Most repeated route on the planet?

High E? Something in the Alps? The warmup? What route has been done the most?

5 gallon buckets

Probably something at red rocks: cat in the hat, dark shadows, birdland, etc. Pretty much any classic 5.7-5.9 out there

Probably something at bruise brothers in the rrg. All the college outing clubs gang bang those things

Almost certainly something not in the US--folks have been climbing, and significantly more of them, for much longer, in various locations overseas (UK, continental Europe, parts of Asia, maybe) than anywhere in this country.
Also, what is the 'working definition' of a 'route'---are you limiting it to 'technical' climbing, or does it include non-technical ascents ( thinking of things such as the most popular way to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan, for example).

If the question is rephrased to limit the scope to the US, I'm guessing that the Third Flatirin would be a leading candidate.

in the us its probably something at the parking lot wall at Rummy or near the uberfall at the gunks... 

Bastille crack or second flatiron (if that counts) come to mind

Indoors or outdoors?  Does TR count?  Not Boulder problems? limit to US?  Probably something that get climbed frequently year round

The speed climbing route, you didn't say it needs to be outdoors

Louis Parai wrote:

The speed climbing route, you didn't say it needs to be outdoors

Good point. That route gets replicated all over the world.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were a warm up route somewhere at a crag that is an areas only quality local rock within half an hour. There's also the dungeon in nm where ppl apparently just run laps over and over year after year on the same climbs as a work out. 

Cable route Half Dome

That pink route in the corner of the gym that everyone warms up on.

Bill Lawry wrote:

Good point. That route gets replicated all over the world.

'Alter Weg'.

La Saphir in the Calanques might be in the running.

Alan Rubin wrote:

Almost certainly something not in the US--folks have been climbing, and significantly more of them, for much longer, in various locations overseas (UK, continental Europe, parts of Asia, maybe) than anywhere in this country.
Also, what is the 'working definition' of a 'route'---are you limiting it to 'technical' climbing, or does it include non-technical ascents ( thinking of things such as the most popular way to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan, for example).

If the question is rephrased to limit the scope to the US, I'm guessing that the Third Flatirin would be a leading candidate.

so many more people - exponentially - are climbing currently than in the pre-war era that i would think things have evened out. and if you accept that, its hard to imagine that the most popular 5.6 equivalent in england gets done more in a year now than all of the years before 1950. so the most popular route could be in europe, but i don’t see why it couldn’t be in the states or elsewhere. horseman for instance gets done at least 20 times a weekend more most of the calendar year. there must be other climbs near metros that have lines on them all day, everyday. it would be interesting to see which lines see the most traffic on this site, the crag, etc - maybe it would be possible to make a guess  

eta - i don’t think an unroped hike like mt fuji meets the definition of a route in the spirit of the question, anyway  

petzl logic wrote:

so many more people - exponentially - are climbing currently than in the pre-war era that i would think things have evened out. and if you accept that, its hard to imagine that the most popular 5.6 equivalent in england gets done more in a year now than all of the years before 1950. so the most popular route could be in europe, but i don’t see why it couldn’t be in the states or elsewhere. horseman for instance gets done at least 20 times a weekend more most of the calendar year. there must be other climbs near metros that have lines on them all day, everyday. it would be interesting to see which lines see the most traffic on this site, the crag, etc - maybe it would be possible to make a guess  

eta - i don’t think an unroped hike like mt fuji meets the definition of a route in the spirit of the question, anyway  

I get your point, but there are likely ' ancient' routes in the UK, and likely similar ones on the Continent, that still get almost constant use from climbing schools, various groups, and guides, so   the overall total usage keeps adding up. As popular as climbing has become in the States, I still think that there are still proportionally more climbers per capita in Europe than here ( though acknowledge that I have no specific data to back up this assertion), though there are also a larger number of accessible 'venues' in the UK and on the Continent which tend to spread those numbers out rather than concentrating them in a smaller number of locations.

Alan Rubin wrote:

I get your point, but there are likely ' ancient' routes in the UK, and likely similar ones on the Continent, that still get almost constant use from climbing schools, various groups, and guides, so   the overall total usage keeps adding up. As popular as climbing has become in the States, I still think that there are still proportionally more climbers per capita in Europe than here ( though acknowledge that I have no specific data to back up this assertion), though there are also a larger number of accessible 'venues' in the UK and on the Continent which tend to spread those numbers out rather than concentrating them in a smaller number of locations.

what’s an example of an “ancient” route that people rope up and do continuously today? 

keyhole is probably the easiest gunks route of note and it doesn’t get done nearly as often as the big names and it would be far less without modern gear. 

anything less than 5.3 seems to have fallen out of favor entirely at any area i visit and even that grade barely exists. 

looks like there’s some previous discussion here:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/122837359/most-climbed-route-in-the-world-the-galaxy

I thought that there had been a similar thread in the past!!!

For route examples,in the UK I am thinking of classic V Diffs on Stanage --can't name any specific ones, but I'm sure there are some that are regularly utilized by various outdoor programs and classes. In Wales, probably the routes on the Idwal Slabs receive similar use. I presume that there are also similar routes on the Continent.

In the Gunks, I can see that Keyhole is relatively rarely done these days ( pretty awkward climb) but what about the routes on the Guides Wall, and I wonder how often climbs like Easy O or Jackie get climbed each year? Still think those routes in the UK will still have a greater total number of ascents, but there is no way to know for sure---and, of course, it doesn't matter at all.

When I climbed freeway on the 2nd flatiron there were around 10 other people topping out behind us in the 10 mins after we did, so I’ll say that. No other route has the physical capacity to sustain that many back-to back ascents in such a short timespan. I’d bet at any given point on a sunny weekend there are an avg of 20-30 people on it at once, all of whom will be off within the hour. 

Even at 6hrs/day of peak traffic that’s several hundred ascents per weekend. Then on weekdays it probably gets at least a few dozen ascents per day. Factor in CO’s uniquely high quantity of sunny days and I can’t see anything coming close.

Graham Thomas wrote:

5 gallon buckets

For the US I’d throw in another vote for 5 gallon buckets I’ve never seen a climb people wait in line like that for.