minx Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 AlpineK said: I thought Eldo was hard till I'd climbed there a while, then it didn't seem so bad. I think getting used to the non granite takes a little time. Veedawoo is pretty god dam hard. eldo IS hard until you get used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 bc alpine (old guidebooks) = squamish grade -2 i e alpine 5.7 = squamish 5.9 bc alpine (new McLane guidebook) 5.8 = old school 4th class Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 There seems to be variation at some locations like Beacon Rock. Anything below 5.10 seems fairly fierce for the grade (a few exceptions). There are 5.8's there that seem more difficult at times than some 5.10's there. Basically if it has rusty pitons on it you know it will be tasty. 5.8 there, for example, is more like sustained 5.8 moves for a full rope length that punish those wasting energy at the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willstrickland Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 My $0.02 Stiff: ZION free climbs I thought Index and Yos ratings were the same, I've definitely been 'bagged at Josh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 I'd add Shelf Road to the "Just About Right" category, same with Darrington and Static Point, though my experience at those two places is more limited. It's pretty obscure, but there's this crag called Dream Canyon outside Boulder that I'd toss in the easy category. What about City of Rocks and Checkamus (sp?) Canyon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 shelf is cake... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Yeah - could be that I'm just especially bad on limestone. Most people that climbed there seemed to think that the grades were about right. I'd put it at about 1 letter grade easier than Smith based on my limited experience at the area. Certainly not sandbagged but it didn't seem ludicrously overgraded to me either. There's also the sport vs trad thing. Shelf is a sport area if there ever was one, and sport ratings seem to be easier than trad ratings no matter where you go. I think it's mainly a product of the fact that most trad areas had a lot of activity when 9's and 10's were at the top of the grades, and most sport areas came along quite a bit later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Another obscure crag I'd put in the stiff catagory are the small cliffs outside of Los Alamos, NM. Never climbed in the Sandia's but I heard they're tough.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryland_moore Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Yes, SoBo is right. Senaca, WV is pretty stiff. I'd also add the Gunks, NY, but like others have said, if the area was developed when 5.10 was the hardest grade, then you are bound to find what we are calling "sandbags". Maybe we should just regard the originally developed areas like Yos, Senaca, the Tetons, Index, J-Tree and the like as "Normal" and call all other areas that we find that are not "sandbagged", easy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 ryland_moore said: Maybe we should just regard the originally developed areas like Yos, Senaca, the Tetons, Index, J-Tree and the like as "Normal" and call all other areas that we find that are not "sandbagged", easy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 i heard the latest supertopo guides were calling classic valley 5.9s like steck salathe 10b and so on. where is the sandbag now? i wanna say it first; sandbags are aid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 supertacos are aid sandbagging is an excuse to why one has a hard time doing it. i say attempt to focus on the climb and not the number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 erik said: supertacos are aid sandbagging is an excuse to why one has a hard time doing it. i say attempt to focus on the climb and not the number. I'm with you on this one...that was kind of my point in my diatribe last nite at 1 in the morning...why rag an area????? Just do the climbs and if they are fun appreciate them regardless of the ratings... Get your wheels fixed??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwalling Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Shouldn't Yosemite be right on?!? That's where alot of route grades were pushed way back when. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 i fixed that shit in the fred meyer parking lot in covington. please refer to my e-rock is my baby jesus thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 erik said: sandbagging is an excuse to why one has a hard time doing it. i say attempt to focus on the climb and not the number. I agree, but it is comforting to get to know an area, and the guidebook, so you can dial in the climbing and interpret the book. That is why you can climb circles around lots of people at Index, Erik, but you'd probably have to go back to remedial climbing school if you hopped off the plane in NYC and hopped a cab for the Gunks (though your advice would apply very well there, because there are FANTASTIC climbs at every grade from 5.3 to 5.13). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 i read a TR on rec.climbing where tradgirl went to Squamish and said it was so hard compared to the Gunks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Dru said: i read a TR on rec.climbing where tradgirl went to Squamish and said it was so hard compared to the Gunks if she'd never climbed granite before, it WOULD be hard compared to the gunks... that place is bucket hauling on steep walls... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-rock Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 bigwalling said: Shouldn't Yosemite be right on?!? That's where alot of route grades were pushed way back when. Word, if it ain't on a par with Yos, it's soft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 I'm sure everyone would agree that even within an area, theres huge variation. But still, Stiff: Yosemite, CA Tahquitz, CA Seneca, WV Most routes at the Gunks until you get used to the pro Upstate NY (Spiders Web, Beer Walls) Veduawoo, WY Index, WA Joshua Tree, CA Leavenworth, WA (old stuff) routes at the New River Gorge Whitesites & LookingGlass About right: some routes at Squamish, BC Snow Creek Wall, WA Cathedral Ledge and Whitehorse. Rose Crack == textbook definition of 5.9 non-death-fest Eldorado Canyon routes Leavenworth, WA (New Stuff) Smith Rock, OR Exit 32, WA (Little Si) Soft: many routes at Squamish, BC Skaha, BC (very!!) Vantage, WA Exit 38, WA Red Rocks, NV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 erik said: yose and index are on par, the rest is just practice. whoever this smart fellow is, really seems to know what he is talking about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 I'd move the NRG routes to the about right category... and would recommend Moore's wall and sauertown to the stiff category... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sobo Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 RuMR said: I'd move the NRG routes to the about right category... and would recommend Moore's wall and sauertown to the stiff category... agreed on both counts. And I would move Looking Glass and Whitesides to the "About Right" cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 Moore's is the SHIT!! apparantly its gotten real popular cuz of the bouldering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 Here's some good real soft ones for you to go do: Orifice Fish 5.9 Kneewrecker Chimney 10a Skulduggery 10a Ramapithecus 10b Payanoia 5.9 Another Tourist in Traction 5.9 (with the fixed rope start) Man of Leisure 10a all thuper EZ for the grade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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