[climbingjoe1984]

I remember a list/poster in a mag a whilst back which listed the top 50 uk problems by grade. Then i had climbed very little and didnt really pay much attention. Does anyone know where this list is avalible and if not can you make some suggestions. As long as morrells wall is in there at 6A i'll be happy

Joe

[richdraws]

Morrells wall is the shittest v7 in the country.

[slackline]

There is Greg Chapman's Elite UK Bouldering Inventory, but I don't think this is what your after.

There are also a list of Llanberis Pass 7+8's in this thread.

Any hints on what mag it might have been in would be useful for tracking it down.

Asking for recommendations for a top 50 list is rather futile (although highly entertaining), as there will be endless debate as to the best problems and it will be heavily influenced by each individuals geographical location and propensity to travel.

[GCW]

Isn't that the one from OTE/Climber that Pantontino did?  I think I've got it somewhere.....

[climbingjoe1984]

Yeah OTE or Climber sounds about right. As for the futility of listing problems I totaly agree, but its nice to have some suggestions 

[GCW]

Woot, I never throw anything away:

8c
Walk Away SDS  (Fairy Steps)

8b+
Monk's Life  (Kyloe In)
Pilgrimage  (Parisella's)

8b
The Ace  (Stanage)
High Fidelity  (Caley)
Cypher  (Slipstones)

8a+
Pool of Bethesda  (Cromlech)
Inertia Reel Traverse  (Roaches)
Sabotage  (Dumby)

8a
Careless Torque  (Stanage)
The Crack (Bowden Doors)
Jason's Roof  (Crookrise)

7c+
The Return of the Fly  (Thorn)
Heaven in your Hands  (Brandrith)
News in Gaelic  (Glen Nevis)

7c
Precious (Glen Croe)
Jerry's Roof  (Cromlech)
Scoop de Grace  (Running Hill Pits)

7b+
The Yorkshireman  (Kyloe In)
Yellow Desert Scream  (St Bees)
West Side Story  (Burbage West)
The Waveband  (Portland)

7b
Fight on Black  (Widdop)
Willy 2 Goes  (Wavelength)
Sloping Beauty  (Earl)
Brutal Arete  (Stanton Moor)

7a+
Red Baron  (Shipley Glen)
Tierdrop  (Ramshaw)
Mallory Crack  (Mallory Boulder)
Catalepsy (Pex Hill)

7a
Desert Island Arete (Earl)
King of Drunks (Wavelength)
Solidarity  (Glenmacnass)
The Wave  (Bonehill)

[GCW]

V5
Caseg Groove  (Caseg Boulder)
Horror Arete  (Bridestones)
Event Horizon  (Sampson's Stones)
The Chieftain  (Coire Lagan)

V4
Not To Be Taken Away  (Stanage)
The Crack  (Bowderstone)
Boysen's Groove  (Wavelength)
The States Traverse  (Garheugh)

V3
Classic Arete  (Shaftoe)
Pick Pocket Crack  (Widdop)
Flying Arete (Almscliff)
Jumping Jack Flash  (Goldsborough Carr)

V2
The Ramp  (Braichmelyn Boulder)
West's Route  (Wimberry)

V1
The Hoop-La  (Frodsham)
The Blobs  (Loch Sloy)

[n_man]

Let the debate begin....

Walk Away is obviously dead hard but is it really one of the best 50 probs in the country. In fact IMO it's a bit  given the location and line. Is it in because it's the only 8c?

[GCW]

There's 3 8c problems...... 

[GCW]

According to Greg's Lakes list, Shadow Play was done in October 2004 and Il Pirata in February 2004.  Walk Away SDS was January 2003.
I'm not sure when the Climber list came out but I seem to recall there were more than 1 8c problems about, but I may be wrong.  The line of Walk Away sitter may not be brilliant, but neither is Il Pirata.  Of the 3 8c problems, you could argue that Shadow Play has the best line.  But they are dirty, dirty hard.  And I don't think Gaskins did them purely for the line, but more for the challenge.  But only he really knows what inspired him, and I don't wish to try to second guess the man himself.

At last, the ultimate tick list!  The top 50 boulder problems in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, according to Pantontino

Pantontino will explain I expect.  When was the list published?

[Sloper]

Morrells wall is the shittest v7 in the country.

Are we talking about the same Morells Wall at Almscliff, you know the english 5a/b one?

If so I can claim to have onsighted V11 Hueco.

[Sloper]

Anyway back to the question in hand.

No order / sequence (i.e. just like my climbing) and as far as I'm concerned only grit and sandstone in England and Wales equates to good bouldering (Wales would have a few in the top 250) and limestone in the top 3000.

Careless Torque probably the only great boulder problem at Stanage (although Help the Young is a close second)

All quiet on the eastern front, Burbage north

The Spinx B North

West Side Story Burbage West

Welford's thing using the arete to the right of the Impossible groove

Screaming Dream, Frogatt (obviously I pissed this in the wet when pissed)

High Fidelity, Pebble Wall and Psycho Caley

Little Spice Ilkley

Cypher and the V6 / 7a to the left of strictly personal Slipstones

Pair in a cubicle and Alien Nation Brimham

Anyway that's enough bolleaux for now

[n_man]

I'm not questioning Gaskins psyche, motivation or anything else. And tons of his problems are dirty, dirty hard. However, I don't believe that there are only 49 problems in the UK better than this...

[GCW]

I think it's a top 50 skewed so there are problems of each grade, of a roughly equal number.  Quality wise, I may well agree with you.  Perhaps none of the 8c problems should be included from a quality point of view.  Maybe Walk Away SDS should have been left out and another V2 added 
It's probably the title that's innacurate rather than the list itself?

Let the debate continue

[Kingy]

Playing devil's advocate here surely any 8c problem is worthy of at least 2 stars no matter how shite it looks!!? They're quite rare beasts.  ???

[GCW]

I've looked at all 3 of JG's 8c Beasts.  They are so sickening I'm highly impressed despite lack of lines.  What a guy!!

[Kingy]

I must say I was distinctly underwhelmed by Il Pirata, under some dusty waist high roof where nobody probably even thought a climb could go. Have not seen walk away yet, at least that one is natural stone.

[GCW]

Il Pirata, under some dusty waist high roof where nobody probably even thought a climb could go.

That's half the point though isn't it?  One of the hardest things ever climbed and most people wouldn't have bothered   Having said that, if the ground was a few feet lower, it would be a much better looking line.

Walk Away SDS is also amazing to look at, although some may say slightly eliminate.

Is Fight On Black really 7b?

[n_man]

I've looked at all 3 of JG's 8c Beasts.  They are so sickening I'm highly impressed despite lack of lines.  What a guy!!

Agreed.

Playing devil's advocate here surely any 8c problem is worthy of at least 2 stars no matter how shite it looks!!? They're quite rare beasts.  ???

So are mating Pandas but I wouldn't have them in my top 50 either.

[Sloper]

Yep, no where near as cool as aardvarks or meer cats.

Mind you at the Zoo near Churnet we say tow gay penguins bang at it, now that's got to be a trainspotting moment.

[Greg C]

Let the debate begin....

Walk Away is obviously dead hard but is it really one of the best 50 probs in the country. In fact IMO it's a bit  given the location and line. Is it in because it's the only 8c?

Are you having a day off? It's one of the best bits of rock I've seen anywhere. And as it's only a few moves some may argue one of only a few "true" 8c's and not just a lowball sport route. I'll grant you Il Pirata and Kaizen are toss.

GCW Wrote: Walk Away SDS is also amazing to look at, although some may say slightly eliminate.

How so?

Also, how is there no line to this problem? Try, "climb the centre of the beautiful crozzled wall". It doesn't really get any simpler than that.

[Pantontino]

Let the debate begin....

Walk Away is obviously dead hard but is it really one of the best 50 probs in the country. In fact IMO it's a bit  given the location and line. Is it in because it's the only 8c?

Are you having a day off? It's one of the best bits of rock I've seen anywhere. And as it's only a few moves some may argue one of only a few "true" 8c's and not just a lowball sport route. I'll grant you Il Pirata and Kaizen are toss.

GCW Wrote: Walk Away SDS is also amazing to look at, although some may say slightly eliminate.

How so?

Also, how is there no line to this problem? Try, "climb the centre of the beautiful crozzled wall". It doesn't really get any simpler than that.

 

Walk Away is stunning. GCW: how is it an eliminate?

[BenF]

Also, how is there no line to this problem? Try, "climb the centre of the beautiful crozzled wall". It doesn't really get any simpler than that.

I'm with Greg here.  Walk Away looks stunning and surely anyone who climbs can look at it and appreciate the impressive nature of the moves.  I've taken low grade climbers and non boulderers over to check it out and they've always been stunned by the fact that someone could use those holds to climb that blank wall.  Okay, so its not a sharp arete or huge roof, but it has beauty in its line up that wall. 

[Nigel]

Fourthed – Walk Away SS is a pure line up the centre of a gorgeous compact limestone wall. I know its fun to jump on the “Gaskins-problems-are-shit” bus, because generally they are. But not this one. Its brilliant.

[Pantontino]

I remember a list/poster in a mag a whilst back which listed the top 50 uk problems by grade. Then i had climbed very little and didnt really pay much attention. Does anyone know where this list is avalible and if not can you make some suggestions. As long as morrells wall is in there at 6A i'll be happy

Joe

It was published in March 2005. I have actually got a load of the posters somewhere. Unfortunately a lot of my stuff is in storage at the moment in a boxes at V12. A few people on UKC asked me about this a while back and I promised to post them a poster each. So that's a belated apology if the same people are reading this - I just can't find the buggers!

It is not meant to be definitively the best problems, rather a representation from each of the grade ranges and the different geographical areas. Obviously some people (Sloper, Johnny Brown) don't believe there is any worthwhile bouldering beyond the grit and sandstone crags of England. I beg to differ, and the more that I've travelled around the more I've come to realise that whilst the grit is important, it is not the be all and end all of British bouldering.