Renegade Master 7C+

Renegade Master is a short, powerful line on gritstone at Froggatt Edge in the Peak District, England. It was established as a traditional lead at E8 6c, but is now almost always climbed as a highball boulder problem over pads, where it goes at 7C+. The seven meter line is a burst of dynamic pulling on rounded edges that gives way to a committing, unprotected top out, the combination of strength and friction sensitivity that defines hard grit problems of this style, with the consequence of a lead fall on trad gear replaced by the consequence of a highball fall onto pads.

History

Jerry Moffatt made the first ascent in 1995, leading the route with gear pre placed to allow clipping, and finishing directly up the top rather than traversing right as most climbers do today. Neil Bentley made the second ascent in 1997 and Kristian Clemmow the third in 2000. Ground up solo ascents followed from Nic Sellars and Tom Briggs, both in 2001, and Shauna Coxsey soloed it in 2017, a span of repeats that shows how the route shifted in practice from a rarely repeated trad lead to a boulder problem attempted by a wider range of climbers. The route appeared in the 1998 climbing film Hard Grit, which helped cement its reputation among British grit test pieces of that era.

On film

WIFE ON HOLD - Gritstone Bouldering (2026), a roughly 25 minute film by Leo Skinner, follows Sam Carling, Leo Skinner, Solly Kemball-Dorey, and Finn Parry across gritstone in the Peak District, Northumberland, and northern Yorkshire. Renegade Master is one of the Peak District problems the group climbs in the edit, shown in its modern form as a highball boulder above crash pads rather than as a roped lead.