[Fiend]

See title and page 175 of the mighty BMC Staffordshire Grit guide. I'm not a big fan of ticklists and Hard Cock-style essential route blah blahs BUT this is the list I've found worth ticking, and now...
...I AM a Staffordshire Obscurist 

(yes, am looking for suitable medals)

Who else?? Andi? JB? Readza? Grima? Dave Garnett? Mini? Mirf? Mark S? Gus?

Comments on the list itself later.

[Johnny Brown]

Only done 6. Staffs has the best rock.

[dave k]

What routes are on the list? My guide is at home. I guess as I have to ask I am probably not one. Although I have climbed a fair few obscure routes in the area- Is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on there?

[Fiend]

The list:

Rubberneck HVS 5a The Clouds sent!
- shouldn't really be on the list as although it's great it is far too mainstream. See below for other choices.

Hangingstone Crack HVS 5b Hangingstone sent!
- done ages ago, can't remember much about it but it had both delicacy and burl and good rock.

Kaleidoscope E1 5a Sharpcliffe sent!
- hard for the grade but a good route and an intriguing "must try" bit of rock, classic esoterica. Get kicked off the crag for the full tick.

Kneewrecker Chimney HVS 4c Belmont Hall sent!
- a classic of the genre, bloody hell it is too. The clue, amazingly, is in the name. Done last night via headtorch.

The Helix HVS 5a Harston sent!
- only seconded this but a fine adventure.

Atlas E2 5c Ina's Rock sent!
- well hopefully some day the scars to my hands, arms, and left armpit will heal some day, but today is not that day. A fine battle at a great crag.

Hot Tin Roof E1 5a Bosley Cloud sent!
- brilliant route, delightful climbing, a hidden gem.

Top Brick E2 5c Dimming's Dale sent!
- similarly, just a great route. A fun wall climbing voyage with pleasingly good gear. One of the Churnet's very best.
 
The Yawn V0- 5a Gradbach Hill sent!
- good juggy highballing.

Baldstone's Arete HVS 4c Baldstones sent!
- should have been one of the "not very esoteric but gets you started routes". A nice, varied, fun route.

Don't Go Down To The Woods Today VS 4b Skyline sent!
- as above. As esoteric as The Roaches gets, you don't know you're on the right route until you're literally on the route. Easy but pleasant.

Kipling Arete E2 5c Rudyard Pinnacle sent!
- great route on brilliant rock when clean and dry. As good as this is the E1 5a left arete is even better, more balanced and lovely ripples.

...

Other options that perhaps should have been on (instead of Rubberneck):

Bollard Edge VS 4b Back Forest - delightful and stylish jug-pulling.
The Phantom E4 5c Gradbach Hill - absolute classic that delivers everything it promises.
Crystal Voyager E3 6a Bosley Cloud - does it get more hidden gem than this?? Totally hidden and perfect rock.

[andy popp]

I fail, from which I can only conclude the list is wrong. The proper list is as follows:

Old King Cole (Harstons) Because I know it instantly disqualifies Andi T
Patient Weaver (Park Bank) The best route in the Lower Churnet + see above
Face (Belmont Hall) Shows what grit would be like if we were allowed to use pegs
Slender Thread (Bosley) Better than Crystal Voyager
Peter and the Wolf (Hen Cloud) Must be obscure if its lain unrepeated all this time smack bang in the middle of such a major crag
Goldrush (Baldstones) Not really that good but a great feature
Pillar of Judgement (Nth Cloud) Like some on the list, actually rather mainstream but just bloody brilliant. Much better than the rather disjointed Phantom
Qui Vive (Oldridge) Fun, fun, fun
Metaphysical Scoop (Nth Cloud again) Ace one point of contact move
Enigma Variation (Skyline) Just perfect

ps Good effort Fiend

[lagerstarfish]

An obscure medal for you



and one for 2nd place

[Fiend]

It's an official BMC-authorised list, you're not really allowed to disagree with it   Although I do like your reasoning for OKC...

I've done Pillar Of Judgement, it was a really delightful, classy route. Although I found the Phantom it's equal, for different reasons.

Yours would be a good "hardcore" alternative list. How about swapping The Phantom for Metaphysical Scoop (can't have two at Nth cloud and the Gradbach / Back Forest / Hangingstone area must be covered somehow), and swapping The Cube for Enigma Variations (the latter is somewhat too mainstream and one should have a boulder problem in somewhere although I suspect most of the list is highball Font7a anyway)

P.S. You're allowed 12 to match the original list and need more from the Churnet I reckon - Knossos?

P.P.S. Ta

P.P.P.S. Sorry for missing you out of my original "whodunnit" list, you should have been on.

P.P.P.P.S. Thanks for the medal lagers...

[Gus]

All over it!

Got 8 off the original list, and 7 off mr. Popp's, (which is a damn fine list too!!)

Peter and the Wolf aint unrepeated, it's one of my ticks on the hard core list!

The Phantom at Gradbach should defo be on the list somewhere.

Good thread!!! 

[Eddies]

Ive climbed Hot Tin Roof and Baldstones Arête in the last two weeks and I dont generally do routes!
Both are cracking lines.

[Fiend]

Only 10 to go then 

Get down to Rudyard Pinnacle, should be nice and dry, take a brush though.

[andy popp]

I hadn't realized there were twelve. Here goes,

Due to popular demand I'll swap The Phantom for Pillar of Judgement, keeping Metaphysical, which is less mainstream, and I'll swap Enigma Variation, out of place on this list anyway, for Willow Farm, which is lovely and keeps the Skyline in.

Extra two:
For more Churnet, All of the Day and All of the Night (Peakstone Inn) - like sport climbing but scary and then either Solitaire (Bosley) or Humble Potter (Park Bank) - both crags are already represented so I'm finding it hard to choose.

Would probably choose Knossos if I'd done it.

Nice one Gus, didn't know you'd done PatW

[AndiT]

A true Staffs Obscurist would surely be able to tell you when you're climbing in Staffordshire or Cheshire at Bosley cloud.

I'm mising Rudyard Pinnacle, but I'd not want to give Garnett the pleasure 

[Somebody's Fool]

Very true Andi. The best gritstone climbing in Derbyshire actually lies in Cheshire, so the saying goes.

What is in Staffordshire though, and genuinely obscure (what's all this Roaches and Hen Cloud shit being bandied about?), is Titan at ERF Rocks.  Forty-five degree overhanging jamming above a lovely flat farmer's field. Marvellous. It's E2 6a in old money, although Unclesomebody, and the merry band of revolutionaries following in his wake, would probably beg to differ.

PS This outcrop is now called Wicken Stones in the new guide, as the factory it lies behind changed names.

[Fiend]

It's E2 6a in old money, although Unclesomebody, and the merry band of revolutionaries following in his wake, would probably beg to differ.

  Although E2 6b (as it is now) sounds like a much more highball relevant standard of climbing...

Alas, for I wanted to visit it soon, it is now banned: http://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmccrag/ViewCrag.aspx?id=862

[Somebody's Fool]

The last time I went, a year or so ago, I asked the woman at the farm (the smallholding on the left at the top of the factory drive) and she said it was OK as long as I was careful. Probably worth an ask if you're in the area.

[Somebody's Fool]

And another thing. It's only 6a really. It just got 6b cos Dave Garnett couldn't do it.

[mark s]

me and andi did a couple of staffordshire rarely climbed gems last night at gib.stall and porridge at morridge top.

agree with metaphysical scoop.did it again last week.we even said about the total 1 point of contact.there a pic of someone on it on ukc who has obviosly trav'd in along the break.no chalk on any of the mono's or flake

[Fiend]

Come on Mark, you done the list??

S.Fool, cool, will go and ask politely. Cool about the grade of Titan, might be in with a chance.

[AndiT]

no i,ve not done all of them.a few of them tho.mark at andi's

[Falling Down]

I've done 7 of the BMC list and haven't read the rest of the thread in sufficient detail but Im sure Andy's list is a good one. Does climbing a route on the Old Man of Mow count? (I did in 1993).

[andy popp]

Does climbing a route on the Old Man of Mow count? (I did in 1993).

Absolutely - the very pinnacle (sorry) of Staffordshire esoteria.

[grimer]

U think that with obscurism, you actually get the point for going to the venue, as much as for the route you do. I made the list, and made it generally easy to encourage a broader spectrum of people to stray away from the honeypots and experience the true magic Staffordshire has to offer. Less obscure things like Rubbernect were there to get people started.

Anyway, well done Fiend, that is medal-worthy, although with the suggestions from Andy and Falling, it looks like you are now just in the front door, and it's time to explore the house.

Just done 6 me.

[Bonjoy]

You going to do one for the new book Grimer, there's no shortage of quality obscuria?

[grimer]

Hopefully that's where the EDitor's coices will work. If you, Reuben, Fiend and Andy all do one, then they are all going to be obscureity tests. Or maybe do a guide-wide list too?

[andy popp]

All of this would pale next to a list of Forest of Dean sandstone esoteria. How would you even begin to choose which route was more obscure than the next.