facing with an inverted cam! Hard. Harder than I thought it was going to be...

Still a brute.

Fan-bloomin-tastic

It's all about that roof. Terrifying if you're not very strong.

James' fall lodged his hex in so hard I needed to sit on the rope to attack it with both hands (and feet). Still couldn't get it out, what a shame!

Blue torque nut up for grabs

We flipped a coin and I won, so Dino got the roof pitch lol

Led the easy start up to the block, Jim took over and did the exciting hard section in the wind. Great fun!

Rested at the lip

95% VDiff, 5% waddage!

Super fun. With lots of beta. Keiran led separately, and belayed up my son Augustine for his second-try clean top-rope ascent.

enjoyable climbing, looks intimidating but straightforward.

Bit green. Placed gear off hand jam. 3 and 2.5 , 4 above

Wow. I've wanted to do this for a while. Great climbing. Amazing positions. Love it.

Really enjoyed it,quality climbing through the roof ***

What an absolute joy! No need to jam (thankfully). Great big holds and feet throughout the roof.

John ridley bailed. I finished it so I could get my gear back

Finally went for it! Even better than it looks from the ground, such an awesome feeling climbing through the roof!

Clean On sight Lead. Happy Happy Happy, lost a bit of skin with the and jam in the lip. Later found out I didn't even need to jam

Excellent as always. Build your bomb shelter, deep breath and plough on upwards/backwards!

Been wanting the lead onsight for years but so had Dan... And he won Rock, Paper, Scissors. Bastard!

Winner of rock paper slothers. Glad I got the sharp end for this mega classic.

Took a rest on the sling having taken the wrong size up and faffing about with it for ages. Should have downclimbed really. Clean apart from that. Super fun!

Pedestal up

Good gear throughout, perfect Hex placement at tip of overhang so commit to it and go

Good to do this at a time in my climbing where it felt pretty straight forward and I could really enjoy the position

Nice, scarier to look at than to do. Cam in hex slot halfway was a bad idea.

Mega. Spent too long getting gear out.

On Mackie's gear.

So wet and cold... very very wet and cold. Got onsight though after down climbing to ledge to warm hands up before overhang.

Enjoyable, just starting to snow as I climbed.

Easier than it looks, of course

Intimidating, but the holds just get better and better the further out you go under the roof.

Wanted to do this for ages so felt really good ticking it!

"It's all there !"

Intimidating, total head game. Stood at the cheese block, I remember slowing my breathing, focussing on the placement and feeling good....As soon as you get on the roof and fumble the wrong sized cam in, this all goes out the window. You can't fall off if you don't let go!

Exhilarating climb. Fumbled a bit with placing gear at the roof, but managed to squirm my way up it.

Tom took about an hour to psyche himself up, then breezed it.

Absolutely incredible route, must lead it next time!

On mattys gear

Lead on Matt's gear. Easy climbing but quite exhilarating

Three years on I have lead it! No dramas

Led with gear in-situ up to the roof, not sure I'd have made it otherwise! Definitely the steepest trad route i've done

Have seconded before, still very exciting climbing!

so much fun!

My 700th logged climb! Went surprisingly smoothly and was over in a flash. Helps that from the pedestal you can see exactly what gear you need for the roof. Jeepers Creepers earlier in the year was good training, though much harder.

Poorly placed nut popped out leaving roof crux unprotected. had to lunge twice before hitting marginal slopers. Learn to hand jam before leading again.

Brilliant route, not scary particularly as gear on lip is easy to place, but needed a rest before pulling over, tried to jam and missed huge holds. Great stuff :)

Second. middle man on rope, re clipping for learner to second again

Roaches HVS Challenge #14

Part of the Roaches HVS challenge. We got the silver medal, then it went dark on us after skyline. All routes attempted on-sight. Fun day! Thanks Dan and Flavio!

Clean until overhang.

Awesome route

Concentrating so hard on not being sick, can't remember a single move.

5th attempt 3 days after failure. Even managed to get my stuck nut out afterwards.

So glad to have done this route. It felt sustained but technically not to difficult.

classic

Seconded this a while ago, well worth the lead

Finally got the tick :-)

Jugs Not Jams! Jugs Not Jams!

Boo, couldn't commit to roof, felt pumped and didn't fancy committing

Superb!

got pumped!

worked up to over hang

Holed my climbing shoe on the second move, spent 15 mins trying to remove gear below the overhang

A great day. Next time clean I hope. Fell off th last move through the roof !

The Sloth!

Wanted to do it for ages but thought it was beyond me, got mega pumped through the roof but felt amazing when I'd pulled through it to the top! Not as bad as it looks, just don't hang around when it starts getting steep!

Nice one, did not have time to lead myself.

Just fancied it and went for it! Great route!

warming up banter. so many jugs.

Wanted to lead this but Jack got in there first. Didn't mind once I topped out though, just happy to have finally got on it...

Good way to scare the pants off yourself before starting the roof then finish feeling like a superhero!

Was a bit apprehensive since the roof crack was dripping wet but all the flakes turned out to be dry. Big cam reassuring in top crack. Have inadvertently heard far too much about the route over the years to honestly claim the onsight.

Scared of this as it looks so intimidating. Followed the guidebook, hated every minute of it then loved the moment I pulled over. WIN!

Retrieving the gear, great fun

Clean O/S until last handhold - three attempts to reach final handhold failed so lowered.

My first HVS lead. Wanted to do this climb for ages. After starting section, it was easy climbing up to the roof. Pull up effort required to get over the overhang. Number 9 hex comes in really handy.

Great climb but I had no hexes. Therefore rested on the last nut before overhang. Than did overhang without any gear on it:)

On the roof section, a cam walked in and I required two hands+Nut key to remove, so needed to weight the rope. :-(

the climbing's easy and highly entertaining jug pulling / swinging with really good gear. got above the roof and couldn't do the easy bit....due to slimey holds & jams

did the pedestal route hvd 4a.3c up to the pedestal from her on to the sloth the hard part is the launch out across on to the flakes on the the wide cracks ,as im only 5,7 the launch was the hard part ,to get a good hold ,

With a lot of sitting on the rope at the crux, trying to retrieve a stuck cam ...

A lot lot easier than I anticipated. A truly spectacular pitch. BOMBER gear.

Bark is worse than its bite

Not hard just committing, don't hang around!

10 on Staffordshire nose.

wow!

10/31. Enjoyable jug-hauling. I'd wanted to repeat this for ages!

Briliantly led by Unai.

getting wedged in nuts out on second is a pain in the preverbial

was a lot easy than i expected! and didn't need to jam.

bloody good route, ballased the roof up, lowered to the pedastal, then got the needed hand jam 2 completion.................

Amazing route!

Nice big jugs to help the overhang, classic

Needed to psyche up a bit for the roof but turned out to be a fun jug-fest.

Rested/fell at the lip. Finished it after rest.

Amazing, took exactly the same gear as Anna, but couldn't make it fit so went up and down about 3 times, finally committed and found the climbing fun and easy. Which is just as well because when I pulled the ropes up the cam in the roof fell out! I knew it was the wrong size!

Only carried the pieces Tom had used on his ascent. Placed a cam in the crack, down climbed, rested on the ledge and then finished the route.

Significantly more gripping on lead, well pleased though. The crux is committing to getting on what looks more scary than it is!

after watching jake do it i thought id go for the lead too, pretty terrifying deciding to get on it but the climbing is fine!

No point hanging around. Press on! Very straightforward really.

Got over the lip ok, but panicked after the hard climbing. Fortunatly got it together before someone dropped a rope and got the tick. Lesson learnt take the right gear with you!

huuuge jugs! intimidating to look at but very satisfying to climb, every hold bigger and better than the last!

Tried early on, jugs sopping wet, lowered off cheeseblock. Did in one go clean later.

V.nice. Actually, I found getting off the ground really hard and poorly protected! Fine after that up to the pedestal. The massive overhang is very juggy. Wedging into the crack above the roof felt like the crux? Exciting stuff!

Suprised how easy it was, and it wasn't even that scary, the holds are so big (*), although it is very steep for HVS. The hardest part is deciding to set off up the slab. (*) NO JAMMING REQUIRED!!!

sadly rested after pumping out with wrong size cam at crux. size 3 camalot too big.

Great fun. Tried getting a jam in before the exit but then found easy face holds. :)

Much better than i expected, fantastic route

No where near as hard as I thought it would be. The holds on the overhang are all massive. you just have to keep pulling.

fell off this when i was about 12 on a top rope after my dad had been up on second. always been on the list to lead and so happy ive done it. really easy, quality climbing so i could enjoy every second of it. dad also finally led it after first seeing it 26 years ago.

Fabulous and straightforward climbing. Don't be intimidated by the angle.

Just brilliant - loved every minute of it. Managed to avoid jamming on roof too!

Excellent grit HVS

so much fun

Someone retreated off so I offered to lead it. Pulled ropes through and did it on there gear until to lip. Not technically hard just hard not to panic! well chuffed need to get the full tick one day.

Went to the Pedestal.

it went nicely after i threw myself into it, great fun!

Somewhat intimitating but once you go for it its fine, just well steep!

2nd pitch - managed to place the gear but ran out of strength for next moves.

AWESOME!

Absolulty mint

YEESSSSS!

Had my heart going but the climbing's not that hard.

After doing it on lead I decided to second it in flip flops, jolly good fun!

Awesome! been on the tick list for a while. quite strenuous to place the gear so climbed up and back down for a rest on the ledge then over the top it goes :) great fun

Most nervous I have ever been before doing a climb, taken 4 years to pluck up courage. Bit damp in crack in roof, but all holds dry. Harder than expected to get on pedestal. Put sling on block and nut to keep it in. Went up to roof, lost manual dexterity but eventually managed to place cam, climb back down to slung block. Climb up and place hex next to cam, climb back down to slung block. Composed myself. Climbed back up to end of overhang, placed another cam past overhang and clipped rope, feeling very satisfied that if i cock it up now i will not break ankles hitting the wall below. Climbed on up through overhang with surprising ease on excellent hand and feet holds throughout. Don't remember any jamming through the overhang, seemed plenty of good holds instead. Fair at 5a, surprisingly.

Finally got it. Should have gone initially. Fist jam at the lip is bomber and the hex is going nowhere.

Awesome, but bloody intimidating!

Still found the lip dead awkward. Great lead by Iain, especially after his hex lifted out of the roof.

Quality everything!

Seconded. Totally loved it, beautiful pitch. Can't wait to go back and lead it. Great holds, great protection and GREAT exposure. Perfect HVS!

2nd'd and loved it

Finally plucked up the courage to try this after staring at it for about a year now! Fantastic climb, and not as 'ard as she looks. Spent five minutes back on the pedestal after faffing with a sling, before powering through the roof without too much over-thinking!!! JUST DO IT :)

Amazing climb. Don't put gear in your handholds though- saw someone do this and it looked a right faff.

Climbed with pre-placed gear. Jacob had just had a go at the E6 that goes off right and it would have been really awkward to not have used it.

Fell at the lip because I an idiot, if the jams wet there are plenty of juggy options. BAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH. (Make sure you place the sling well, the climber in front of me's sling blew of in the wind leaving him unprotected for the whole climb....)

Pleased to do it in calm and cruisy style after years of pondering.

Seconded Sam's birthday lead, couldn't get his nut out (don't worry we did rescue it eventually) then ballsed up the roof. So gutted. A short dangle and got through it fine.

Such a beauty of a climb, an unbelievable line through the steep roof.

At about 10pm with a headtorch, more scary than I was expecting!

Lead by Ed Luke. Silvia didn't fancy the overhang

Fun.

Great climb. Didn't really feel that bold to be honest. Bomber big nut in the back of the cheese grater before the roof, then just powered through and ran it out!

This route shouldn't have 3 stars.. it should have 5.! Another top class route by the mighty Dw

Quite easy really

Epic route, looks soo impressive and down right intimidating. However nice rock up to an awkward move, then as got closer to overhang it opened up as holds became obvious. Felt pretty pumped so pushed through as fast as possible and suddenly you are over it! Awesome route

Mike lead this one like a hero! Awesome climbing and not as difficult as it looks

with carl from newport rock.

What can I say other than fantastic route!! A bit intimidating looking up but once you get going you find the holds are actually all good

Great fun

since 2009 this has been bothering me, I fell about 18 foot from the lip with protection at the cheese block after burning out trying to fist jam. 2012, no fist jam and did it clean, even seconded it to get gear back, happy days.

Amazing climb. Total head game.

Awesome... bit intimidating below the roof, but massive holds, awesome gear and a solid fist jam...suprised how easy it felt, possibley only 1 5a move - VS in a HVS situation

Was every bit as good as I expected. Hung around for a while on the roof finding the right sequence, placed two pieces of gear.

Was wet and low visibility, couldn't see the roof from the ground. Fell off a lot, upside down.

Wussed out/myriad of excuses!

Not as hard as I expected - definite lead next time.

Not so tough as it looks :-)

I been wanting to climb this for years. I was very nervous and fell on the first attempt but climbed it clean the second time! just relax, trust the fist-jam. Its juggy with great moves.

wish i wasnt injured so i could've lead this, awesome route!!

Perfect highlight to a great day. Epic!

Fell on the hand jam move right before pulling up to saftey :(, got there on the second attempt though. BEST CLIMB EVER!

Not nearly as bad arse as at looks!

MOB Whillans' Hut meet

classic

What a route, well done ben :)

Made a complete mess of the overhang with very little footwork. Had to rest. Harder than other HVSs I've done.