UKH

Just been wondering what the most travelled route this season in Scotland is. I see Crowberry Gully (Winter) (III 4) got a bit of a pounding over the Easter weekend. Quartzvein Scoop (IV 4) could be a contender too.

Alladin's couloir I'd imagine.

Certainly always a popular choice, as is Curved Ridge (Winter) (II 3) but at a glance the former routes seem to have more entries logged. I like the idea of climbing Crowberry Gully by moonlight to avoid the crowds.

You can probably X 3 any ascents of those routes.

I counted 12 climbers on Point 5 last Saturday but only 4 in the log books.

Granted not every ascent will be logged with UKC but it can give you a representation if roughly the same % of ascents are logged in each case. I wonder if there is a 'Cold Climbs' factor at work for certain routes.

I'd put my money on right twin, dorsal arete, goat track gully...

Aonach Eagach seems to have gotten similar mileage to Crowberry, I reckon it's between those two. I did it in early Feb in excellent conditions and the snowpack seems to have stayed pretty consistent, so not surprising. 

probably Fiacaill Ridge (II)

Not re this season, but for ticks overall you can rank the "3 star Scottish winter" ticklist by number of ticks: https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/set.php?sort=t&id=1017

It would certainly be interesting to have an algorithm which could interrogate UKC logbooks in order, for instance, to track the number of times a given route was climbed in a year versus number of times any Scottish winter route was logged that year. The sort of pattern I expect you'd see emerging would be that, in leaner years, certain popular routes would, relatively speaking, become even more popular, these being the ones that are most often climbable (if not most often enjoyable!) so the likes of the Ben and Glen buttress/ridge routes and the big, reliable gullies, plus a fair bit of Sneachda mixed. Whereas, in good winters, the sought-after less-often-in routes will get lots of traffic.

Working on it at the moment. I did have it ready last year after someone wanted to know just how dreadful that winter was, but got sidetracked.

Will post some results this week, should have a more throrough post on my blog after the weekend.

I await with interest!

Running a bit behind due to commitments with the day job, but here's the top ten for this season - 

1. Hidden Chimney (III)
2. Fiacaill Ridge (II)
3. Curved Ridge (Winter) (II 3)
4. Aonach Eagach Ridge (Winter) (II)
5. Quartzvein Scoop (IV 4)
6. Crowberry Gully (Winter) (III 4)
7. Dorsal Arête (Winter) (II)
8. Ledge Route (II)
9. Tower Ridge (IV 3)
10. Aladdin's Mirror Direct (IV 4)

One thing I haven't done is eliminate duplicate log entries (ie, when both partners log an entry), but I wouldn't expect that to change the relative positions in the list much.

I'm currently working on some more interesting cross-seasonal comparisons, but the visualizations are a bit complex. Will try to have it ready after the Bank Holiday. There's climbing to be done, after all...

Quartzvein Scoop and Crowberry Gully, where conditions are often a bit, ahem, ephemeral, make it alongside Ledge Route and Curved Ridge which are climbable on just about every day throughout the winter. I find this is an interesting comment on the excellent length of last season.

Neither Green Gully or Point Five make the list. Maybe folk went elsewhere in mid season because they could and the sudden thaw at the end of the season meant there was no late season for these routes.

Looking forward to your cross seasonal comparisons!

Good work! Looking forward to further stats in due course. 

The fact that The Message and the Buachaille's North Buttress aren't on the list shows what a good winter it's been. I'll eat my hat if they're not in last year's. 

Agree with all of the above bar Quartzvein Scoop being particularly ephemeral. All it needs is a good freeze, which inevitability happens a few times even in lean winters. 

Interesting to compare with the all-time tick list: www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/set.php?sort=t&id=1017 (though non-*** aren't included in the latter).

Aonach Eagach in 4th on both lists. Crowberry Gully and Quartzvein Scoop are 22nd and 16th on the all-time list.

Possibly also of interest, the top 10 climbs at Grade V and above were

1. Point Five Gully (V 5)
2. Orion Face Direct (V 5)
3. Hadrian's Wall Direct (V 5)
4. Savage Slit (Winter) (V 6)
5. The Pumpkin (V 4)
6. Vanishing Gully (V 5)
7. Peter Pan Direct (V 5)
8. Poacher's Fall (V 5)
9. Pot of Gold (V 6)
10. Crypt Route (winter) (V 6)

Also of interest that Gully of the Gods (VI 6) made it to 13, the highest place VI in the list - probably down to the power of social media after conditions photos were posted (by me among others) on the Scottish Climbing Conditions Facebook page.

This time I've eliminated duplicate entries - If a partner is specified on a log entry and there's a matching entry for the partner on the same climb on the same day, I've removed it from the count.

Comparing to the appalling 2016-17 season, the only climb on Ben Nevis to make the top 10 V+ list is Gargoyle Wall (VI 6) 

Another interesting list! Surprised that Orion was so high up this year with the late season thaw being what it was. A good year for Udlaidh with Peter Pan being up there. 

Very interested now to see last year's lists! 

For comparison, in terms of all-time ticks of 3 star routes of grade V and above, the top ten is as follows (along with their position on the all-time list with all grades included)

1. Point Five (8)

2. Savage Slit (21)

3. Hadrian's (26)

4. Orion Direct (28)

5. Vanishing Gully (31)

6. Smith's Route (32)

7. The Pumpkin (34)

8. Zero (39)

9. Scabbard Chimney (46)

10. Pot of Gold (49)

So a lot of the usual suspects there.