In no particular order . . .

Rabada Navarro Route - Riglos, Spain. E2/3, 13 pitches with a 6b crux. 385m

A superb, intricate and bold line weaving its way up a stunning conglomerate tower. The route has been left in its mostly bolt-free state as a tribute to its pioneers who were the Spanish equivalent of Brown and Whillans. Que Cojones! Beautiful climbing on Dali-esque rock surrounded by big air and vultures.

Dream of White Horses - Gogarth. HVS 4c, 4c, 4c, 4c, 4c. 150m.

The climb is almost as good as the name. Not that hard but, oh boy! the atmosphere and setting certainly keep the adrenalin going. Fine traversing on slabs around the side and back of an echoing zawn wiith the final pitch weaving through some unlikely looking overhangs.

The Voyage - Goat Crag, Borrowdale. E3 5c, 5c 5c. 83m

I really had to fight for this route which is probably why it's so memorable, although the climbing and line are superb. The crux is committing with a nasty fall awaiting; Gary was very patient as I wobbled across it! Three pitches, each very different in character and all hard (well, they were for me!), with the whole route taking a rising line across the impressive North Buttress on Goat Crag.

The Sound of One Al Slapping - Mungrisedale. V2/3 (depending on which variation)

Al (Davis) and I were introduced to the delights of bouldering (thanks to Jim and Kate (Arnold) who were kind enough not to laugh too often!) and we became hooked. You can teach old dogs new tricks!
It's a sobering experience to use every ounce of your accumulated strength, technique and guile only to find that you are just manging the 'easy' grades!! This problem is a really good one and, thanks to Kate, has a great name. And it's got a good landing!

Trad Free World - Portland. 6b. 25m

Bolts by the sea. This is all about the fun side of climbing, an immaculate route starting from a rocky shelf pitted with ammonites. Every move is brilliant, you feel cheated at the lower-off because you want it to go on forever.

Malice in Wonderland - Hodge Close. E4 5c. 43m

If Trad Free World is all about fun, this is about the dark side of climbing. A stunning arete rises from the maws of a man-made hole in the ground. It's hard and well scary; a real leader's head route. The crux is 30 feet of tenuous smears and layaways above dubious gear and it's all about keeping cool and keeping going. The buzz lasts for days!

Flasherman - Armathwaite. MVS 4b

I solo this every time I go to Armathwaite; it is at its best in Spring. The walk in through the trees by the river with the flowers and the birds is all part of the experience of climbing here. Once you are at the crux, take time out to look at the views up and down the river.

Eperon Sublime - Verdon, France. 5c, 5c, 6a, 6a+, 6a, 6b, 6a+/A0, 6a. 180m

My introduction to sun rock at the end of a trip to the Alps in 1977. The dawning realisation that climbing abroad didn't have to be about being cold, tired, miserable and frightened all that the same time, but that it was perfectly feasible to be warm, happy and frightened instead!! A stunning line and fine climbing in what is still, despite the familiarity of subsequent trips, one of the most impressive venues in Europe.

Gomez Cano Route - Calpe, Spain. 6a, 5+, 5/A0, 4, 4+, 5+, 6a, 5+(!?). 295m

Who said bolt-clipping couldn't be exciting and adventurous? Well, it's usually a parochial traditionalist who has never climbed on the Penon de Ifach (or Rocher de Presles, or the Riglos Towers, or Falaise d'Escales, or Villanova de Meia, or . . . you get the idea!) The Penon rears abruptly out of the Med next to Calpe and this route has the lot; varied climbing, aid climbing and interesting climbing as it winds its exposed way to the summit cave system and a chronically undergraded last pitch (but I was tired). The summit has stunning views and a marvellous walk back down to the beachside bar and dos (o cuatro) cervezas.

Aphasia - Sergeant Crag Slabs, Borrowdale. E2 5b. 45m

In my not very humble opinion, this is the best single pitch route in the Lakes or anywhere else really! I've climbed it half a dozen times and if someone would let me loose on the fells once more I'd climb it over and over again. Never particularly hard, the climbing is engrossing, excellent and enormously satisfying. All this on perfect rock with stunning views and in the sun; what else do you want?

And the luxury?

A bouldering mat, what else!

The editor has requested a list of my 10 most memorable climbs that I would like to find if marooned on a desert island. He must be desperate for copy, but at the risk of boring the sports climbers among you here goes:-

Remembrance (HVS, 4b, 5a, 4b), Gimmer Crag, Langdale

No excuse for including my own routes in this list, - they usually get me more excited than other people's though it is highly doubtful that they do the same for anyone else. I climb this one every spring without fail and hope to carry on doing so until I am too decrepit to walk up the mountain (not that far off!). In this case familiarity has bred fondness and if anyone would like to do it with me next year please get in touch.

Bonatti Pillar (TD+), Petit Dru, Chamonix

One of my first alpine routes, complete with miniscule bivi-sites, rain, hail, snow, lightning-strike and severe hallucinations brought on by tiredness and dodgy camembert. A true baptism by fire.

Campanile Basso, the Ordinary Route (IV)

My last alpine route, climbed only a few months ago in the centenary year of its first ascent. Also climbed by my father in 1946 and would undoubtedly have formed one of his desert island climbs. Not the hardest route up the tower but surely one of the most spectacular with the incredible Stradone Provinciale, a narrow footpath the crosses three faces of the tower two-thirds of the way up, and along which the route traverses.

King Rat (E1 4b, 5c, 4b, 4b, 4c, -, -), Creag an Dubh Loch

A good but not a brilliant route this. It is very long and all the interesting climbing is in the first few pitches, but its significance to me is that it was the last of the "Hard Rock" routes I had left to do and when I climbed it in 1988 a ten year quest was finally over.

Ticking Hard Rock took me to some amazing parts of the country and up some incredible climbs, ranging from Bow Wall (E2) in Cornwall to the Old Man of Hoy (HVS) in the Orkneys. Not forgetting of course the trouser filling Scoop (A3) on Sron Ulladale in the Outer Hebrides.

North-West Ridge (TD+), Dansketinde

We climbed this massive, virgin ridge on the highest peak in the Staunings Alps in Greenland in one 24-hour push taking full advantage of the continuous daylight the Arctic Circle enjoys in the summer. It took 28 hours and involved climbing a 500m gully with a cornice the size of Kilnsey Main Overhang simply to reach the start, and then led us by circuitous ways through, round and over the most incredible series of vast gendarmes that you can imagine, before easier mixed ground led to the summit which was reached in a true Caingorm-style blizzard at 1am in the morning. Getting down safely in a total whiteout was another matter all together!

Orion Face Direct (V, 5), Ben Nevis

This was the final route of a short period of ice-climbing I have had or am ever likely to have on The Ben. Having soloed Zero Gully (V) and The Curtain (IV), I then teamed up with a friend to climb Point Five (V), Hadrians Wall (V), North-East Buttress (IV), route Major (IV) and Smith's Route (V), as well as assisting in the rescue of a climber who had unfortunately managed to stab himself with his ice-axe whilst glisssading, before starting Orion Direct at the traditional Scottish start time of noon. Needless to say it was midnight by the time we arrived on the summit having climbed the upper half of the route with one head torch between two. All in five days!

Morrel's Wall (6a - English or course!), Almscliff

Almscliff was where I started climbing and to me it is still "t'best crag in t'world". I could have picked any of its routes for they are all superb, but this tiny boulder problem on almost the first boulder one sees on approaching the crag is one I repeat on every visit, just to make sure I can still do it, and has come to mean something special as a result. But perhaps if you are felling generous you might allow the whole crag!

Cuillin Ridge (VDiff!!! in summer, IV in winter), Skye

Summer (solo from the south) and winter in two days via Pinnacle Ridge from the north with all difficulties taken direct - naturally!

Without doubt the finest mountaineering excursion in the British isles bar none and certainly two of my most memorable climbing trips ever.

Heir Apparent Direct (E2/3 5a, 5a, 5b/c), Dungeon of Buchan, Galloway 

Another one of my own I'm afraid but still no excuses. The summer when Joe Grinbergs and I developed this fantastic crag was one of my best cliimbing years. And the final pitch up the Cooran headwall with its elegant curving granite flake starting and finishing in the middle of nowhere was probably the best pitch we did.

North Face of the Droites in winter (ED1), Chamonix

This is the only one I haven't done, though I did once get two-thirds of the way up it before my climbing partner succumbed to altitude sickness after a miserable sitting bivouac (in February) and we had to pack it in and make about 20 abseils down the Couzy Spur. It's the best looking north face in the alps without a doubt and I'd love another crack at it (any volunteers?!)

As for a climbing book, it would have to be Tom Patey's "One Man's Mountains" which still has me in hoots every time I open it.

My first choice of a luxury, a stunning belay bunny eager and able to anticipate my every desire (just lead that 6a pitch will you), will probably be disallowed by the BMC Moral Outrage, Re-Education, Political Correctness and Sexual Equality on eXpeditions Committee (MORE-PC-SEX for short) so I'll settle for sufficient chalk powder, choklitt ^{(c) Tammi Knight}, 12 year old malt whisky and Avalanche Poodle^{(c) Tammi Knight} to enable me to erase all thoughts (almost) of belay bunnies from my mind. Oh and a fridge to keep my ice climbs cool!

Stephen Reid

It's very difficult to avoid all my choices being E3 5c routes at Pembroke but I tried hard if only to make it more interesting to any readers. Not necessarily the best or the hardest but the most memorable and consequently ones I have led. Oh, and some of them might be on a sea cliff.

America - Carn Gowla, Cornwall E3/4 5c, 2nd ascent

We approached at sea level, lassoed a spike on the other side of the zawn, tyroleaned across and pulled the rope through. Totally committed and Arni (Strapcans) only just managed to lead the first pitch. We pointedly did not discuss what we would do if he failed.

T. rex - Wen Zawn, Gogarth E3 5c

An early ascent in the days before I learnt to hand jam. I laybacked most of the first pitch to the hand traverse right to the stance. As hands seemed to have expired this became an elbow traverse.

Yellow Edge - Avon E3 5c

Another early ascent in the mid 70's, before E grades, when it was a big, frightening route. On the second pitch Ken put a runner on an old iron quarry spike and jumped off. Reassured that the rope would hold if he fell off we proceeded to the top. I climbed it again twenty years later with Ronnie (see Ronnie's top 20 - Ed) and the frightening top pitch seemed totally tame and relaxing. Concepts of what is normal and acceptable had changed drastically in that time.

Transformer - Gower E3 5c

I thought it a fantastic route the first time I did it, so repeated it a year later and added a new direct finish.

Brave New World - Pembroke E3 5c

A greasy boulder problem start, a massive easy overhang which is turned by a barn-door move onto a steep wall, sprint up this and bridge up the groove above. They don't come much better than this.

Zepplin - Pembroke E3 5c

Outrageously steep. Can be done in one pitch but the stance is wild for E3. Under and overhung, I felt like a fledgling about to be tipped out of the nest on its first flight. (Good views of Rock Idol - the best E1 in the world?)

Supercharger - Skye E3 5c

Rain coming in, a monster 300' abseil, only just managed to pull around the top overhang onto wet ledges.

Dream/Liberator connection - Cornwall E3 6a

Running out of superlatives! Worth doing anyway!

Kleptomaniac - The Burren E3 6a

Footless finger jamming the thuggy cracks higher up.

Exorcist - Armathwaite E4 5c

Nearly on a sea cliff and a bit nearer home. Not led on-sight but a route I wanted to do for some time.

Two books

The Great Design - Particles, Fields and Creation. In the hope that I would have time to actually understand quantum physics and relativity and not just read about it.

Jan Morris' triptych on the rise and fall of the British Empire.

Luxury

Radio Four

Young Prior's fantastic list in June dispirited me: would I ever achieve a similar list of hard routes in my lifetime? Twenty-five years of travelling, almost thirty London trips and three overseas each year, plus all the usual family commitments has resulted in no serious Alpine Climbing, few Scottish trips and only two Sun Rock trips ever. Maybe the second thirty years of climbing will be more productive than the first thirty. So if you have free time and Scotland has a good forecast - try me, I might just be free that day!

1. Route 1, Ben Nevis (V, 5)

A thrutchy, strenuous, straight line. So strenuous, I volunteered like a fool to put Sir Chris's sac inside my own to ease his passage. Al Rouse and Brian Hall climbed the slabby gangways just adjacent. Same weekend, after their memorial ascent of Geddes Gully in the Northwest, we all sat in The Kingshouse bar for syrupy Eighty Shillings. Good crack, poignant memories. Geddes had gone with cancer. No more Rouse (K2).

2. Ferrous Buttress, Mild VS, Middle Iron Crag.

A truly surreal experience on one of the biggest buttresses in the North Lakes. Included because it is the antithesis of climbing starred routes, and a true adventure. Three pitches, crux led bravely by Martin A. in fading light after I tried to pursuade him to give up and reverse back to the start - I was convinced he didn't have time. Pray there are no earthquakes along the Glenderaterra/Thirlmere fault during your ascent, and don't get stuck, as there are no solid holds or abseil points. Very clean rock, in fact this is the only self-cleaning route in the Lakes, you'll see what this means!

3. Summertime Blues (IV, 6) Gable Crag.

One of the new breed of steep mixed Winter lines, i.e. no water ice - hooray! The day my axe broke - fortunately after the crux. Dave Absalom and I thought we had done the first ascent Christmas Eve 1995, but it had been climbed, claimed, even written up and photographed in Climber & Rambler. Drat! Zut alors!

4. Minus 2 Gully, Ben Nevis (V, 4)

First route on the Ben with Sir. Painful work in leather boots on such a long route with one Terror and one Salewa hammer. I immediately went out on returning and bought new gear. Never had cold feet since! Brilliant route, not steep, but very long and committing. An open face route really. I don't remember it being desperate at the top, but the crux is common to NE Buttress apparently (The Mantrap - I'm not sure if we knew which bit this actually was). I know we found quite a bit of gear, all of which I conceded to Sir. I wouldn't do that now!

5. Point Five Gully (Ben Nevis, V, 5)

A protective, womb-like environment if the spindrift isn't too bad as on our ascent. Three steep pitches including some freebie protection in frozen-in tat, then a snow plod up to that nightmarish maelstrom they call the summit: how anyone finds their way off still amazes me. The third pitch was a bold overhanging umbrella: it was after this that I decided mixed climbing was my metier. Meanwhile, Neil Dowie, my partner on the FRCC meet took a real fancy to soloing every piece of water ice he could find. Water ice - you can keep it, not for me thanks. Well, maybe when the Honister icefalls form again!

6. Grand Diedre, VS, Thearlaich-Dubh cliffs, Coir a' Ghrunnda, Skye.

10 days of drought and a heatwave after finals in '73. Hot enough to skinny dip in Coire Lagan. Hands shredded by the Gabbro and frazzled by the sun. Best corner in Britain? Some location anyway!

7. South-south-east Arete, HVS, Aiguille Pierre Andre, 2812m, Maljasset, St. Paul, Ubaye, France.

The '98 alpine trip (my first) with Paul Bunting suffered poor weather so it became a rock-dimbing trip. This 800 foot spire of pink, purely architectured quartzite with walls, dierdres, slabs and cracks is strictly for Francophiles. Seven pitches up to HVS. Partially equipped, but only the French could bolt a route that could be aided on natural gear.

8. Route Major, Carn Etchachan, Caimgorms (IV).

A moonlit walk under the Northern Lights from the car park into the A'an basin with intrepid adventurer, one S. Reid. The couple under the Shelterstone were mightily surprised by our entry at 3am. A reasonably windless day dawned. Sugary conditions to start, then improving ice in the upper grooves which were really superb. Was it nine pitches? Classic climbing, not hard. A bearded local jock. retrieving lost gear greeted us at the top. Descending around the side of the Shelterstone Crag at 5pm reminded us of how innocuous Scotland's Arctic wildemess could be, in between the killer storms.

9. The Curtain, Ben Nevis (IV, 5)

The first time I did the Curtain, the second pitch was a steep, scary, sludgy morass of wet spindrift and soft ice. The second time, the top pitch was so fragile, that being lighter than Martin Armitage, I had to lead it. As he came up, the crust collapsed under his weight. A great route to train your nerve in poor conditions. Martin normally solos things like this, much to my disapproval.

10. Prana, Black Crag (E3)

To lead Prana for the first time on a warm Summer's aftemoon, in one runout, in good style, with no prior knowledge is one of the Lakes' climbers most fulfilling experiences. It is a strange route because it is not at all steep or strenuous like so many other "easier" local horrors (e.g. Battering Ram, Ted Cheasby, Rack Finger Flake). Has it got harder though, perhaps with a hold coming off the crux? Anyway, Dave Absalom and I enjoyed ourselves on that aftemoon when we eventually did it in September 1995.

11. Popocatepetl, Mexico, 17,930ft (according to Encyclopaedia Britannia, but I always thought it was 17,887ft - perhaps it's going to erupt again?).

The fifth highest mountain in North America. A great walk for a geologist. Altitude without death, in contrast to the Himalaya, though quite a number of local tourists get the chop each year in storms. One Heman Cortes (a Spanish explosives expert) bagged it and several tons of Sulphur, closely followed by several million Aztecs in 1519.  An interesting introduction to the effects of altitude, especially with a lung full of sulphurous gases (and they say sulphur comes from industry) and a joumey from sea level at Houston.
Impressive crater and unbroken view. We didn't get up Ixta (the sleeping maiden) next door due to bad weather, but our "Houston Oil Business 1979" team including Paul Bunting did enjoy Mexico.

12. North-east Arete of Pointe Percee 2752m, Chaine Aravis, above Sallanches, Savoie, France.

Highest summit ("The Matterhom") of Aravis, 13 pitches and 150Oft.. of classic limestone mountaineering up to HVS with Paul Bunting in '98, some loose scary stuff, abseils and big drops. Partially equipped. A true climbers summit. Finding the way off was almost as hard as fmding the way up!

13. Side ofthe Hill, Castle Rock (E1).

Possibly the most elegant top pitch in the Lakes. A soaring straight line for those midsummer evenings. Start from the Yew and follow the groove all the way: A true "North Crag Eliminate"! I must have enjoyed this a dozen times.

A wish route: A two-pitch, mixed winter face route, somewhere in the Lakes, just waiting for the right conditions! Then probably the NE rib of the Finsteraarhom and other obscure mixed routes in the Oberland. Not Spain, Not the Himalaya, Not South America, not the US. Oh, and Aaros, True North, Wild Sheep, Jaws, Ovation, Battering Ram, Wild Side, Delight Maker of course!

Two books:

1. Le IV Sup. by Pascal Tanguy. Describes the French Classics ~ in french, without stars!
2. Everest by Walt Unsworth. No I don't want to go there, but it's one of the best climbing books I've ever read.

Luxury:

A proper winter in the lakes, say like 1982 when it was below freezing for three weeks and got to -19C.

(Dave was a bit greedy with thirteen routes; almost as greedy as Gary with the
whole mountain! However, his choice is so good I left well alone. Some of you may
now need to move next to the fire to warm up. Do people really enjoy getting cold
and frightened? I thought Desert Islands were warmt- Ed)

It is always difficult to make selections of "the best", as it is such a transitory business. I am basically a rock climber and as such have no great experience of other gnarly pursuits such as big mountains or ice climbing. However, on that sun-drenched island I could fit in ten routes to keep me busy above the soft, warm sand and blue ocean.

1. Controlled Burning, E3 (Lundy)

Brilliant route, brilliant name, brilliant place. A full 150' pitch of every type of jam possible, with a five-foot roof and the technical, delicate crux at the top. As Gary Gibson quotes in Extreme Rock, "Every jam that went in seemed to leave its own personal scar and memory." You wouldn't want to do this one many times without getting your crack technique sorted. 

2. The Crack, E6 (Kendal Wall)

Climbing walls are much maligned in my opinion. Often criticised as unlike "real climbing" and "bad for you", they usually present more high quality climbing in one small area than any crag in Britain. Kendal wall is a great place and for the hardened Grit addict The Crack is 70' of brilliant jamming with the crux at the top. It is almost worth taping up for.

3. Wickid Willie, E5 (Hodge Close)

I love slate. You either love it or hate it; well I love it. It takes nerve, subtlety and guile to climb the routes and the holds are generally so small on the harder routes you have to use technique. Wicked Willie is in fact quite well protected but still run out in places. For a man-made climb with a full rope length of quality it takes some beating.

4. Huntsmans Leap (Pembroke)

I would really like to take the entire Pembroke coast to my desert island but I will have to cheat and take perhaps the best and most atmospheric bit. There is not a poor route in The Leap and I would love to do them all.

5. Pasteles de Isabel, 7b (Sa Gubia)

If you were as scared of slippy, gnarly, grotty British limestone as I was, it comes as a delightful surprise to find that not far away there is a fantastic alternative. Bolted, warm, superb friction, combined with good food and wine. Sa Gubia is the best crag on Mallorca and worth the walk up for anybody, climber or not. Pasteles de Isabel is a stunning tufa column nearly 30 metres long, sustained but never desperate, with techical moves up a superb wall of red rock. My hands are sweating typing this! I could do this one again and again.

6. Blubble (The Black Route), 7b (Penrith Wall)

One afternoon, just before a hold change, Tony and I were playing at the wall, as you do. Tony hit on the idea of "retro turning" the holds on the easy black route over the overhang and "Blubble" was born. As a route it took five minutes to set and about two days to climb, but it seemed to encapsulate all the good things about climbing; the camaraderie, fun and banter, all in a bizarre setting. The moves on the route were superb and even when one had it wired it was never easy.

7. Gaia, E8 6c (Black Rocks)

Never done it and not likely to! A lovely piece of rock architecture. The crux is shown nicely in the opening sequence of "Hard Grit" where a certain Frenchman nearly decks it. I reckon that above a nice soft sandy landing it might feel OK . . . . . . on a top rope?

8. Angel of Mercy, E1 5a, 5b (Gable Crag)

This route just made my selection, not because it is the best route in the Lakes but because the day I did it and the setting helped to make it a delightful experience. A solid, if unspectacular first pitch leads to a cramped stance. Exposed and exciting climbing leads left then up a stunning crack in the headwall. I hate the descent from Gable Crag so I'll have a palm tree on top to abseil off.

9. Positron, E5 6a, 6a (Gogarth)

If I live on this desert island I might get used to the sea! Positron on the Main Cliff at Gogarth looks superb and would be high on my list of routes to do or get taken up.

10. Via Normal, Grade Unknown (Motherby "Woody")

With all these routes to get fit for I would have to train. The roof on our "woody" would help and I can swap the holds around when I get bored.

Luxury

Lots of friends to climb with as it would be no fun on your own.

Books

"Deep Play" by Paul Prichard, "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" by the Craine brothers.

Jim Arnold