UKH

Has anyone else done The Cannon (VS 4c) at Ramshaw Rocks in the last couple of years? My logbook tells me I onsighted it on my one previous visit to Ramshaw 19 years ago although I remembered nothing about it. The logbooks show the big flake/spike snapped in a ground fall in Jan. 2020. My friend Andy led it yesterday and went up and down at the start good few times, fought various bits of gear in, came back for semi rests etc. before managing to pull into the crack and swiftly finish. There was a lot of hanging on not brilliant finger edges on steep ground (see pic.) When I seconded it I have to admit taking a couple of rests and pulling on a cam. It felt nothing like VS 4c in its current state - I can only think the spike before it broke gave you a big foothold allowing you to much more easily reach into the crack and get a jam. There aren't too many logged ascents since the breakage so I don't know if the votes for HVS and 5a are from before or since it snapped. But has anyone else done it recently? I (just) managed to second the Untouchable cleanly later, so I didn't fall on that, but did on the Cannon - so I even wondered if might not be 5b (although I am poor on steep ground)?

In reply to TobyA:

Interestingly in my old 1989 Staffordshire Grit it gets HS 4a. I haven't done it which is quite telling as I did Battle of the Bulge next to it. I imagine some crucial bits are missing

In reply to TobyA:

If someone said the route in the picture was some desperate Extreme I would believe it! 

In reply to TobyA:

... well it is Ramshaw, lol.

The UKC Ramshaw 'gallery' shows the terror and grimness (some deviants would say joy) in near enough every shot:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/item.php?crag=106&sort=v

In reply to TobyA:

Soon after I started climbing I tried to climb this route. Fell off about two moves up from the climber in your picture, decked and got knocked unconscious. Never been back to ramshaw since. Happy memories. 

In reply to Duncan Bourne:

Interestingly Duncan I just took my ancient On Peak Rock off the shelf and looked in that - this is where I had recorded doing it pre-UKC logbook, and in OPR it also is given HS 4a. The now broken off bit must have a made a real difference if it was ever anywhere close to 4a!

In reply to ChrisJD:

You might have seen on Insta, Al - the other American guy I was climbing with, did Masochism (E1 5b) and The Untouchable (E1 5b) so we we were all having the proper Ramshaw experience. I did Battle of the Bulge (VS 4b) as my first route and thought it was actually OK, but before I make any claims to mastering Ramshaw, I should perhaps share the pic below, snapped by Andy of me humping the direct start of Wellingtons (VD)! If you do it the 'a cheval' style I suppose it might make it the vdiff leader's Clippity Clop, Clippity Clop, Clippity Clop (E7 6c). Ye hah! Ride 'em cowboy.

In reply to TobyA:

I tried leading and backed off back in 2018 and I was pretty solid on at least VS then. My notes say I then seconded round to the left somewhere, not too much memory otherwise besides the lingering thoughts of it looking unlikely at the grade even then. 

In reply to TobyA: All I can say with confidence is that it felt fair enough at HS in 1989.

Oddly I haven’t been to Ramshaw since.

I may have a photo of the crux as it was then.

In reply to TobyA:

There's a lot of that at Ramshaw. Little Nasty has a 4c start which is a jump into a hand jam followed by a series of undercut hand jams (painful). I found the 5b second half easier.

In reply to TobyA: Comparing your photo to the one on UKC indicates that it might have made things much more difficult.