You step up onto a tiny point, reach up over an overlap and your hand sinks into the most enormous incut jug. Then you whoop up a slab coated in what feels like tarmac but perforated by more huge holes, as if an elephant had walked up it before it had set. You are poised a hundred feet or so above the churning Atlantic, in a primaeval cove backed by a stegosaurus-spine juddering down into the sea, with another baby dinosaur just offshore. The position feels ridiculous for a Diff, but every hold is as good as you could possibly wish for and you want it to go on for ever. In a way it does - it's thirty years since I last did Black Slab at Bosigran but the memory still seems fresh. Is it the best Diff in these islands? It's certainly a contender.
Bosigran, with Black Slab visible below the roof on the far left.
I couldn't pick just one and I love a list, so here are my top twenty Diffs, south to north. I was going to call it Britain's Best Diffs but couldn't resist including Carrot Ridge in Connemara, which obviously isn't in Britain. My excuse is that Ireland uses the UK grading system so it sort of fits, but really it's just that it's too good to leave out 🙂. Although there are some good Diffs on edges or outcrops a lot of the attraction of routes at the grade is the joy of continuous movement rather than of problem solving, so a bit of length gives you the chance to get into the flow. Grit may be great but at Diff the route is over before you know it.
Cyfrwy, the Arete is the left skyline, with the Table obvious.
Cyfrwy Arete is the opposite of an outcrop, a route that climbs a mountain not just a cliff. It's the most prominent line on the whole hill, a real eye-grabber. The actual climbing may not have the concentrated quality of Black Slab, but is there a better picnic spot than the top of the Table? A couple of short walls are quite tricky and will make you switch on the skills but much of the route involves swinging up big flakes in airy positions. Don't swing too blithely though as it's a high mountain route and holds do come loose occasionally, especially after winter frosts. 1920's mountaineer Arnold Lunn was lucky to survive a long fall after pulling a large block off. It's a route with many variants, from a Grade 3 scramble which misses out a couple of the steeper sections to a V Diff direct start if you want to up the technicalities a little.
Jon Bebb on the Yellow Slab, Overlapping Rib Route.
Overlapping Rib Route on Tryfan has many of the same characteristics – the 'climbing the mountain' feel, lots of variants, plentiful incut holds and a hard but avoidable crux. The rock is better than on Cyfrwy Arete but a century of popularity has left it very polished - you can just about see your face in the starting moves of the Yellow Slab! They are about 4b so way above the norm for the grade, but by the time you've got high enough for a fall to hurt you've done it. The route is popularly known as Pinnacle Rib, but strictly speaking that name belongs to the right-hand of the two lower ribs, the original line, while most people start up the left-hand one; more direct, slightly easier and with better climbing. The confusion is increased by some guidebooks calling them First and Second Pinnacle Ribs, some numbering left to right (older Climbers Club guides), others the opposite way round, by direction of approach (the current Cicerone scrambling guide). And that's before you get to the "Pinnacle Scramble" version in Garry Jones' guide, which is much harder than either of the Diffs, maybe even Severe!
Cneifion Arete
Not far away are two other Ogwen gems. Cneifion Arete is another alpine-style arete on big spikes, similar to Cyfrwy Arete. It features in scrambling guides and used to be given Mod, but the start is quite hard, especially now it's polished, and it deserves its upgrade. Once you're more than 50 feet up it eases to relaxing clambering up a spine of big spikes above a hefty drop, airy fun. Atlantic Slab is much more sustained, easy for the grade technically but there's 1000 feet of it with only one ledge. It's just steep enough for you to need the actual holds, which are positive but not large, becoming invisible from more than ten feet away. This means you always feel they are about to run out and leave you stranded in the middle of this oceanic expanse. To call it open would be an understatement, the guidebook used to say that "you can suffer from loneliness while trying to choose a way". Protection? What's that? Even belays are scarce.
Atlantic Slab (only the top half!)
Much further north is a route where the opposite applies. Corvus in Borrowdale seems to have a comfortable ledge every twenty feet and runners everywhere. it climbs a big cliff and you do know it, but you have a feeling of winding through it rather than confronting it head on. The hand traverse is immensely photogenic and imprints itself on your brain.
Only one cliff gets two routes in this selection, and that's Dow Crag. Both Giant's Crawl and C Buttress are too good to miss out. Both are excellent lines; sustained, airy and on good rock. Giant's Crawl is the more intimidating of the two, an inescapable slabby ramp slanting up through much steeper rock, while C Buttress is more intricate, longer and with more possible variations. It's easy to combine the two by scrambling down Easy Terrace in between them.
Crystal Ridge climbs the left side of the slab.
Scotland is the heartland of the classic Diff. The greater scale means many more long routes and a wilderness feel which feels appropriate for the grade. Even quite short routes can feel like mountaineering if they are in the right setting - Crystal Ridge and Final Selection in the Cairngorms, for example. The lovely slabby spur that starts the former is one of those bits of climbing that you don't want to end, and the sudden exposure when you move onto the left hand face makes you gulp. Even the easy bit at the top is fun because of the splendid position. Final Selection at Stag Rocks is shorter still, but it doesn't feel like that when you're on it. It's usually done as a follow on to Afterthought Arete and the sharp start provides something of a shock after the easy ambling at the top of Afterthought. You need to both remember how to climb and switch on some power for the initial groove, and an ability to jam definitely helps. It may be short but it's sustained and it's right at the top of the cliff so the positions on the middle rib are spectacular. Then you get a nice ledge to rest on and regroup before the final corner.
Final Selection follows the cracks just left of the arete.
Glen Coe has acres of rock at all grades but a curious shortage of good Diffs. At any other grade I can think of several gems, but at Diff only Quiver Rib really stands out. Stand out it does too, the lower rib projecting from a steep wall in short vertical steps. Then the second pitch looks highly unlikely at the grade and is hugely intimidating. The holds are gigantic, you could probably sit on some of them, but the wall they cross is the wrong side of vertical, and it's one of those routes where you probably finish with a yell of exhilaration.
The LH group are on The Gutter
The Gutter at Polldubh may be on an outcrop by Scottish standards but it's over 200 feet long and is usually done in three pitches, so is long enough to get your teeth into. It's sustained but never all that tricky, so has a nice flow to it. Makes a great picture too, looking more like VS in the recent SMC Scottish Rock guide.
The author approaching Tower Gap. Photo Nate Webb
Somewhat higher up the mountain is Scotland's most storied route, Tower Ridge. Often underestimated, it's been the scene of epics galore, mainly in winter but people have been benighted on it in summer too. These days most avoid the pig of a chimney above Douglas Gap, so it's enjoyable scrambling with bits of Moderate until you get to the Great Tower. Then there's the fun of going through the hole and an awkward mantel to reach the top of the Tower, at which point the mountain shows its teeth. Descending into Tower Gap is gripping, with the gulf of Glover's Chimney trying to suck you in. It's one of the great moments of British rock climbing.
Great Ridge, Garbh Bheinn
Just down Loch Linnhe is the Great Ridge of Garbh Bheinn. This is a sizeable undertaking too, but feels much easier than Tower Ridge. Rock that's covered in holds helps, of course, as does the knowledge that it eases off after three pitches or so. The approach is quite complicated and many people find it harder than the route, though that depends on your attitude to steep grass 😁. The best bit is the wonderful sharp arete that leads you to the exact summit of the hill.
East Buttress looking very steep 😬
Another long route, and arguably the most intimidating of the twenty, is the East Buttress of Coire Mhic Fhearchair on Beinn Eighe. From below this looks very much harder than it is, and even once on the ledge where the climbing starts it looks quite hard. By then you're completely committed as the approach involves a very scary step across a gulf which splits the ledge, and there's no way you want to reverse it. The start is very steep and you only realise after 50 feet or so that there are nice square-cut holds everywhere. An almost vertical crack at half height is probably the crux, but really the technical difficulties are almost irrelevant, keeping a cool head and not being overwhelmed by the situation is more important.
Red Slab goes up just left of the sunlit arete.
East Buttress isn't the most exposed route in this list though, that crown goes to Red Slab on A' Mhaighdean. This totally gobsmacking route is also the least climbed of the twenty, being over ten miles from a road. It sits at the top of nearly 2000 feet of very steep broken hillside, and you slant up easily until you're above a very large roof, so it's exposed before you even properly start! The main pitch climbs a steep conglomerate slab that seems to consist entirely of holds. There are pockets and knobbles of all shapes and sizes, looking unlikely but seemingly all well cemented in. All the while the void below you growls menacingly. If you look down between your feet the next thing you see is 500 feet down, and a fall soloing probably wouldn't stop for another thousand more. It's quite something, especially for a Diff!
Clach Glas
The longest route in this list is the Clach Glas-Blaven traverse, really more of a ridge walk with bits of climbing, but it would be many people's favourite. It's mostly scrambling and contains a fair bit of walking, but the situations are superb, and ascending the tower up to the summit of Clach Glas is a memorable experience. The tower looks much harder than it is, though it's certainly serious. Technically the crux is probably the chimney/groove near the end, although I've always found the nasty little wall just after the Putting Geen really hard. You can tell it was popular amongst the Victorians by all those named features - "The Putting Green", "The Imposter", "Half Crown Pinnacle" and "Sid's Rake" (although it wouldn't surprise me if Noel Williams made up the last one).
Another long Victorian classic is Pinnacle Ridge on Sgurr nan Gillean. Again this is mostly scrambling (though with almost no walking). It can be made even longer by starting down on the floor of Coire Riabhach, taking in the lovely rough gabbro of Riabhach Rib, though few people do. The crux is the descent from the Third Pinnacle, which is generally abseiled. There is a cunning way of climbing down it using a hidden jug and a short drop but again few appear to do this. The Pinnacle can be avoided by a neat little traverse, but bits of the Fourth Pinnacle are still Diff so you might as well take in the most spectacular spike.
Pinnacle Ridge, Gillean
Almost rivalling Red Slab for the infrequency of ascents because of its location is The Great Pretender on Lewis. This climbs a striking pink pegmatite pillar on the west coast sea cliffs. Before the recent guidebook there were few routes described here and those only minimally. I climbed it under the impression that it was the nearby Sunset Rib, and I know several more people who have done the same. I suspect the first ascentionists did that too, and that was how it got its name. It's actually a better route than Sunset Rib, a great line in a stunning setting, with quite a tricky last move. I did it in a gorgeous sunset, which made it seem even pinker.
Lastly, as mentioned above, I couldn't bring myself to leave out Carrot Ridge in Connemara. This is nearly 1000 feet of solid clean quartzite running up into the Twelve Bens, by common consent the best Diff in Ireland. A local described it to me as "It's graded Diff, it's actually about Mild Severe but it's a scramble really". A classic Irish description, seemingly illogical but once I did it I knew exactly what he meant! If that sparks your curiosity then go and climb it – I thoroughly recommend it.
The 20 Routes
Black Slab Bosigran Cornwall
Cyfrwy Arete Cader Idris. North Wales
Overlapping Rib Route Tryfan. North Wales
Cneifion Arete Cwm Cneifion North Wales
Atlantic Slab Carnedd y Filiast North Wales
Corvus Glaramara Lake District
Giant's Crawl. Dow Crag Lake District
C Buttress Ordinary Dow Crag Lake District
Crystal Ridge Coire Sputan Dearg Cairngorms
Final Selection Stag Rocks Cairngorms
Quiver Rib Aonach Dubh East Face Glen Coe
The Gutter Polldubh Lochaber
Tower Ridge Ben Nevis Lochaber
Great Ridge Garbh Bheinn Ardgour
East Buttress Coire mhic Fhearchair Torridon
Red Slab A' Mhaighdean Carnmore
Clach Glas Traverse Blaven Skye
Pinnacle Ridge Sgurr nan Gillean Skye
The Great Pretender Uig Sea Cliffs Lewis
Carrot Ridge Twelve Bens Connemara
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