From ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu Fri Aug 4 17:19:34 EST 1995 Article: 7102 of rec.climbing Xref: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU rec.climbing:7102 Path: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU!mel.dit.csiro.au!merlin!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!oleane!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!kiowa.scd.ucar.edu!ilana From: ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu (Ilana Stern) Newsgroups: rec.climbing Subject: SUMMARY: Easy 5.9 leads in Boulder area Date: 31 Jul 1995 21:13:25 GMT Organization: NCAR/UCAR Lines: 112 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3vjh1l$e5d@ncar.ucar.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: kiowa.scd.ucar.edu Thanks to all who responded to my posting asking for a well-protected and not too strenuous first 5.9 lead in the Boulder area. Here's a summary with some notes. Non-Boulder-people who don't care to see a list of climbs can skip to the end, where there are some random thoughts and observations which may be mildly interesting. The Winner: Classic Finger Crack, Second Elephant Buttress, Boulder Canyon Six people mentioned this one! 5.8+ in older books, it's got everything I could wish for: short, star-rated, sew-up-able, and best of all, within walking distance of my house. This will probably be My First [Attempted] 5.9 Lead. Watch for the trip report, coming to a newsgroup near you. The Runners Up: The following routes were mentioned by 3-5 respondents, more-or-less in order based on number of recommendations. Touch and Go (5.8 in older guides) (Redgarden Wall, Eldo) Green Spur (Redgarden Wall, Eldo) first pitch of C'est La Vie (Redgarden Wall, Eldo) first pitch of Pony Express (West Ridge, Eldo) Other recommendations: The following routes were mentioned by 2 people each: Whistlestop (5.9-, Redgarden Wall, Eldo) -- this is rated 5.7+ in Rossiter's old guide! This is another one I'd like to try soon. Positively Fourth Street (West Ridge, Eldo) and Mescaline (West Ridge, Eldo) ` -- these two were mentioned by the same two people. According to the Rossiter guidebook, the first is 5.9+ and the second is 5.7. Can you guess which one I'll try first? The Unsaid (West Ridge, Eldo) C'est La Morte (Redgarden Wall, Eldo) Allosaurus (West Ridge, Eldo) -- first pitch is runout 5.7 Emerald City (Rincon area, Eldo) First pitch of Rincon (5.9+ in Rossiter's newer book) (Rincon area, Eldo) Mixed reviews: The following routes got both recommendations and disrecommendations. Yellow Spur (Redgarden Wall, Eldo) -- has the advantage that I've done it before. Unfortunately I fell on the second 5.9 pitch so maybe that's not an advantage. Disrecommended by another respondent. Werk Supp (5.9+ in Rossiter's newer book) (Bastille, Eldo) -- disrecommended by several others First pitch of Tagger (Wind Ridge, Eldo) -- disrecommended by another respondent West Buttress (Bastille, Eldo) -- disrecommended by another respondent. I did it last year and I think it would scare me to lead. Cosmosis -- disrecommended by another respondent Others mentioned: 5.9 crack on Nip and Tuck Monster Woman (5.8+ or 5.9- depending on which guide you have) -- another really convenient one, plus one of my partners wants me to lead her up this, plus the name is irresistable. Green Slab Indirect (North Turkey Creek) alternate finish to The Bulge (5.9-) -- first pitch is runout 5.7 Endless Crack Security Risk Backflip J Crack Mainliner Cheers (the poster said Grins, but I think he means Cheers, the sport route) various sport routes at Table Mountain Notes and observations: 1) Man, there are a lot of climbers in Boulder! No wonder the crags are so crowded :-) Thanks to the many people who responded. Observation: people occasionally complain that "I posted a request for information and nobody answered!" Most of the time, this is because they posted something incredibly general like "Where is a good climb in Colorado?" Take a lesson from me and get specific about your requests, and you'll get a lot of replies. 2) Of course, despite the specifics, some people seem to not have read my query too carefully and just listed some 5.9 (+/-) routes they liked... not necessarily routes for a beginning 5.9 leader. I checked the guidebooks on the recommendations I was unfamiliar with: some said things like "Strenuous, continuous 5.9+" -- not exactly what I was looking for. On the other hand, I appreciated comments like "you can get 4 or 5 wired stoppers, all above your head and in a crack, to do each move", "one bolt-protected 5.9 move", which gave me an idea of what kind of climbing I'd be facing. Especially appreciated were comments from a member of Rocky Mountain Rescue, who listed various 5.9 routes where climbers tend to hurt themselves and have to be rescued, and recommended a route by saying "It seemed like it would take pro pretty well and we've (RMR) never picked up a broken climber there." (!) 3) Looking up recommendations in the various guidebooks I have or have access to, I noticed some interesting ratings creep. Many of the listed 5.9 routes began life as 5.8 or even 5.7+. One person who recommended Touch and Go said it was his first 5.8 lead -- but now that it's 5.9 it could be my first 5.9 lead! Another commented that since I'd led Bastille Crack, which is now listed as 5.8 but used to be 5.7, that I should just wait until it gets upgraded again....5.9 leading without effort! The moral of the story appears to be that saying "I want to lead 5.9, so I'll start with an easy one" is falling into the trap of the numbers game. Easy 5.9 ain't 5.9, or perhaps hard 5.8 really should have been called 5.9, and it doesn't really matter what the route is listed as -- your ability is, "can you climb this route?" and the numbers only give a rough idea as to what the answer might be. -- /\ And though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet it was \_][ against our will -- Coriolanus, Act 4 scene 6 (Shakespeare) \__Ilana Stern * ilana@ncar.ucar.edu * http://www.ucar.edu/dss/ilana.html From eboltz@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu Fri Aug 4 17:19:47 EST 1995 Article: 7135 of rec.climbing Xref: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU rec.climbing:7135 Path: news.nsw.CSIRO.AU!mel.dit.csiro.au!merlin!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!lll-winken.llnl.gov!ames!news.tulane.edu!darwin.sura.net!blaze.cs.jhu.edu!RacerX.mse.jhu.edu!news.jhu.edu!not-for-mail From: eboltz@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Eric Scott Boltz) Newsgroups: rec.climbing Subject: Re: SUMMARY: Easy 5.9 leads in Boulder area Date: 1 Aug 1995 09:21:33 -0400 Organization: Homewood Academic Computing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, USA Lines: 11 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3vl9ot$pgq@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> References: <3vjh1l$e5d@ncar.ucar.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.220.2.5 >3) Looking up recommendations in the various guidebooks I have or have >access to, I noticed some interesting ratings creep. Many of the listed >5.9 routes began life as 5.8 or even 5.7+. One person who recommended It's not just rate inflation...in the days before 5.10, Naked Edge was a 5.9 (actually there was no 5.9+ either). Not too many would say that its current 5.11 rating is off... -E