The Roaches are a lovely set of grit stone crags that are situated on the Western side of the Peak District and so are easily accessable from the M6. When I lived in Worcestershire this used to be a Sunday trip out with friends from Worcester climbing wall.
Some of my favourite routes are:
The Sloth HVS 5a Sid, Andy and I had spied this route several times as we had walked underneath it on the way to other routes. It was first climbed by the legendary Don Whillans who quoted "Its OK if you use yer loaf" in 1954. Its definitely the most intimidating single pitch climb that I have ever done. I didn't get any photos of me on it because I ended up climbing it quicker than I had planned. I have included some You Tube footage of the route below to give a flavour of the route. It is basically a big overhanging roof that leaves you horizontal for a few moves. I won't give too much away in case you want to climb it! We arrived at the crag early one Sunday morning and it was still very cold. We had enjoyed the usual fried breakfast and the cafe down the road and we all knew what we had come to climb. I decided to warm up on Pedestal Route which starts at the same place as the Sloth. This would allow me to loosen up, warm up and check out the route. However once I got under the roof I decided to just go for it! I got half way through the roof, realised I was pumped and down climbed. After a rest I went for it again and remember the relief of pulling over the lip - awesome!
Saul's Crack HVS 5a Having climbed the Sloth we decided that next on the list was Saul's Crack, another Roaches classic and a good test of your jamming skills. You climb into a corner which is polished and on my first attempt I slipped from. You then thug through an overhang which is a lot easier than the corner! This is a really great 18m of climbing with so many different techniques and moves in such a short space - typical gritstone!
Valkyrie VS 4b, 4c I climbed this route on my first trip to The Roaches with Sid and Andy seconding on their first ever multi pitch route. This was not very fair really as the second pitch has a legendary traverse - which Sid took a whipper on! It all made for good banter though! A great gritstone classic and a definite must do!
