Slowburn, Flat Crags, page 280, Langdale Guide.
The “cracked spike” on the first arête of Slowburn lived up to its description this summer. Andy from Kendal and Pete from Grange were climbing this excellent route when the latter pulled off a fridge sized lump of the crag. He fell to the ground but was thankfully and miraculously unharmed as was his second and all their kit. The ‘spike’ is embedded in the ground below the route and will make a fine ground belay. I went up a few weeks later to reclimb the route. There was still some loose rock and the scar is quite smooth. I found the easiest solution was to climb a bit higher than previously described – with feet at the level of the “obvious small pocket” and fingers on very small edges. This gained the arête, where the top of the spike used to be, before climbing up the rightwards sloping ramp as before. The last gear was well to the right, possibly too far to prevent hitting the ledge – so best not to fall off at this point, I guess.
I thought it now worth E3 5c.