Some wad should attempt the ‘John Allen Nose’.
Would be good to get more of his stuff down-under on here too. I don’t really understand the grades though.
John Allen's Nose perhaps? Sounds like a challenge for Pete Whit
With his Aus stuff do you know a good source? Happy to have a crack, spent too long converting between grade systems and can usually get within a grade or so.
This seems pretty good actually, hopefully the link works https://www.thecrag.com/en/climbing/world/routes/by/John%20Allen/?sortby=at,desc
I put a link to his nz stuff in his bio. I think some of them are semi-bolted but still bold? There’s a Ben Heason interview from yonks ago where he rated some of them as e7. Not sure how much weight to give that.
Nice find on the ticklist. I wonder whether Heason is over-egging it a bit, though could be realistic for some of the hardest stuff he did in Aus? I think 24 works out about 6c+/7a so it'd need to be pretty spicy to warrant E7.
I've added some of the stuff I found via searching thecrag.com
None of his uk routes are e7 when siderunners etc are accounted for, so it wouldn’t quite fit the profile if the oz/nz ones were.
Nether Edge. Gritstone style e7 in 1979 doesn’t sound quite right. The route has 2 bolts. Beau geste was probably the first grit style e7 in 1982 (disguised as an e6 for a long time), and I think that’s the only one before stickies.
Asked Jim Pope about Nether Edge. Apparently it’s a sport route and the 2 bolts are well placed/spaced. Unclear if it’s been retroed. He’s got some pics of some other routes, hopefully he’ll put them on here!
Good work. If it has been retroed then perhaps that's where Ben H's comment about it being E7 comes from? i.e. maybe it felt spicier before.
Reread the Ben Heason article more carefully. He onsight soloed it and some others. Now it makes sense!