It’s been far far too long since I did one of these! To the extent that I’m sure I will probably have forgotten some of the stuff I’ve done (apologies in advance for any future retro-claims) and definitely some important details regarding problems. The probs listed here include FAs going back as far as Nov/Dec 2016! I’m still intermittently in the process of writing a Wharncliffe PDF so I’ve not listed these problems in full here. As previous I’ve highlighted the ones I think are best out of the bunch with a star. There’s quite a few where I haven’t given names yet, these I’ve left with placeholder names in arrow brackets <>. In the main this is a list of new problems I’ve put up, though I have included a few recently ones by others at Gardom’s.
I have quite a few photos and a few vids of some of these. More than I have time to post anyway. If anyone is particularly interested in photos of any of them let me know and I’ll post up if I can. In a few cases there are photos or vids of problems on my Insta account already.
Robin Hood’s Stride* Ben and Jerry’s Love Child RH 7a+ - Much better than the standard version. Sit start out right on the start jug/foothold of Diamond Slab and climb the feature as a prow.
Stanage NorthSpecial Measures 6c – At the very bottom of the Soft Top Beetle boulder. Sit start low on the left side of the nose, work right via toehooks to a tricky pull over at the apex
* Zen Headbutt 7a – Directly behind the soft top block, left of the green room. From a sit start on a projecting shelf/beak fridge hug up the obvious overhanging bookend.
Bifurcated Sitter 6c – On the crag behind the green room. Climb the VS route Bifurcated Headplate Max from a sit start. Slightly hemmed in but decent arete sitter.
Choad in the Hole 7a – Immediately left of Fallen Archangel the base of High Neb Buttress forms a cave. From a sit start climb out from the back of this along a lip, pulling out onto the slab to finish up or down HNB. Big block on the right is out obvs.
Black GardenLost Boy 6b+ - On the huge boulder, most of which is in someone’s garden. Climb the back left arete (not in garden) from SS. A lovely feature though a bit hemmed in by a boulder behind.
Conie’s DaleKonichiwa 7a – Between Conie Lamprecht and Musselbrook the bulge is fairly blank but for on obvious very nice head-height crimp (if you like crimps). Climb direct to this and use with your RH to gain jugs at the usual level. This is used on problem called Comie Iommi which shares holds with Lamprecht and is 7b. As Koniwa is independent (next problem notwithstanding) and of a lower grade I’d argue it makes more sense as a line up this bit of rock (sorry High Repute).
Swiss Conie 7a+ - As above but starting further right and using the crimp with left hand to gain finishing jugs at the usual level.
Stanton Moor
Snorlax 7b – 25m or so right of Spare Rib etc. From a sit start climb the steep left arete of a mini buttress to a beachball mantel topout.
Ramshaw Over the Road On the Roaches side of the road on which you park for the main crag. I climbed various things, most/all of which will have been done before. The two best ones are well worth the short detour from the Ramshaw parking and are situated on a big block/pinnacle 125m down from the road. This is CRoW land, so access is fine.
Wailord 7a – On the left side of the block, left of the obvious flake feature. Climb the nose via some shallow pockets.
Radical Overhaul 6b - The obvious big flake leads to a tricky rounded exit
RamshawElastic Sitter 7a – Sit start on the left and move right into Elastic wall
Dirty Hairy Crack 6c – On a block behind Epilogue etc and facing toward those problems. Gnarly wide crack from sitting.
Stanage Cowper Stone areaScraps 6a – Highish wall right of Peas.
WCJ Inch Test Buttress* King Crab 7b+ - Right of Inch test etc the crag steepens up before slabbing out further right. Stand start on break jugs at the far right end of the steepness, traverse the break leftward dropping down to traverse at a lower level as the wall get vertical, eventually finishing at a hands off rest position near the start of Inch Test. Quite long but the bulk of the difficulty is in the first 6m, probably 7b+ to finish at break jugs at the end of this crux section.
Hermit Crab 7b – Sit start into the short version of the traverse starting a couple of metres or so left of the normal start.
Derwent EdgeThe next three problems are on a nice overhanging rippled wall of bullet hard rock some way south of the Dovestone Tor, here 53.398371, -1.706644 . I did them ages ago and can’t recall the details very well, all involve steep crimping from sit starts.
<Derwent crimp wall LH> 6a – Left-hand line.
<Derwent CW mid> 6b – Middle line.
<Derwent CW RH> 6c – Right-hand line with a dynamic crux.
* Apple Smash 7a+ - On top of the crag above the route Cox’s Pippin there is a big low roof, climb the lip of this on heels and pinches R-L finishing up the left arete/nose of the feature.
Great Rocks Dale Quarry - 53.253846, -1.833215This is the old quarry visible on the hillside opposite the Topley Pike parking for Cheedale. It used to have some really long trad routes on it back in the 80s which are covered in one of the old limestone guides. These where largely lost to backfilling many years ago but the top of the crag is still there, though last time I was passing it looked like fresh material had been dumped, so the place might not last forever. Probably dodgy access as it’s belongs to the nearby working quarry I believe. Deffo some interesting and different lime bouldering though if you fancy a change from the usual steep valley bottom crimping. The stuff here is on rough weathered rock and tends to be aretes and prows.
<GRD LH prow> 6c - Cool low roofy prow
<GRD right of prow> 6a+ - Side wall of above prow
<GRD RH prow > 7a – A prow further right. No low feet (6b with low feet).
<GRD crack/groove) 6b+ - Chunky features
<GRD right arete of crack/groove> 5+
BaldstonesScrittlefest 6c+ - The wall right of Clever Skin from the ground (6a+ from the boulder) trending right then back left. A more direct start would be good/hard.
Some way past Clever Skin is the Double Overhang boulder which has some easy recorded probs and a couple of obvious projects through the upper roof. The righthand proj has a glued flake (very old failing glue job), I’m not sure if this has been done or not. Looks about 7a but scary due to creaky hold. The left line will probably go as a big jug to top dyno for someone tall and should be classic of its kind, Iain Farrar got close to it the day I did Whip Crack.
Whip Crack 6c+ (or 6b with hold on left) – Climb the thin crack in the lower roof to the midway break.
Stanage Causeway SlabsPulling the Beak 6b+ - Left of Beaky Direct (that’s about all I can remember!)
Iranu SS 7a+ - Sit start to Iranu trending rightwards into the stand. Makes a decent problem of the original
Wharncliffe – Just a list of the harder probs to give some idea of the scope of new stuff.
Powerlines - 7a+
* Up to a Point 7b
* My Condition 7b
Original Fake Bobo 7a
Nazi Turtle 6c
Nazi Turtle LH SS 7b
The Platitude Inspector 7a
* Way Down in the Hole 7b+
Micro Aggression 6a+
* <Erganprow> 7a+
* Snakes on a Plain 6c+
* Casu Marzu 7c
* The 87 Bus 7a
* Wharnside Story 6c
<Campus highball> 6c
<Bass rock slabby rib> 6b+
* <Bass rock back arete> 7a
* Curvaceous SS 7b+
Bocconcini 7a
* Oh What a Feeling 7b+
Hanging Groove 6a+
Mur Du Mystery 6c
<Cave lip rockover left of Long John’s area> 6a+
<Sharp arete left of above> 6a from SS
<Bad landing arete/prow> 6a
* Twelve Years Today 6c (6b from standing)
<Diamond arete> 6a+/6b
<Pocket roof LH> 6b+
<Pocket roof RH> 6c+
Enchiridion 6c
<Eliminate wall> 6b+
* Facetime Continuum 7b+
Turned Out Nice Again 6b+
Sore 6c
* Joseph Starling 7a+
Nettle ButtressNeil 7a+ - A R-L traverse of the wall below Toy’s for the Boys. Staring on a jug on the right and finishing in the groove at the base of Stung
Stoney Middleton – The Slurper areaThis is the area just right of Electric Quarry. It’s at a slightly higher level. A big square cut bay with potential for various more vert probs finishing at breaks.
He Said, Xi Said 6a+ - Left of the central corner is a block with an obvious problem size arete finishing at a ledge. Climb this from sitting on its LH side
* My Way or the Ai Weiwei Way 6c+ - As above but climbed on the RH side from sitting.
<Slurper wall> 6b – Wall just right of the arete.
Curbar* Mark of the Beaks 6c+ (7b SS) – Curbar Cave area, just right of the E4 Mark of Respect. Climb the high right arete from stand or sit, both are really good.
Curb Crawler 7b+ - In Curbar cave itself. R-L trav of the low lip starting on the far right and finishing up the wall left of the established problems. Lowball and dabby but some great moves.
<2 probs below curb cave> Just down and left of Curbar cave is a slabby wall with a low roof and hanging flake. I’ll fill in the details when I remember/reclimb. It’s two worthwhile sit starts either side of the flake, somewhere in the low 6s.
Baslow* Goldilocks Zone 7b – The wall between Cold Diggerty and Hot Ziggerty. Climb the low start to HD (aka Tony Gubba’s World of Rubber) then continue direct/leftward via a right heel on the shelf to a good crimp, further big moves on good but spaced holds lead to the final slap rightwards on CD.
The Horn 7b+ - On the Matterhorn Boulder. A sit start to the end bit of Smutt Ridge. Start matched on a low undercut, feet on base slab, climbing into and up the prow. Avoids the low blocks on the right for feet.
* Tex Avery 7a – On the Flatworld Block. The slab directly opposite Elmer Fudd, slab just right of the arete climbed direct (rather than stepping in from the left). Really nice blank smearing.
Chatsworth* Grow a Pear - 7a+ - The right side of the wall containing the route Some Jerk on TV. Up pebbles to the break then up again via undercuts or a crimp to a final slap. It’s thought that the route Weanie Meanie E4 6c climbs the wall further left via an enormous reach, it looks doable for shorter folk via some techy sidepulling and would be a brilliant highball in the 7b range if re-climbed (I cleaned it when I did GaP).
* Compression Sickness 7b – Follow the edge path along the top of the crag toward Dobb Edge until a stile is reached leading into a field just before Dobb itself. Drop down just before the stile to an undercut wall and a low prow. Compression Sickness climbs the prow from a low sit start with both hands on the arete below the roof.
<Right of Compression Sickness> 6c – Start as for CS then swing up and right to climb the wall. The wall direct from standing is a decent easy problem.
Tantric Pony 7a – Just up and right of CS is an undercut wall. Sit start on the right and work up the lip leftward to finish up the left arete.
Dobb EdgeWondermule 7a+ - On the smaller pinnacle. Climb the left arete of Dogg Egg avoiding other arete for hands or feet. Eliminate but good moves making the most of the cool grooved arete feature.
Burbage South<Small prow R of cioch> 6c – Right of the Cioch is a slab problem mentioned in the bouldering guide and described as having no landing. This is on the diamond shaped block just to its right. The prowy right arete from sitting
<Low start on boulder r of cioch> 7a – The middle of the same block from low start on lip sidepull, full sitter would be harder. Slap up to good edge and lip of slab, finish up the sharp right arete
Lees Bottom* Mr Meeseeks 7c – Mentioned as a project in Marc’s topo, now a hard 7c. A harder variant on Mr Creosote with much nicer moves which are not as reach dependant. Start as for MrC then use a small left hand scallop to get a wide roof pinch/undercut on the right, various heel and toe hooks lead up and left to the finish hold of MrC.
* Sheldon Mango 7c – Lone problem on a buttress (Upper Lees Bottom) 53.227953, -1.744843 up the hill from the main area but best approached via public footpaths from the pay and display carpark just up the road. Climb the highball bulging wall 1.5m left of the crack to high jugs. The rock is a bit chossy looking but the climbing is very good, with big moves off drop-knees and slopey pinches.
Duke’s SeatBeeched Wail SS 6c+ - A good sequence gaining the original via an undercut.
Too Big to Fail 6a/E1 5c – Just right of Rippled wall (where Beeched Wail is) is a big block spoiled somewhat by a terrible landing. The climbing on this is quite secure so it doesn’t feel too bold thankfully. Climb the finger flake on the right side of the block to an exciting top move.
Snarling Black Mabel 6b – The right arete actually has an alright landing. Climbed from sitting via a pair of projecting fins
Gardom’s Middle* A Fearful Orange SS 7a+ - A good couple of sit moves makes this into the classic 7 it always wanted to be.
25m left of AFO is a buttress with an obscure HVS flake. The next four probs climb the arete of this by a number of variants. The first two have been climbed in the past by Jamie and Sarah Lilleman up to the break from a higher start position. Subsequent to this I changed the landing allowing the sit starts to be done.
Chunky Doorstop SS 6c+ - This climbs into the flake from a sit start on the arete. The HVS itself is currently in need of a good clean but would otherwise be a good highball topout.
Chunky Vision 7a+ - the arete from sitting without recourse to the flake
* 2019 Vision 6c – The easiest way to gain the fine highball arete left of CD. French start the arete on its left side to a horizontal pocket. From the break climb the arete above via a prominent flatty/jug and the groove on the left.
* 2020 Vision 7c+ - The left side of the arete climbed from sitting via a hard move from a wide pinch. First ascent by Ned Feehally.
Bi-ology 6a+ - The next arete left climbed from a sit start via a two-finger pocket.
The next two are on the quarried looking face just right of Gardom’s Unconquerable.
<Slap problem> 7a? – Start on sidepulls just right of the corner (start of an old problem called Willy). Climb up and rightward via a big slap off a sidepull to a good flatty. FA Ben Bransby
<Crimps etc.> 7c? – Start on the vague right arete and trend leftwards using crimps and blunt layaways to gain good holds. FA Ned Feehally
Phew! I’m planning on not leaving it quite so long next time.
