Beacon Rock Bootie

[Ovr40]

My semi-newbie partner and I finally tried a trad route. Cruisemaster (5.7 ya gotta start somewhere). We left a couple of pieces on the route when we bailed. Good luck to you if you claim them- they have taken no falls and will be safe. Or, if you retrieve the gear and want to exchange it for beer, drop me a PM.

[goatboy]

When was this?

[texplorer]

This could end up being an expensive sport for you.

[Ovr40]

We were climbing yesterday evening (Wednesday, Sept 21). Regarding expense, it was my partner's gear; so as long as I choose partners carefully my costs should be manageable.

[ivan]

sweet - a goal for 2morrow if no one's there first!

 

a couple weeks ago i found my partner unwilling to follow me up cruising - i found the route could be rapped w/ a single 60 m rope if i used the beat up shrub just above the crux as a directional - rapped down to the foot rest just right and below the crux - put in a piece in that huge flake so i could get off the rap rope so as to ensure there was enough to make it down - then finished off the rap by pulling on lower pieces to stay on course for the last piece. more fun than leading the route, really.

[billcoe]

My semi-newbie partner and I finally tried a trad route. Cruisemaster (5.7 ya gotta start somewhere). We left a couple of pieces on the route when we bailed. Good luck to you if you claim them- they have taken no falls and will be safe. Or, if you retrieve the gear and want to exchange it for beer, drop me a PM.

 

 

Over40, there is a 5.4-5.5 just west of Cruisemaster called the 1st pitch of S.E Corner.

 

Note that for many people most grades at Beacon are under what they would be at Yos.- with a few exceptions. Think of it as bailing off of a 5.8 for instance. I once had to haul a guy up like a haul bag who, despite multiple hangs and takes, could not follow me on that pitch with regular tension despite calling himself a 5.10A leader. So don't sweat that eh?

 

Next time, you might consider heading over to the easier SE Corner route, and as you traverse East on P2 and wind up exactly at a rap point after the traverse which is the top of Cruisemaster, just drop down off that anchor and fetch your stuff (or your friends stuff in this case).

 

Unless you want to keep supporting Ivan getting more gear that is! Course you could always bribe him with gear to go lead you up the thing! Cut out the middleman in effect.

 

Regards:

 

Bill

 

PS, NOLSE says his shoe is lost right there somewhere. Did ya see a smelly shoe by any chance?

[JosephH]

NOLSe has your bootie and will be out there tomorrow so track him down...

[iain]

Think of it as bailing off of a 5.8 for instance.

 

Bill I hate to disagree, but I think the ratings at Beacon are fair. They feel a little hard at first, but once you are used to it, they seem to make sense to me. There are a few notable "testpieces" for a few grades to be sure. You can count on multiple moves at the grade, rather than one move wonders (like say, a good number of sporto routes at Smith), so you have to keep your head together for longer.

[Blake]

i'm curious about bill's claim as well... what seems soft, and what seems like a beacon "testpiece"?

[billcoe]

Free for all is soft at 5.11. That's it for soft IMO.

 

Free for some is hard for 5.8.

Couchmaster is hard for 5.9

Little Wing is hard at 5.8

Bluebird is hard at 10B

I keep seeing 5,10a leaders take wingers on Blownout, and it seems tough to me. In fact, last trip to the Valley, I thought the Crux pitch on Serenity Crack at 10D is easier than 2nd pitch of Blownout.

 

Etc etc, I'm getting a call and have to head, Dods is tough too.....blah blah

 

I'm a pussy - What can you say, and since my foot is hurting and I can't climb, might as well talk about it!

[Peter_Puget]

I can't remember Beacon being off as far as ratings go.

 

Free For Some is soft but Pipeline is as well. Blownout seemed about right. Serenity itself has a soft rating so it might not be the best comparison.

[JosephH]

I think that on the whole Beacon ratings are about right with a very few execptions either way. One thing to keep in mind is our rating system doesn't provide any good, clear designation for how sustained a route is so it could have one move of 5.10d or and entire route pitch move after move at that rating. I think that accounts for a lot of folks perceptions of the classic pitch on Blownout. There are also some unique attributes about Beacon relative to really getting to know how the rock works that come into play; Young Warriors can be a 5.10a for folks that don't "get" how it works, or a 5.7+ with three or four .8-.9ish moves on it if you do. In a similar vein, some climbs are really more about your skills at resting than climbing - missing all the key rests up Windsurfer makes it a fairly pumpy and sustained affair, get them all and it is breezy and casual with a couple spots you actually have to put out.

[iain]

I found Blownout to be more technical and sustained than something like Windsurfer. The finish is not obvious. It's hard to call that 10a when something like Tooth Fairie/Decay is 10a, or Sufficiently Breathless is 10a.

 

The last move off of Jill's is 10 terrain in my opinion.

 

Free for Some/Pipeline may be soft in your books, but I found them freak'n hard.

 

That said the grades seem good, and it seems the difference in difficulties is more the nature of the climb highlighting the weaknesses of the climber. For instance if you are not used to a lot of stemming, Blownout will seem relatively hard.

[Peter_Puget]

I didnt say they weren't hard just soft for their rating. 5.11 is hard

[JosephH]

Peter, do you normally climb at Index? Rumors over the years all the way back to the 70's have it that it has always been inhabited by sandbagging somsofbiches and that the ratings there were pretty damn stiff compared to say an Eldo or the Gunks. Not having been there I can't say if that's true or not (or if you are one of those somsofbiches), but if so that could be why Beacon seems a bit soft to you.

[Peter_Puget]

Peter, do you normally climb at Index? Rumors over the years all the way back to the 70's have it that it has always been inhabited by sandbagging somsofbiches and that the ratings there were pretty damn stiff compared to say an Eldo or the Gunks. Not having been there I can't say if that's true or not (or if you are one of those somsofbiches), but if so that could be why Beacon seems a bit soft to you.

 

See two post or so above. I do not think Beacon ratings are easy but do think that Free For Some is a soft 11a.

[JosephH]

Ah, sorry about that. I would have to disagree about Pipeline and Free For Some though; they would both be 11a's by Eldo or Gunks standards.

[Blake]

joseph, what do you think the crux of YW is? after 2 times, i'd say either that A-frame roof, thw wide stemming in that crackless corner, or the bolted slab move, that seems optional. is 3rd pitch of dodd's jam fair @ .10c?

[Peter_Puget]

Ah, sorry about that. I would have to disagree about Pipeline and Free For Some though; they would both be 11a's by Eldo or Gunks standards.

 

Throw out some comparison climbs. Odd thing about ratings is Boulder Canyon always seemed harder to me than Eldo. How do you think Athlete's Feet compares? Seem harde rin my memory than FFS. Anyway ratings are always pretty darn subjective.

[JosephH]

joseph, what do you think the crux of YW is? after 2 times, i'd say either that A-frame roof, thw wide stemming in that crackless corner, or the bolted slab move, that seems optional.

 

At this point I've rope soloed it to the point where the first two pitches of the "SE Corner", which I rarely climb, are way, way more intimidating than the first two pitches of YW, particularly the top of the first pitch of the SE Corner. But - I still clearly remember my first time on it and I led all of the pitches that day. I was more challenged by the "butterfly" dihedral on the 3rd pitch and particularly by the [optional] slab move on the 4th. I was not with an experienced climber, had tons of rope drag, fast fading light, and Jim O. and the boys were giggling at me from the "Land of the Little People" once they found out it was my first time on the route.

 

Every single person I've ever climbed it with or seen climb it jams the 2nd pitch A-frame crack which I simply can't fathom and I believe that is why most folks consider it a potential "crux" spot whereas I find the move 20 feet below it way more challenging by comparison. It is a definitely a favorite climb now, though, and quite unique in that there is a "secret" for absolutely every hard move on it and if you find them all it is just a hoot. And while it has a couple of bits more difficult, in my mind I find it very comparable in satisfaction and pleasure to my early experiences on the Bastille Crack in Eldorado (which was my first roped solo back in '75). YW is definitely a classic.

 

is 3rd pitch of dodd's jam fair @ .10c?

 

Again, I suck so bad at jamming I wouldn't be the one to ask. I find it to be about that as a layback with a rough start getting into it, however.

[Blake]

i laybacked it as well, but pumpage took over part way up. i thought it was a great line though. Free for all (w/the 10a side start) plus the next two pitches up through the OW and the 10c handcrack form a really nice direct line that incorporates a ton of different climbing techniques!

[JosephH]

Ah, sorry about that. I would have to disagree about Pipeline and Free For Some though; they would both be 11a's by Eldo or Gunks standards.

 

Throw out some comparison climbs. Odd thing about ratings is Boulder Canyon always seemed harder to me than Eldo. How do you think Athlete's Feet compares? Seem harde rin my memory than FFS. Anyway ratings are always pretty darn subjective.

 

On that we can definitely agree, I've always considered Boulder Canyon routes stiff by comparison to Eldo and I suspect it's back to the issue of how sustained a climb is and routes like AF are sustained if nothing else. I think the fact that we don't effectively convey how sustained a climb is (i.e. how many moves at that rating versus simply the level of the hardest single move) and that is often responsible for the disparities in how we percieve ratings as "hard" or "soft". Some areas and routes are hard and sustained, others have hard sections but are not sustained by and large. Young Warriors at Beacon has a couple of hard pulls on it but is pretty casual overall versus getting on one of the columns on the South face or Free For Some which are fairly sustatained by comparison. Take Devil's tower, get on one of those babies and if they say it's a 10c they probably mean a lot of 10c - not one move. There is also the issue of how familiar you are with the rock and style of climbing on it. I don't know about trying to come up with a route-by-route comparison as I guess I do it more on an area by area basis and even then it is just a "feeling" as to whether I'm being consistently sandbagged which means I'm either not "getting" how it's done there or someone is a sandbagger, or I find I'm cruising things which would definitly mean the ratings are soft.

[John Frieh]

Just go climbing bitches! If you can't send just leave a piece and bail or A0 the thing. If you do... AWESOME! Go climb something else!

[Blake]

John Said

Just go climbing bitches! If you can't send just leave a stuck red camalot that you yanked on, so your partner can bash it out with a boat-anchor piece.

[John Frieh]

Exactly!