Is Cenotaph Corner the best E1 in the UK?
ref #190
Well is it? Lets put this question to rest.
total of opinions :
13voted yes :
6voted no :
7I just had to quote Gordon Stainforth from UK climbing in his response to this question!! Pure genius!!!! I think you will agree!
In reply to Jungle:
"V strange subject this, in that the more you think about it, the less easy it is to escape that conclusion. CC seems so flawed, in many ways, so uneven, so that Cemetery Gates, for example, might seem to be the better, more balanced route in every way... and yet. There's something about the uncompromising meanness of Cenotaph which is really just right. I.e. The 'best' can't mean, simply, the 'most pleasant'. The more you think about Cenotaph the more perfect it is, in its very testing way: a bit of a tricky entry, then a lot of mindbogglingly good bridging, seductive, making you think you're on top of if. Then it just gets progressively meaner in the last 30 ft, as the crack first widens, then the 'niche' is a lot less friendly than you expected, and then it goes into another league again, saving the very hardest moves, arguably, until the v end. Even Johnny Dawes said to me that he thought "it's hard" - though, with Johnny it's always a bit difficult to fathom exactly what he means.
But back to the route. Does anything at E1 feel quite like that corner as you bridge up it, between those two huge walls?"
ha ha This is brilliant!
Definitely without a doubt!!





















for those which are unaware - "cenotaph corner" is a rock climb and E1 is the grade :D