[tomtom]

A good line doesnt mean it climbs well... hence my earlier post - where a far more interesting question is what squalid arse shuffling fetid crap heap looking problems actually climb superbly....?

How about squalid crap heap looking problems that climb like a heap of squalid crap?

Thats an excellent idea too!

[Fras]

Not that I could even approach doing it, but Silverback at Dumby always looks a fantastic line.

[lagerstarfish]

Not to be Taken Away

yes

[douglas]

Updated list below. Authenticated ★★★★★ King Lines are indicated. Thanks Johnny. Nice project list Dave (http://boulderingireland.blogspot.com/2012/01/unclimbed-projects.html), Ireland seems like the place to be! Crescent Arete and WSS are not on the list because they one is too close to a much better line and WSS is not pure enough, it might climb well but I'm interested in how they look, how king the line, is rather than the quality of the moves.

Carbide (Fair Head) ★★★★★
Triggers (Binnian North Tor)
Arc Royal (Queens) ★★★★★
Groove armada (Lad stones) ★★★★★
Lanny Bassham (Rylestone) ★★★★★
Jason Roof (Crookrise) ★★★★★
Rhythm (Flasby Fell) - can't find a picture of this
Ben's Groove sit (Caley)
Zoo York (Caley)
High Fidelity (Caley) ★★★★★
Supercede (Hartland) ★★★★★
Colorado Dreaming (Tintagnel)
Purple Haze (Tintagel) ★★★★★
Careless Torque (Stanage) ★★★★★
Voyager (Burbage)
Sabotage (Dumby)
Pool of Bethesda (Pass)
In Hell (Cave)
Requiem for a dream (East coast) ★★★★★
Not to be Taken Away (Stanage) ★★★★★
Cypher (slipstones)
Fish Arete (Wimberry)
Powerband (Tor)
Sing a rainbow (Carrock)
Rouse's Wall (Carrock)
Malc's Arete (Torridon) ★★★★★
Northern soul (hepburn)
Suavito (Gardoms)
Poetry in Motion (Rylstone)
Red handed (Reiff in the woods) ★★★★★
The Essence (Torridon)
Matterhorn Arete (Almscliff)
Horror Arete (Bridestones) ★★★★★
Fast car (Porth Ysgo)
Cocoa Team Special (Rylstone)
Subtilitas (nesscliffe)
Queen Kong (Queens)
Red Dragon (Queens)
The Magician (Ravensheugh)
Superbloc (Moorside)
Brutal Arete (Stanton) ★★★★★
Brownian Motion (Chevin) ★★★★★
Fight on Black (Widdop)
The Joker (Stanage) ★★★★★
Where The Wild Things Are (Lower Tosson) ★★★★★
Flatworld (Baslow)
Will or Cosmic Wheels??? (Mallory Boulder) ★★★★★
Yellow Desert Scream (St Bees)
Impailed (Dove Crag) - can't find a picture of this bloc
King Kong (Dumbarton) ★★★★★
The Groove (Wavelength)
Silverback (Dumbarton)

Any more suggestions?

[slackline]

Crescent Arete and WSS are not on the list because they one is too close to a much better line and WSS is not pure enough, it might climb well but I'm interested in how they look, how king the line, is rather than the quality of the moves.

Careless Torque (Stanage) ★★★★★
Not to be Taken Away (Stanage) ★★★★★

And how close are these two if you're excluding Crescent Arete due to its proximity to another 'better' line (or in this case lines)?

[Jaspersharpe]

And what about Arc Royal?

[douglas]

Good point but Crescent arete just isn't King enough. Arc Royal is in the list (near the top).

[turnipturned]

Rhythm (Flasby Fell)- too good for this list. 6 stars. For a picture look in the new Yorkshire Grit guide.

[Johnny Brown]

Can we at least delete Powerband? It was a fucking joke right?

Also, none of these are any more than good problems.

Fast car (Porth Ysgo)
Subtilitas (nesscliffe)
Fight on Black (Widdop)
Flatworld (Baslow)
The Groove (Wavelength)

[Jaspersharpe]

Arc Royal is in the list (near the top).

 

[Dave Flanagan]

If you have one Irish problem it must be Split Arete in Polldoo Glen, Donegal.

[douglas]

King Lines

Malc's Arete (Torridon)
King Kong (Dumbarton)
Red handed (Reiff in the woods)
Arc Royal (Queens)
Requiem for a dream (East coast)
Groove armada (Lad stones)
Lanny Bassham (Rylestone)
Jason Roof (Crookrise)
Rhythm (Flasby Fell)
High Fidelity (Caley)
Not to be Taken Away (Stanage)
Careless Torque (Stanage)
The Joker (Stanage)
Horror Arete (Bridestones)
Brutal Arete (Stanton)
Brownian Motion (Chevin)
Will (Mallory Boulder)
Supercede (Hartland)
Purple Haze (Tintagel)
Carbide (Fair Head)
Split Arete (Polldoo Glen)


Pretty good lines

Triggers (Binnian North Tor)
Ben's Groove sit (Caley)
Zoo York (Caley)
Colorado Dreaming (Tintagnel)
Voyager (Burbage)
Sabotage (Dumby)
Pool of Bethesda (Pass)
In Hell (Cave)
Cypher (slipstones)
Fish Arete (Wimberry)
Sing a rainbow (Carrock)
Rouse's Wall (Carrock)
Northern soul (hepburn)
Suavito (Gardoms)
Poetry in Motion (Rylstone)
The Essence (Torridon)
Matterhorn Arete (Almscliff)
Cocoa Team Special (Rylstone)
Queen Kong (Queens)
Red Dragon (Queens)
The Magician (Ravensheugh)
Superbloc (Moorside)
Yellow Desert Scream (St Bees)
Impailed (Dove Crag) - can't find a picture of this bloc
Silverback (Dumbarton)
Where The Wild Things Are (Lower Tosson)

[Jaspersharpe]

r-man does douglas know that you've got hold of his login details?

[GCW]

Impailed (Dove Crag) - can't find a picture of this bloc

Video here: 

[Nike Air]

Queen Kong for sure, looks and climbs amazing.
Also at that crag World line maybe? In fact the crag is full of proper lines.

The eyes of silence? Not been but it looks mega.
Bloodsport?
Gaskins 8B at thorn crag.
How about isla de encanta?
Preparation H?
Ironhide sitter possibly
Hueco crack, st bees.

[tommytwotone]

I for one am dismayed that there's nothing at Almscliff in there.

Sorry it's another arete but I'd have thought that Flying Arete would make the cut, Gypsy too (assuming one tops out of course)...

[Fiend]

Good point but Crescent arete just isn't King enough.

Why not?? WTF is a King Line anyway if a totally-pure semi-highball mega-classic clean-cut arching arete isn't one??

Bloodsport should be in.

Voyager definitely should be in. Stunning in both the line and how the line makes the difficulty so obvious.

Why The Joker rather than The Ace?

You ignored Monkey Spanking @ Cambussbarron, it's purer and cleaner than many listed. You asked for lines not popularity/location.

J Mascis should be in. Another arete but a dramatic one.

Rouse's Wall is only just a line. It's a nice problem but no way as striking as WSS or the Utopia groove. The Crack at Langdale is a better contender.

What the balls is Red Handed??

King Kong is the full line of Silverback and supercedes it.

The other prow on the Rabbit Stone @ Queens, sorry forgot the name, is a kinger line than Red Dragon.

[Johnny Brown]

Voyager is not a King Line. Its crimping across the footholds of a 7a+.

[north_country_boy]

Queen Kong for sure, looks and climbs amazing.
The eyes of silence? Not been but it looks mega.
Preparation H?

Queen Kong, IMO is a must. Pure line, easiest line up the buttress.... amazing.

Preparation H is stunning, but is spoilt (in terms of a king line) by being slightly eliminate, and the close proximity of A Northern Soul.

Eyes of Silence looks stunning too, although I've not seen it in the flesh...

[Fiend]

Pump Up The Jam @ Skye. It's not an arete. 10m roof crack, does it get much kinger?

Clash Arete @ Clashfarquar

Mestizo @ Dumby - better line than Sabotage. Pure, clean, highball, good landing, and climbs to justify the line.

Outstanding @ Ruthven - a line of juggy holds, good height, great landing, line of least resistance on an imposing face.

Turbinal Nose @ Glen Croe - bulging scoopy prow, well sculpted, dramatic line.

The Mission @ Torridon - subtle line of least resistance on a superb face.

Fungataus Ejaculatus @ Doveholes - beautiful subtle rounded scoop / groove / flake thing, obvious line and as delicate as it looks.

Eyes Of Silence @ Callerhues - as dramatic a fridgehug as anything anywhere.

Magician's Nephew and Rabbitstone Crack @ Queens -  just great pure lines on a great bit of rock.

Yorkshire 8a @ Rothley - the king of lip traverses, I hate the genre but no denying the quality of line.

Tufa @ Rothley - a beautiful dinosaur's spine, a V2 climbers version of Hen Cloud's Master of Reality.

Classic Arete @ Shaftoe - exactly what it says.

Magic Flute @ Shaftoe - amazing sculpted scoopline. Better line than many things on the list.

Dulcinea @ Simonside - pure blunt flake / seam, definitely king.

The Young @ Callally - not as obvious a line as many mentioned, but the bit of rock is as king as it gets.

[Fiend]

We need some muthafucking SCIENCE in this thread. I.e. what the hell is a King Line anyway??

Need some numbers for:

Minimum height.

Minimum grade (surely not??).

Minimum distance from adjacent problems (factoring in if adjacent problems are at all reachable as an escape route).

Size of feature compared to surrounding rock.

Maximum size of non-climbable features on said problem.

Additional factors such as: Location, landing, topping out or not, overshadowment by other King Lines, whether climbing matches the line (in how the line dictates the climbing, as much as the actual quality).

[Wood FT]

If you have one Irish problem it must be Split Arete in Polldoo Glen, Donegal.

Looks like the matterhorn boulder's fit sister

[T_B]

My only contribution to this daft thread is that Queen Kong and Red Dragon are both very, very impressive lines, with the former undoubtedly being a 'King Line' on a par with anything else in the UK (apart from Careless p'raps, but then that is THE King Line). Arc Royal somehow doesn't have quite the landing? or something?

I'd put Cornelius (Churnet) in there too and maybe even my own problem at Ramshaw 

[richieb]

What the balls is Red Handed??

Its the highball 7a arete down on the patio boulder at RITW, mini-mountain Stac Pollaidh in the background. Its a good line but IMO it should go in the pretty good lines list and the Essence should get bumped up to fully authenticated five star kingness.

[GazM]

...but your not biased Rich! 

But yeah, the Essence is as much a king as Malc's.