 Great article but is OM really recomending Broad stand as a tricky little scramble ? and if you dont fancy it why not go up Lords Rake?
Well why not indeed, firstly the land owner has advised all people not to use Lords Rake due to the rock fall in it which recently led to an mrt call out and is universally considered unsafe and ready to fall.
And secondly Broad Srand is more than a tricky little scramble ion my book. Technicly not very hard but one mistake which is easy and common place to make leads to a 400 foot free fall to a place on the Eskdale side of Mickledore .
Both routes are considered valley accident black spots and should be treated with HUGE amounts of caution .
Just thought that needed adding in the interests of balance :)
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Should add that the Foxes tarn route becomes the route of choice now to the top of Scafell if you dont want to do Broad Stand, and Lords rake is advised against .
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 Guy,
In the context of scrambling grades Broad Stand is actually a relatively easy grade 3. I think the description of the route, and the indication that the move can be tricky in anything but ideal weather stands as it is. Not only is the usual disclaimer about scrambling being dangerous there, but a special reference to Broad Stand being an accident black spot. All OM scrmabling routes assume that the scrambler is competant at the grade and has the required skill and knowledge. You'll also note that rope is "advisable".
I agree about the option of Lord's Rake being a no-go at the moment. I have to admit that Jon added the "Note" paragraph at the end.
Thanks for the comments anyway Guy, it's always better to get feedback on routes, and I can totally understand your perspective as part of wasdale MRT.
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Yep Dave i enjoyed it (the article) just thought worth adding my ten pence worth :)
From my own opinion Broad Stand although in effect graded easy, is such a black spot I feel it can never stand having too many warnings and i would NEVER do it without a rope for that reason.
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 I've revised the note so it's clear that Lord's Rake is a bad idea at the moment and suggested Foxes Tarn as an alternative.
The article does say that Broad Stand is a notorious accident black spot.
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The problem is that if we overdo the warnings on the Broad Stand description then it means we have to use the same criteria for other scrambles. Technically I doubt Broad Stand would get more than a grade 2 if it wasn't for the exposure, so other more technical and equally exposed routes would read as being climbing as opposed to scrambling.
Unfortunately the accident rate of a route doesn't affect its grade, and I think we got the balance right by including the extra warning of it being a blackspot.
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 Yes, scrambling black spots are sometimes such due to the amount of traffic rather than the difficulty, I seem to recall that Sharp Edge is a "black spot" but is a easy scramble.
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 I support the view that Broad Stand is an easy scramble - but yes - one slip and you're very dead!
A friend of mine zipped up and down it six time in order to prove to another friend how easy it was. She still insisted on the rope, and promptly fell off! If she'd been unroped, she'd have been dead... and so would anyone who slipped off that bit of rock.
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not interested in the great scramble grade debate I'm afraid. broad stand has a bad step and a tricky angled slab and like Paddy said one slip and you are dead, which is why i raised it. Had not so many people been on there without realising how tricky and what the results of a slip were I wouldnt have mentioned it.
Yep you put the note on there and thats fine, I just chose to re iterate it as I think as a point it bears mentioning as often as possible, didnt mean to cause offence, and I hope none was taken:)
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 Dam and I thought we had the basis of a Today news special to match the Trail one from last year.
We could of got Guy and OM on air.
Blast, missed opportunity
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 Broad Stand certainly seems to figure very frequently in the Wasdale MR incident reports.
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Hey heres some good news on Broad Stand, the ladder thats been tied up there the last week is apparently now in Eskdale !!
People will nick anything wont they
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Guy, of course no offence taken mate :)
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:)
So come on Dave did you nick it ?
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not me :) If I'd known there was a ladder there I may have removed it but I didn't know. Ladders on BS? What next, a Via Ferrata style set of rungs bolted on?
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Can't believe Dave's route description didn't mention the ladder ;-)
I bet Flash (top runner for OM mascot I think) knew it was there.
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must have been an event on over the weekend I guess.
And haven't we had the via ferrata debate on Broad Stand on OM before?
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Darren, can you spot a ladder in the photo?
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pmsl, must of been nicked by the time you got there :-))
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Sod the via ferrata debate.....if you want VF go to the Dolomites and don't terminally scar OUR hills and crags with unecessary metalwork.
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