Echo Crag Mostly Trad climbing 22 routes in cliff

Not without merit, despite the long scrambling start. Start about 50 metres left of Leaden Echo below black and orange buttress.

1. 35m (8) Potter up the easy-angled ground for about 15m until a corner leads up and can move around right onto righthand face. Follow line left past little roof to small stance above arete.

2. 35m (8) Around the steepening and follow the flake (could extend the previous pitch to top of flake and belay level with ceiling of Fiddler On The Roof) . From the centre of the wall go up and slightly left.

The botanical corner left of Leaden Echo.

1. 15m (12) 'Layback' easily up left to orange overhang at 5 metres, traverse 3 metres right and move up.

2. 15m (12) V-chimney

3. 12m (12) Bulging crack then continue on rib on right wall of corner-gully until crack peters out. Belay in gully.

4. 18m (12) Traverse across right wall and climb arete and back left onto wall and up.

Some exciting moves up the front of Touchstone's big block but hasn't caught on. The tree at the start has fallen over so start may be a little more challenging. The first pitch could make a good start for 'Touch-Type'.

1. 30m (19) Bridge against conifer and onto face 7 metres left of 'Touchstone'. Go up right to the right side of the block. Traverse left into line up centre of block and up to ledge.

2. 30m (-) Step left to next ledge. Follow hand-crack and wall.

Two very nice pitches.

1. 25m (14) Follow the line diagonally left, quite tricky with poor protection, until able to go up easily. Up to right-facing corner on right side of huge block. Corner to Ledge.

2. 25m (14) Up the face for 12 metres to where the wall steepens and continue up, veering slightly left to finish just right of the arete. The original finish traversed over to the arete.

This is the name given to the most common way to finish Touchstone and isn't considered a separate climb. This was the first recorded ascent of this variant and left for documentary purposes.

Nice climbing all the way; a fitting companion route to 'Touchstone'. Follows a direct, continuous crack system in three distinct parts. Some of the first pitch is not new, but the whole climb as described is a new conception.

Start: Start 3m right of Leaden

Echo.

1. 40m (17) Climb diagonal crack up the right wall. Continue up line when it steepens and becomes thinner until a hand traverse left allows you to step across the main corner to a ledge on the left. Follow the right-hand line (the easier left-hand line is Leaden Echo) and flake system over a little roof. Continue up flake and wall to ledge (Leaden Echo's second belay).

2. 20m (17) Up balancy seam in wall straight above belay. This is left of Leaden Echo's final corner and right of Kieran's variant finish to 'Touchstone'.

The major corner system.

1. 22m (10) After a hard start, go up easily to the next overhang, which is avoided by moving onto the right wall and up to ledge.

2. 38m (10) Traverse delicately left across corner to long flake on left wall. Up flake to ledge. Taking the corner directly is grade 11 : Garry Sudholz, Keith Lockwood, Norm Booth 05-10-1968.

3. 18m (10) Chimney-corner.

Good overhang approache by abseil to final belay of The Leaden Echo.

Start up the last pitch of The Leaden Echo and then take crack through roof on right.

Taking the wall left of 'Honeycomb', it is highly likely that this is a retro-bolt of 'Adapter'.

Access by 25 metre abseil to small stance in corner.

Up wall past 2 bolts and small cams.

Apparently a rope is allowed for the descent, but not the ascent! Unfortunately it seems likely 'Mr Buffalo' is actually a retro-bolted repeat of this route.

Rappel down to a small ledge 4m under the second belay of The Leaden Echo. From this climb straight up brushed slab to cave. Traverse 3m right and finish up

Fantastic finger-crack up the righthand wall of 'The Leaden Echo'.

Start: Either scramble in from the right to a stance or abseil 35 metres from the anchor above 'Mr Buffalo'.

Follow lefthand weakness through bulge then move left and climb the pencil-thin crack through the overlap and beyond.

Great flake line which can be escaped at half-height but why would you?

Follow left weakness through bulge (as for Honeycomb) then up flake-line above until it rejoins arete. Continue to top, taking care with some hollow rock.

Warning Flora and Fauna: Active Bees

The obvious right-hand companion to 'Nativity'.

Start as for Nativity but take right-hand weakness through bulge. Up bulging seam directly above to arete and up to re-join Nativity.

Orange arête right of Navity past 2 fixed hangers then continue direct up overhung arête on trad to finish at anchors on NDS. Vital #5 wire after 2nd bolt.

Originally called 'Nativity' Direct Start and poorly protected. Now retro-bolted and popular.

Starting just right of arete, climb pretty orange wall through small overlap. Continue steeply up wall to small stance and rap anchor.

The desperate, unprotected start and the huge detached block higher up make this an unattractive proposition.

Start just left of 'Lone Pine Corner'.

Up face, moving right to overlap Over and up break between orange and black, past flake to top.

Use whatever you can to roll onto ledge above roof, and then climb corner. The grunt can be avoided to the right at about 12.

Start: Right of 'Lone Pine Corner' is another sweet little corner with a steep roof in the way at ground level.