Thin Fingers Rating!

[flashclimber]

I've climbed the lower crux 3 different ways. For a "True on-sight" I would give it a 10d for LTW and 11- if it was anywhere else.

[ryanb]

I don't think thin fingers (with the slab) is the easiest 11a at index. I'd put it kind of in the middle ... harder then frank presley, leave my face alone or hairway to stephan. Easier then pressure drop, newest industry, elvis nixon or p3 japanese gardens all of which get 11a in sky valley rock. It might be the easiest gear 5.11 there though I've heard p2 of Godzilla is pretty soft but haven't tried it.

 

Sure is fun though. I've found the slab move is 50 % mental and 50% shoes...i'm the doofus who always has to stop and tighten his shoe laces before committing to it.

[j_b]

Thin Fingers is 11a. For taller climbers the slab move is hardest; the crack below the roof is harder for people with smaller hands.

[summitchaserCJB]

Thin Fingers is 11a. For taller climbers the slab move is hardest; the crack below the roof is harder for people with smaller hands.

Exactly!

[summitchaserCJB]

When I was there some Index local (Chris?) told me he thought the slab was 11c. And that guy climbs a lot at Index.

[Dane]

It might be the easiest gear 5.11 there though I've heard p2 of Godzilla is pretty soft but haven't tried it.

 

Do you mean the 2nd pitch of City Park or Leapin' Lizards? No 5.11 found on either. I thought .10b. Lizards is more sustained. How ever I do find clipping the anchor on Slow Children a sand bagged .10d

 

"he thought the slab was 11c"

 

Dude, you really need to get out more.

[Blake]

Thin Fingers is 11a. For taller climbers the slab move is hardest; the crack below the roof is harder for people with smaller hands.

 

It might be a combination of hot days and sloppy shoes, but I find the slab crux on Thin Fingers to be harder than any move on Iron Horse or Japanese Gardens. Other than that one move, I don't think any part of Thin Fingers is harder than mid 5.10

 

And I'm a shorter climber with smaller hands

 

But given that nobody else finds the slab move to be that hard, I credit the difficulty to sloppy technique, rather than epic sandbaggery.

 

 

[summitchaserCJB]

It might be the easiest gear 5.11 there though I've heard p2 of Godzilla is pretty soft but haven't tried it.

 

Do you mean the 2nd pitch of City Park or Leapin' Lizards? No 5.11 found on either. I thought .10b. Lizards is more sustained. How ever I do find clipping the anchor on Slow Children a sand bagged .10d

 

"he thought the slab was 11c"

 

Dude, you really need to get out more.

hmm

[ryanb]

It might be the easiest gear 5.11 there though I've heard p2 of Godzilla is pretty soft but haven't tried it.

 

Do you mean the 2nd pitch of City Park or Leapin' Lizards? No 5.11 found on either. I thought .10b. Lizards is more sustained. How ever I do find clipping the anchor on Slow Children a sand bagged .10d

 

I think Sky Valley Rock has p2 Godzilla aka "Leapin' Lizards" listed as a dirty 11a? though as I said I haven't done it and the only guy I know who has (Eric Gratz) said it was pretty soft...I can only see Cummins online guide here at work and it does have it at 10b so you are probably right. I'll have to try it next time I'm up there.

 

Glancing around the Cummins lower wall pages (hoping this rain clears up soon and dreaming of 11a cracks he calls Death to Zeke and Dr Sniff and the Tuna Boaters both 11a and Julie's Roof and Gogum 11a/b so those all might be better comparisons then the sport routes in the country I listed.

 

I'd say Dr. Sniff is easier though I did fall at the crux when I tried it...I think sky valley has it at 10d.

 

Death to Zeke felt harder though it was kind of dirty when we are on it and it is pretty short...I think sky valley gives it 11b.

 

I'm ashamed to say I haven't done Sloe Children ... I was saving it for the onsite but now it's so built up in my head thanks to people like you calling it hard I'm kind of scared of it...I lead p3 J Gardens left of it which is supposed to be similar (endurancy fingers in a corner) and had to resort to swearing, thrutching and hanging more then I would have liked...I definitely do better on routes with distinct cruxes and good rests.

 

I also haven't done Julie's Roof or Gogum...though Julie's looks good and I think it gets 11a in Sky Valley? Anybody been on it?

 

Any other classic gear 11a cracks out there?

 

 

[j_b]

Thin Fingers is 11a. For taller climbers the slab move is hardest; the crack below the roof is harder for people with smaller hands.

 

It might be a combination of hot days and sloppy shoes, but I find the slab crux on Thin Fingers to be harder than any move on Iron Horse or Japanese Gardens. Other than that one move, I don't think any part of Thin Fingers is harder than mid 5.10

 

And I'm a shorter climber with smaller hands

 

I am short with small hands. Out of the half dozen times I led the climb, I never had a problem with the slab but actually pitched off the wider part of the crack once. I couldn't do Iron Horse the couple of times I casually tried it. I don't recall JGardens well enough to compare.

[Dane]

"I was saving it for the onsite but now it's so built up in my head thanks to people like you calling it hard I'm kind of scared of it...and had to resort to swearing, thrutching and hanging more then I would have liked...I definitely do better on routes with distinct cruxes and good rests."

 

Don't be...the SC crux is literally clipping the anchor with good gear in the crack as high as you can place it...just save some for that last few feet. Frustrating for sure, but nothing scary about it.

 

I definitely do better (on the internet) and on routes that have no crux and lots of rests

 

Dirty? Yep, LL is dirty or at least was unless something has changed.

 

[DCramer]

If you have climbed LL within the last 5 years you are climbing the "clean" version.

 

Aren't you standing on a ledge at the end of SC?

[ryanb]

Climbing' defiantly much easier on the internet... hopefully all this rating spray will increase the self loathing to the point where I actually lead something this weekend instead of doing another crash pad protected rope free enchainment of (very) minor summits in the icicle creek drainage

 

Where does LL put you? Do you end up on library ledge or somewhere right?

 

Edit: Library Ledge is on snow creek isn't it...der...

Edited April 22, 2010 by ryanb

[DCramer]

LL use to put you on the City Park Ledges the clean version moves right to Lizard Ledge.

[Blake]

Leaping Lizards is clean, feels like mid 5.10 with a mix of styles and has a great stemming finish. It puts you on the ledge system that runs across all the way to the top of Thin Fingers, and between p2 and p3 of Narrow Arrow Direct.

 

I think Lizards and Thin Fingers are both best climbed as similar-grade approach pitches to the LTW's BEST 5.10d/11a - Narrow Arrow Direct p3. On a wall STACKED with good climbs at this grade, I really do think NAD is a must-do.

[RuMR]

Blake...i have to agree that NAD p3 is the best at index at that grade...far superior to sloe children, tuna etc....

[Dane]

If you have climbed LL within the last 5 years you are climbing the "clean" version.

 

Aren't you standing on a ledge at the end of SC?

 

Not the "clean version"...been a while. Either way sounds great and a trip to NAD even better. Thanks to all for the heads up on that.

 

Yes on the SC ledge...problem for me is always getting onto that ledge and clipping the anchors or the other way around. Anyway I've done it, the last body length seemed harder than expected and the crux for me.

[DCramer]

I think Greg and I both thought the bottom of LL (dirty version) was harder than SC. The clean bottom certainly has to be easier than its dirty version. Sounds like people think it's mid .10. The dirty version was not very fun.

[Dane]

This from the guy who seldom rated anything harder than ".11c" bitd *Fun* is just a personal peception.

 

So Daryl, your thoughts on what Thin Fingers should be rated?

[summitchaserCJB]

Indeed..

[Rad]

I don't understand the fuss about ratings. If a climb is great does it matter if one book calls it 10d and another 11a? Or if one person's TR calls it 11- and someone else 10c? The climb is what it is. Ratings are subjective. As long as they are within a letter grade or two of the consensus then any would be suitors have some approximation of what they might expect.

 

In this day of videos and endless internet beta, it is sometimes really fun to go climb something where you have no idea what it's rated. You stand at the base with your partner and say, "yeah, that looks fun and doable with solid gear, let's give it a go". Then one can be free of preconceptions of "this will be a total cruise" or "no way I can free that route" both of which detract from one's ability to be positive, focused, and climbing at one's best.

[j_b]

True enough Rad, but aren't craggers as a group notoriously stuck up on ratings? The seriousness with which the style of ascent is usually discussed seems to point in that direction. I find it a little odd myself that a group that seems so much into climb difficulty, tries so hard to deny that ratings matter to them.

[summitchaserCJB]

craggers as a group are notoriously stuck on something...

[Gary_Yngve]

Yeah, the hardest part about SC is that last bit of the dihedral where the crack thins and there is a jug way up left.. and you're pumped..

 

or the hardest part is the first moves off the deck where your feet are right by the anchor bolts and the crack is flaring pretty bad and you're not wanting to deck.

[Kimmo]

I think a more accurate way to rate Thin Fingers is 5.10 V3.

 

There's no doubt that without the slab crux, the climb would be 5.10, and, in my mind, the slab crux is V3.

 

So, in classical terms, it would be a 5.11c(ish).