100 routes in a day

well you have to, really

Some gritstone, yesterday.
Birchen Edge.
That's the crag at the top....
Small potatoes, but potatoes nevertheless. 

When you turn 50 nothing much earth-shattering happens, but you do start to look at a few things in a different light.

One result of this, at least for an almost-lifelong climber, is that you realise you only have a finite time left to bag some of the obvious challenges that for whatever reason, you haven’t yet done. Before it’s too late and you’re incapacitated mentally, physically or both.

Some of the most obvious ones (plodding up Mont Blanc, say) I’ve never had much interest in. But there are a few that, in the arrogance of youth (or in my case as someone who started climbing at the age of 22, the arrogance of a twenty-something in a state of arrested development), were dismissed as being too easy or too much hassle to warrant the effort. One of these was the Old Man of Hoy, which would certainly present a reasonable challenge to me now. Another, put off 25 years ago when there was something of a vogue for it, was attempting to climb 100 routes in a day.


At first sight this seems a bit arbitrary. Why 100? No reason.


How do you count them as rock climbs anyway? Well, you use the climbing guidebooks, which list each route as an entity on a page, with a grade, a length and a history.


So in practice, how do you go about this? You wouldn’t want to do 100 routes in the Lakes or N Wales, or on the Pembrokeshire sea cliffs – it would take you all day to do 20, let alone 100. Well, you’re soloing so you choose routes on good solid rock that are easy enough that you’re unlikely to fall off, close together, and short….that will be gritstone then. Peak District gritstone, where the crags line the moorland edges, and you don’t have to walk too far to join up 100 routes.

Aargh...walking in rock shoes?  Yes. This is going to hurt.

Is downclimbing allowed? No. That means walking descents...like I said, this is going to hurt.

What about training? Erm, let's not get carried away. I do soloing anyway; 20-odd routes at Reiff one afternoon last year, 10 at Grey Crag, Buttermere – these were great days out. And at the local crags (especially Windgather and Back Forest) 10-20 routes is an easy session. 100 routes is just 5 times more, right?


Car allowed? Yes (maybe not next time, if there is a next time).


What about grades - do you count Easy or Moderate routes? Arbitrary, but lets say 'no' to Easys, 'maybe' to Moderates and 'yes' to Diffs and anything harder.


What about partners? Well you don’t need one, you’re soloing, and it seems best to go at your own pace, so soloing on your own is best. These things are obvious.


Not so obvious: what would be the best crags to go to, which rock shoes to wear, what day to choose, whether to rest up beforehand, which way the wind would blow.


Poor choices on most of these fronts mounted up on my first attempt, foiled by inadequate food and water, a nagging elbow pain and no ibuprofen, red-raw toes on each foot, no plasters, and a lot of trouble trying to park at Burbage on a Saturday. There were too many beginners getting in the way top roping easy climbs. Not all of it was their fault though, unbelievably I found myself arriving at Baslow Edge with the wrong guidebook, and at Burbage North with only one rock shoe in my rucsack. Smarten up.


Staggering on, I notched up about 66 routes at Stanage Edge, Burbage, Baslow, Yarncliff (don’t ask) and on the way home Windgather, knowing I was beaten. But, I did learn that I could do this thing - a pace of 15-20 routes an hour was easily achievable at the right spots, and no need to rush like a madman.

Back to the drawing board, and a first principle: choose a place where the routes are short, easy and close together. OK, let’s start with Birchen Edge. And take the right guidebook.


I arrive at 10.00 on a Friday morning, and the crag is deserted and cool. By 12.15 I’ve bagged almost 50 routes and have no pain in my arm or toes, having drugged up and applied prophylactic plasters to my two ridiculously large third toes.

Some more gritstone the other day, quite near Birchen and Baslow, really

On to Baslow, where I bag another 20 routes by 2.30, then drive to the Spar in Hathersage to top up on sandwiches and chocolate. I peruse the news stand just to give my mind a break: today’s Guardian reviews the new Fall LP, giving it 4 stars, which confirms my suspicion that the wind is now right behind me.


Burbage North much quieter this time, and I reach 100 routes by 5 pm, using the Rockfax Eastern Grit guide which is perfect for this sort of thing, and keep going until the easy routes dry up.

I experience my only truly dodgy moment of the day at the top of Bilberry Crack – the route is only V Diff, but long and with an unexpectedly tricky move at the top. I was cruising around without much hesitation all day, but this move stopped me for a good few minutes - a balancey step-up move at 40 feet with excellent death potential. On a normal day I would have slunk off left, but this move was worth a full 1%.


I nip over to Stanage Apparent North and bag another 8 routes, then drive the 30 minutes homeward to Windgather where I sleepwalk my way up over a dozen familiar solos. By 7.30 my arms are weak, my mind is blown, and it’s nice to chat to some familiar faces at the crag and wind down a bit. I know I’ve done over 125 routes, and I know over 100 of them will be Diffs or harder.


I leave it until next day, Saturday to tot up. Over 130 routes at an average of about 25 feet each = over 3000 feet of climbing, solo. It also means over 3000 feet of descent…in rock shoes…aargh!

No big deal, the record is over 500. What's next then? Maybe 100 routes at Stanage. And maybe the Old Man of Hoy. And take a camera....

Addendum
The list. Well you have to really. It's most easily displayed here (thanks to UKC): http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/showlog.html?id=84