UKH

Is there a lakes equivalent to the above for a bit of bumbling - slabs, easy that might be used by groups. N.West lakes. 

Nothing as big, as good or accessible as Little Tryfan but you can bumble on Seathwaite Upper Slabs, Glaciated Slabs or Taylor Gill Slabs.

Not as big as TB, but steel knotts bluff a nice little slab for beginners/kids, complete with bolt belay, just below the main crag Steel Knotts (Borrowdale). There's some small slabs at sour milk Gill, Seathwaite too.

Upper shepherd's is the other spot I can think of in the area. They're all much smaller than TB.

Good call with  Intake Ridge/Glaciated Slab. Think that's probably the closest to the TB vibe.

Another vote for Steel Knotts (Borrowdale).

I'd just add that the approach to Glaciated isn't too long but the last bit is quite steep and the scree at the base is quite loose and on a bit of a slope.  Neither are a big issue but if I was taking young kids or adults who were a bit nervous/unsure the approach to and base of Steel Knotts is friendlier. 

Brown Slabs in Borrowdale?

The Lakes equivalent is obvs Long Scar, though Long Scar is better in every way than Tryfan Bach.

What's the name of that slab we solo'd that VDiff on in Dovedale? That was great!

Gill Crag/Dovedale Slabs.

I'd have said this is the nearest in terms of accessibility and climbing style.

However, the descent can be very dangerous for the inexperienced.

Thats the one. Relatively hard to access though, entails scrambling. Would prove popular if roadside I think. 

Memory is obviously hazy on that - I don't recall the descent being particularly remarkable. 

The very first bit of the descent from Brown Slabs is exposed and a little grassy and steep but after that it's a footpath with maybe one short rock step. The worst bit these days is the collapsing stile at the bottom. This assumes you go the correct way. It's easy to head downhill too soon and end up on some slabs that are tricky/exposed. I suspect some comments in the logbook about the terrifying descent relate to these slabs.

I thought of them, but they are quite a bit steeper, closer to climbing rather than bumbling.

Some sections of goat and hare crag in Eskdale have similar properties, although whilst friction is better, the gear a little more sparse. There is another little crag between where you can make up your own line, not sure if this is in the guidebook too.

It depends on quite what your group needs are. Brantrake Crag also in Eskdale is the best in the area for low grade routes, plenty anchors at the top, good working areas, short walk in, but don't expect to be alone for these reasons. 

Long Scar.

Better than anything in N Wales, obviously because it's in the Lakes.

You describe it very well.

thanks for the replies. was looks for some easy shortish solos for my rusty self. 

Long Scar has probably the nicest climbing  of those mentioned or  Seathwaite Upper Slabs is in a lovely situation

Just mind you don't trip over your username 😁

Longscar is a good contender for the Lakes Equivalent of Little Tryfan, utterly brilliant, but is it better than Little Tryfan ?

Followed this thread with interest this weekend. 

Fwiw, Glaciated Slabs was absolutely lovely. Bit slim for anchors and the approach up scree/boulders is indeed horrible, but the climbing and views were lovely and just what we were after for getting more used to Lakeland rock. Some lovely routes.

Went to Upper Seathwaite Slabs on the second day and was very different (though again, lovely views, and things were a bit harder in the rain). Very slabby, definitely, but absolutely negligible gear, particularly on the long Mod (Smoot Sethera-?). One section seemed to have about 10m of runout, including on a traverse; have to go a good way back to build an anchor and almost ran out of rope with a 60m (actual route took more like 35m); on one of the Diffs, too (Tan?), my partner only found one piece. Nice climbing, and know it's not my accustomed rock, but felt weird that a Mod at least had so little protection. Wouldn't recommend for new leaders unless they're happy basically soloing...

(If, actually, the FRCC guide is wrong - their diagram had the route not following the obvious cracks, which would have made it much easier - the very start move was terrifying! - would be good to know... can't find any feedback elsewhere.)

Upper Seathwaite Slabs: The lines on the topo are correct, the routes shown follow the open faces. When I visited the slabs (on a warm dry sunny day) during guidebook work I felt that they were worth including as a photo-diagram showing the face routes; the crack lines are grade 2/3 scrambles and are noted as being easy. Sorry I underestimated the lengths, I was soloing so didn't have the useful yardstick of a rope.

I see that you went in the rain, it is important to remember that, except for a few permanently wet routes, guidebook grades refer to dry rock and some routes, especially slab climbs which often lack protection, become disproportionately more difficult if they are damp. Wonderfully rough rock can sometimes feel like soap when damp and sloping footholds that are perfect in the dry can be unusable. I am sure that if you went on a nice sunny day you would romp up the routes.

Thanks for the response - good to know. Yeah def expected it to be harder when the heavens opened, just surprised that Mods and Diffs had all but no gear - so wondered if I was actually supposed to go off route to the cracks to protect-? I may just need more headgame for Lakeland climbing though! 

I'd say there's no guarantee that a mod or diff will have gear. One disadvantage of climbing in the grades below the point where you get both an adjectival and a technical grade is that it can be much harder to know in advance how bold it might be. You'd expect that difficulty vs. protection is still taken into account when the adjectival grade is given, but it's hard to know if you're going to get easy boldness or harder with gear. Perhaps especially true on routes that are very old as they were all bold anyway with the gear of yesteryear. In the Lakes, especially in older guides, there's a tendency not to give technical grades until you get up to MVS/VS and that can make this tricky. One would hope that any particularly bold pitches are flagged up in the guidebook description and that is often the case but not always.