layton Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 But has trouble keeping it up... prussik peak sure looks harder in that picture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Mt. Cook in New Zealand is a little easier than about 20 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dberdinka Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 These days, pretty much every route seems to be getting harder. Maybe it's just me...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Midway on Castle Rock is so polished that it has gotten slick. Particularly on the first pitch, holds that used to be fine with hiking boots are now slippery with rock shoes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenp Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 I second the midway comment. Wuz just talking to my brother on Saturday about how much that route has changed. First time I climbed it was in converse low tops and still pounding z-pins. 30 years have gone by, I'm still here but have abanded the iron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Yeah, Midway was one of the scarier 5.4s i've seen. Mixed climbing has certainly gotten easier, despite harder grades being pushed, due to changes in tools. 10 years ago you couldn't buy hybrid "ice" tools for mixed climbing. I'd imagine these make some climbs much easier than w/o. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 How 'bout anything on El Cap. With McNamera's up the second webcam beta spew website, kind of takes the adventure out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 That is true with any modern guidebook, too, Harry. The original guidebook portrayal of the Beckey-Couinard said something to the effect of "Ca. 20 pitches, strenuous, 20 pitons." There was no route description or topo, no gear advice, and no descent information. Beckey and Ortenburger provided detailed descriptions relatively early, but check old Canadian Rockies guides, Routes and Rocks in the Challenger Quadrangle, OH Bonney, or Climbers Guide to the High Sierra. In Yosemite, the first topo book came out when - 1975? That was the big change there. I bet you can still find some adventure on the Captain, though. Even on the Nose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Mt. Cook in New Zealand is a little easier than about 20 years ago. Actually it is a little shorter, but a lot harder to summit. The crater rim below the new summit has a 15m WI3+ step that didn't exist before the landslide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 When I climbed it, about 20 years ago, it had a very steep last pitch. About 25m and probably 60 degrees. Is it harder now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Yeah, think 15m and vertical but with huge cauliflowers. Most of the guided parties turn their clients around at the base of this rather than continuing on to the real summit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Chitlins at Icicle Canyon features a very fragile potato chip flake that keeps eroding away under traffic. I hadn't climbed it when it was first put up, but it's clearly harder than it's rating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
still_climbin Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 How about most of the climbs at Granite Point. Gravity's not much of an issue under water and nearly every route was flodded by Lower Granite Dam in the 70's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Having more beta available does not make a route easier. Researching that beta does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underworld Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 beta doesn't change the route... it changes your approach to the route. it doesn't become easier, we're just 'smarter' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 beta doesn't change the route... it changes your approach to the route. it doesn't become easier, we're just 'smarter' Smarter makes things easier...otherwise we wouldn't care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Eric, quick, post your fishing trawler pic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underworld Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 easy is relative. beta might make the route feel easier, but it still hasn't changed. rockfall, polishing, crevasses... that all CHANGES the route and might change it's difficulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 beta doesn't change the route... it changes your approach to the route. it doesn't become easier, we're just 'smarter' climbing with a blindfold on doesn't change the route either but it doesn't make you dumber, it makes the climbing harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 How 'bout anything on El Cap. With McNamera's up the second webcam beta spew website, kind of takes the adventure out of it. Turning Point still awaits a 2nd ascent, 20 some years later. I doubt it's gotten any easier despite new wave aid ratings and such, bet you'd find some adventure there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 I suppose you could say that rehearsing a pitch doesn't change the rock, either. But it sure makes it easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willstrickland Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Black Ice couloir on the Big Titty. Non-existent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billcoe Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Yup, and all the routes at hetch-hetchy are shorter now too. I pulled a 100# flake off the first 10A pitch of Free-Lunch on Picnic Lunch wall at Smith. harder now. 1st pitch of Gandolphs Grip use to be 5.6 and is now 5.9, conversly the crux 5.9 pitch use to have a piton driven straight up into the roof, now it's a bolt. Strauck told me once @ 1998 or so that he was surprised the pin was still there, ie, no one had done a horrendous screaming fall and ripped the little piton right out of the Gollums Hang. I think the little sucker was gone like next year. Bet that's a story. Birds of Paradise use to have a little loose block in it, was 10.d, now 10.c. White rabbit, next to birds has gotten slicker, was 10B, now?? Slick 10B? When I went for the FFA on the first pitch of Ground Zero, the guy seconding me, Frank Cornieius, could easily and repeatly onsite lead 5.12 trad cracks -but couldn't follow the pitch. It was hard. He hung-then hung some more, I pulled and pulled, and he "took" somemore. Frank took his nut tool out and dug and dug the mud out of the crack. Then he tryed it again, and then took again and dug and dug some more some more. Later, it got cleaned more, and that first 165 pitch was broken up into 3 pitchs and freed, now it's like 11.d . There's probably more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colt45 Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 I heard that the moves off the ledge on Thin Fingers were significantly easier before a flake broke. This section sure seems harder than 11a to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Yngve Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 price glacier on shuksan. used to be "classic", now a rubble field. never been on it but has anyone here been on it or heard of anyone? global warming. I think CH, FM, and DA might have been on it within the past two years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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