UKH

Evening all.

After some thought I decided to put this out to the UKC crowd. 
I have tried and failed to lead this route on several occasions, although regularly climb at The Lough and Peel Crag across the grades . I have seen friends climbing at around E6 fail and have not met anyone who has climbed this route ( as opposed frig it or top rope it on a tight rope ) . I have climbed plenty at equivalent grades across the UK and abroad , so would be interested to hear from another local enthusiast who has lead this …… thanks . I love The Lough and consider it’s E3’s some of the best , it’s HVS routes basically great 30m E1’s , and have had a love affair with the place for over 30 years . Be great to hear from the talented who have done this route on lead. 

I have also failed on this.

6b is always hard for me so I can't really comment on the grade. 

I went for a look at this once as I happened to be at the crag and fancied a challenge. Only made it a few meters up before backing off, pretty confident that the climbing above looked more difficult and much less well protected than the E4 6b grade suggests! Obviously the county has a reputation for stiff grading but unless the line is less direct that suggested in the topo I can't really see how it could be climbed at that grade. I onsight E4s and E5s fairly regularly but there was no chance I was committing to that route ground-up. Would love to hear from someone who had done it recently though.

Absolutely! My thoughts exactly. I think it’s a case of ‘ historical grading’ . If you stick to the line , it’s nails ! I haven’t seen anyone do it and couldn’t myself when I was on sighting E5’s. 

Maybe the clue's in the name 😁

Have you top-roped it or are you still trying to climb it ground-up?

The log (as I'm sure you're aware) isn't very helpful, and Steve Crowe taking a fall on it in the 90s does hint at it maybe being a sandbag at that grade.

I will try a top rope on it after cleaning at some stage. 
I should add I have been reminded I do know someone who has done it , who is a friend and local but some time ago and he climbs , not surprisingly, harder than me! ( and he took a fall!) 

Its a Jeff Lamb route from a time early 70's when he thought he couldnt climb harder than E4.

Steve Carruthers led it in the early 80's. He climbed mainly south lakes.