In Eastern Crags (2011), pages 88/89. The nice picture of the climber going “the original way'”on The Ghost might be better captioned as “going the wrong way on the Loop”.
Judging from the chalk on the route when I did it last year (and in the photo on pg. 88) most people traverse right using footholds that the pictured climber is hanging on to.
I agree that he’s faithfully following the topo, but probably not the description, for The Ghost.
After completing the route my partner and I couldn’t agree on whether we’d done The Ghost or The Loop, and hence how many E points we could claim. Most unsatisfactory and divisive. I wonder if it’s worth having two variations for the route?
Love the guide!
Website editor’s note: I think The Loop is described as a variation because The Ghost was climbed first (even if The Ghost was easier back then).
I have done the lower section of the route by five different ways, interestingly the easiest is the least obvious , possibly only 5a. There are also numerous ways to do the upper section. All are good, a great route, one of my favourites on the crag.
Now got the guidebooks to hand.
I do not find any fault in the text or topos but the photo caption is misleading. Either ” Climber on the Ghost” or more verbous, ” Climber using holds on one of the at least five ways of climbing the lower section of the Ghost.” would be accurate.
Had a lot of evening visits to Castle Rock, it being often on my work commute. Most routes there have a naturally easiest way to climb. The Ghost, however, lends itself to multiple repeats using slightly different lines, all worthwhile but not perhaps worth describing in detail in the guidebook text.