Following on from the recent E2 and E3 threads how about the best E1. I'll start the ball rolling with a few I've done, I'm looking at the whole experience of the route, so the climbing, location, approach, history...
South Face Direct (Voie Madier) (TD+ 6a+)
I thought this was excellent, not super long but great day out, and far more traddy with no bolts apart from on the first belay.
A great route but there are better E1's in the pass such as:
It came up in the other thread but was deemed not E2. I've not really done that many E1s, but I suspect it's worth E1.
A bit more detail http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.com/2013/09/stetinds-sydpilaren-south-pil...
I think this is possibly the single most overrated route I have ever done. Basically crap, but just about worth a single star for the iconic summit and the nice VS pitch at the top. I've done much better E1's on both Am Buachaille and The Old Man Of Stoer - and the Old Man of Hoy doesn't even have the spice of a swim to get to it!
I dont think it really is the best... but I think Coronation Street (WW) (E1 5b) deserves an honourable mention. Some exciting positions, varied styles between pitches and decent setting.
Prismaster (n6-) is a stellar line, and well worth the E1 If climbed in one rope stretching 60m pitch.
Any thoughts on An Bealach Rúnda (E1 5b), I've not done it yet.
The trip up there, the location, the adventure, made it memorable for me.
Not even the best E1 (HVS...) at Dinah Cromlech
> Any thoughts on An Bealach Rúnda (E1 5b), I've not done it yet.
A fun route. I came across a trio of well honed wall rats who were looking bemused at the chimneys, they accepted my offer to lead them up the initial pitches. Fun and unusual but I’ve done many better E1s
One that stood out for me in the UK is Astral Stroll (E1 5b)
I find the idea of a VI+ in the Xeis being only E1 quite improbable
Would be my choice. Amazing route.
I thought ABR was really good; I certainly haven’t done ‘many’ better E1s.
jcm
I'd be interested to hear what some of these better E1s are. I thought An Bealach Rúnda was up there.
it all comes down to personal preference, a lot of folk seem to have really enjoyed the chimney squirming, for me it detracted from the experience
An Bealach Rúnda has to be up there. The E3 route beside X-men is almost as good too.
It's got everything. 3 Pitches with big comfortable belay ledges. Amazing scenery and position. 3 varied pitches.
Also one worth mentioning. The Doffer E1 5b. One of the finest cleanest offwidth cracks in the UK/Ireland. 35 meters of stupendous pain.
X-Men was very good , but Fairhead is bursting with 3 star E3s
> I thought this was excellent, not super long but great day out, and far more traddy with no bolts apart from on the first belay.
I'd go for a different Steger nearby:
Not done that many but of those I've done probably North West Passage (E1 5b)
Thanks Toby, I enjoyed your article. Hope to get to Lofoten in the next year or two and will give that one a shot. Top end for me, but worth a go with your added info!
Cheers, David
There must be plenty in Scotland, how about;
What would be your suggestion? This is one of the more sensible ones, only 13 pitches and very reasonable protection wher it matters. Might go at VI-/A0, as well.
> I'd go for a different Steger nearby:
That certainly is up there for fun days out at the grade I thought. I'd also pitch in with the following:
> I think this is possibly the single most overrated route I have ever done. Basically crap, but just about worth a single star for the iconic summit and the nice VS pitch at the top. I've done much better E1's on both Am Buachaille and The Old Man Of Stoer - and the Old Man of Hoy doesn't even have the spice of a swim to get to it!
... I'm inclined to agree... when we were there a few years ago the last entry in the visitors book in Rackwith Bothy was: "would anyone climb this pile of crap if it hadn't been on the telly"... perhaps a bit harsh...
... another vote for Astral Stroll... unforgettable and very, very exciting particularly if the sea is making itself known...!!!
> ... I'm inclined to agree... when we were there a few years ago the last entry in the visitors book in Rackwith Bothy was: "would anyone climb this pile of crap if it hadn't been on the telly"... perhaps a bit harsh...
I certainly doubt anyone would climb it if it were not on The Old Man of Hoy. Put the route on a regular sea cliff and it would probably be unclimbed.
It is interesting that on this thread as well as on the E2 ands E3 ones, nobody has mentioned any Morocco Anti-Atlas routes despite the area's popularity. Does this confirm my suspicions that, while it is a sunny and convenient climbing "holiday" destination with loads of nice climbing, it is rather lacking in truly brilliant lines? This was the impression I had from my one short visit many years ago before I discovered the wonders of Wadi Rum
That pretty much sums up my limited sample of the Anti Atlas climbing Rob. It's not actually very nice rock. Brilliant place but the routes felt like a big version of a Leicestershire quarry.
> That pretty much sums up my limited sample of the Anti Atlas climbing Rob. It's not actually very nice rock. Brilliant place but the routes felt like a big version of a Leicestershire quarry.
Thanks Hugh. I've been tentatively thinking of another visit, but fear it might be a bit uninspiring compared with other places I've been.
> That pretty much sums up my limited sample of the Anti Atlas climbing Rob. It's not actually very nice rock. Brilliant place but the routes felt like a big version of a Leicestershire quarry.
Really? That's not been my experience. I've been a couple of times. I don't remember the names of the routes but they were all strong lines on mainly good rock and came in at about E1/E2.
Al
Haven't done that particular route. Any maybe I just wasn't going well on my one visit, but I definitely felt Gesäuse grades were ridiculously sandbagged, consistently one to two grades harder than the Kaisergebirge. And Kaiser grades aren't soft. Great place though, would definitely like to get back there some time.
I did some good routes on a trip to Morocco but none live on in my memory, so you could be right.
> I certainly doubt anyone would climb it if it were not on The Old Man of Hoy. Put the route on a regular sea cliff and it would probably be unclimbed.
I understand your point of view but I’m going to disagree with on this one. It’s not as bad as you make out, it is iconic, visually dramatic, generally involves an adventure to travel to, and...it’s a hard rock tick.
Looks like a good route.
An excellent route.
Visite Obligatoire (TD+) Is a brilliant route, one of the best I’ve done. Worth its place on any E1 list.
Big Top on Aonach Dubh is awesome.
> but the routes felt like a big version of a Leicestershire quarry.
[ironic] And what's wrong with that?
If you have to ask then you don't really get it 😁
While it's not the 'best' Central Buttress (E1 5b) on Scafell deserves an honourable mention. It was my first mountain trad route and I've some great memories.
The Golden Compass (E1 5b)In reply to Robert Durran:
I thought the Golden Compass at Adrar Umilil was particularly fine.
Personally I'd be a fan of an bealach runda too...you can certainly avoid the chimneys with some bold cornering!
Minus 1 Direct was really superb for me, the atmosphere of the face and the views out west as well as finishing up NE Buttress to the summit makes for a 7 star day out. Descend Tower Ridge for the full alpine experience!
Has anyone ever done Marathon on Ben Nevis? Involves some descent but crosses a fair amount of impressive ground and must be one of the longest routes of its standard in the country (610m).
> Has anyone ever done Marathon on Ben Nevis? Involves some descent but crosses a fair amount of impressive ground and must be one of the longest routes of its standard in the country (610m).
Give it a go and let me know how you get on...
Has been added to the list, to be attempted on a very long and warm summer day after several days of dry weather!
I thought this one was not sandbagged, it's a 1930ies classic and deemed a standard for the grade...
Best E1 I've ever done. First pitch has the most bonkers positions imaginable - chimneying between the crag and a detached pillar. Second pitch is brilliant in a more conventional way and was greatly mproved by it being slightly damp for the unprotected final few metres up the slab.
Oh come on. Who wouldn't want to climb something like this? 😁
The way I climbed it, was about e1 imo.
But, then the walk on and off to the hut was probably more arduous. Especially the walk off
> The way I climbed it, was about e1 imo.
Really? There's only one pitch of ?V I think? That felt wildly exposed... But there are bolts and the climbing is VS.
Having said that, the UIAA grades seem to map fairly randomly!
I couldn't say whether it's up there amongst the best in Europe, but I did this route yesterday and it's absolutely brilliant. The first three pitches are great and topend HVS; the fourth is challenging route finding and not easy; the crux pitch is an astounding mix of delicacy and brutality. The continuation pitches are a great victory romp up a sharp ridge.
The crag is very beautiful, with enormous orange walls full of martins, peregrines and bats, whilst the screes are populated with chamois. The views are all the way across the plain to the sea, and at night the setting sun turns the high altitude clouds iridescent pink, whilst the sea fades purple and small puffs of white cloud migrate from west to east on the breeze like soft buffalo.
Absolutely knackered today!
> Does this confirm my suspicions that, while it is a sunny and convenient climbing "holiday" destination with loads of nice climbing, it is rather lacking in truly brilliant lines?
I thought Titan's Chimney (E1 5b) was an outrageous and stunning route for the grade. A peapod on the first pitch, not unlike the one at Curbar, followed by a big corner, then moving into a hanging chimney similar to Inner Space. I remember doing some gardening on the route, so I don't think this one gets enough attention, maybe because the guidebook descriptions suggests a bit too much adventure than some people might want.
As single pitch goes, Villskudd (n6-) is hard to beat I think.
Voie Madier is a great route but it doesn’t really feel E1 (except perhaps to the Czech guys we met on it who’d been expecting a clip-up).
> As single pitch goes, Villskudd (n6-) is hard to beat I think.
I didn't try that route when I went to Välseröd as I was climbing with a newbie - but I did think whilst it was a great crag it wasn't quite as good as Finland's Olhava.
Olhava's big routes are slightly bigger, 40-50 mtrs, and because the main face rises from the Lake, its a bit more dramatic than Välseröd. My favourite it Suuri Leikkaus (E2 5b) - "The Great Cut". It got given E2 here in its translation from Finnish grades but it isn't that hard - and with a modern rack of biggish cams the first 15 mtrs or so isn't unprotected anymore. Dave is starting up it here https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=159633
The other impeccable single pitch crack routes at Olhava that must be E1 are Ruotsalaisten reitti (E1 5b), Josse (E1 5b), Salama (E1 5b) and Ukkosenjohdatin (E1 5b) - they're all crackers.
Just writing this makes me realise how much I miss autumn climbing trips to Olhava! https://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.com/2009/10/olhava-great.html
For the travelling E1 climber it is definitely well worth thinking about visiting.
Just expressing surprise at a population of chamois there.
The guy doing the cracks in front of us had only one hand and a marigold glove over his stump.
> The guy doing the cracks in front of us had only one hand and a marigold glove over his stump.
A marigold glove... Well that's just cheating!
Thoroughly agree re Titan's Chimney, a superb varied route, don't remember it being too dirty when we did it in 2014 - unlike Just the Tonic on Amelu Main Wall, which was a good route - once we'd both found the route and excavated the fields of moss! Mind you I'm one of those who agrees that An Bealach Runda is a great route.
Ah, I see! Well, to be fair, I'm guessing: they were a deer/goat type species with short horns; they looked a bit like the camosci I've seen in Italy and very like the photos of chamois on google, but I couldn't say for sure which sub-species they were. We saw some on the way up, but they still shocked us on the way down as we could only see rows of glowing eyes following us in the dark and it took a while for this monstrous vision to resolve into a 'chamois' and her kid, spooked by our headtorches.
> It is interesting that on this thread as well as on the E2 ands E3 ones, nobody has mentioned any Morocco Anti-Atlas routes despite the area's popularity. Does this confirm my suspicions that, while it is a sunny and convenient climbing "holiday" destination with loads of nice climbing, it is rather lacking in truly brilliant lines? This was the impression I had from my one short visit many years ago before I discovered the wonders of Wadi Rum
Tosh! You obviously don't know the area at all well.
> Tosh! You obviously don't know the area at all well.
No, I don't, which is why I asked the question!
I had one brief visit in 2003 before a guidebook was published and only had a couple of days climbing (a pleasant enough HVS which came highly rated and a pretty good long new E2). The rock and crags just didn't really inspire me (and the endless hassle form vendors made it a much less attractive place to visit than the other N. African or Middle Eastern countries I have climbed in). I know another well travelled climber who had similar feelings about the area. As I said, I went to Wadi Rum for the first time the same year and fell in love with the place and have now been there seven times. I just thought it telling that four Rum routes had featured in these threads while none had from Morocco (though a couple have come up since my post).
Since I have a possibility of another trip to Morocco, I thought I'd seek peoples' opinions - I prefer truly great lines to go for rather than just lots of good cragging. It seems that two on here got similar impressions to me whereas four have got a different opinion.
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