Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Barry Bates
Boulder climber
Smith River CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 09:39am PT
|
I think that the warbler is right about the left side of the Slack, I've done the route 5 times and each time it seemed to get harder not easier.
Although Klemons said it was a 5.7 squeeze chimney with hand jams in the back.
|
|
Mason
Trad climber
Yay Area
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 18, 2010 - 11:02am PT
|
Werner came free soloing thru making it look about 3.0. He swung from side to side to perfectly torque his jams in.
Can you expand on that a little? It makes total sense, I'm picturing it in my head but need more input. I'm like Johnny 5.
Brokedown, I have the Legends which are pretty stiff, maybe too stiff? They kept getting stuck in parts of the crack.
Is After Six really harder? It seems like it's not as easy as the rating says, with some psychological moves higher up. I'd hate to get on it thinking, eh 5.6-5.7-5.8 and then get spanked 4 pitches up!
Aunt Fanny's Pantry btw is no "5.4"...it is much harder, be warned.
|
|
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 11:12am PT
|
Quicksilver was the test piece of the guys I knew that was used to prove if you were solid on 5.10. I was not. I could lead a nice fat 5.10 crack. (And I thought Reeds was pretty easy compared to something wide like Tulgey Wood at Devils Tower)-but I wanted nothing to do with those long upward traverses- no matter how cool everyone looked in Meyers Yosemite Climber.
I also lead the first 5.8 pitch and that was about the most honest 5.8 ever. No move easier than 5.8 but totally sustained.
I very happily followed the 5.9 pitches- following,no move seemed that hard but there was a bit of space between the pieces- like about 50 feet! Neither leader or follower would want to fall.
The good thing is that you do not need much of a rack.
In a funny way the first move off the ground of Rixons West face- I tried that about 20 times and I could never do it. We did the route but I have no idea how I started it. 10a indeed!
There is a route on the Apron called Green Dragon that was 11b that I only heard of one person ever doing on their first try-I backed off of that one a few times on my way to Mr. Natural
|
|
Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 11:14am PT
|
Mason-
"Getting stuck" is a technique issue. It's like--putting a key into a lock. Turn your foot in to lock--turn your foot out to "unlock." Stiff shoes make this easier IMHO.
|
|
426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 11:39am PT
|
Anybody done the Right Side of the Remnant? O.o. 2 5.11 buddies couldn't do this one. I just barelied it, yer gonna die style...
TM Herbert claims that Wilson Overhang has gotten steeper and harder over the years...(?)
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 12:21pm PT
|
after six, first pitch could be it, or maybe it's just the most slippery and insecure for the grade.
For the record, TC Pro are not all that stiff. i've been climbing in them exclusively for a couple of months now in the valley. More support then a mythos, nothing at all like a Kaukulator...
Nonetheless if I was doing the second pitch of Reed's today they would be the shoes on my feet.
|
|
August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 02:57pm PT
|
The first pitch has a stiff, off fingers/squeeze hand move?
-it does? high on the pitch? Low? i did it four or five times six months ago and don't recall this...seemed like a lite enduro pitch with no crux... was one of my first .9 leads in the early/mid 70's, i had no idea how to jam, then...
The very first move stepping off the ledge is, if I recall correctly, around a .5~.75 camalot and then the crack quickly opens up. The OP said he couldn't do the first move of the first pitch.
|
|
August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 03:00pm PT
|
The second pitch is strenuous and sustained for the grade. Sure, using your feet can make it easier. But the climb is relatively steep (for the grade) and the killer is the diagonal which means the right foot is out smearing on the face (or both feet are in the crack and your body leans).
The weird and offset crack isn't like jamming a desert splitter either.
|
|
Alexey
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 03:30pm PT
|
For me, most sandbagged = all 5.9 slab climbs! Nutjob, I am with you on it! And I would add 5.8 slabs too
|
|
squatch
Boulder climber
santa cruz, CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 03:31pm PT
|
They kept getting stuck in parts of the crack.
BOMBER!!!
|
|
Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 04:06pm PT
|
The two climbs that seem to be popping up the most--Reed's Direct and Quicksilver--I gotta to disagree with. The second pitch of Reed's is 5.9, bottom line. Having said that, while I really like crack and don't resort to tape, I don't like that pitch. It's just painful. It's got those wierd pods that dig into the nerves in the backs of my hands and just makes it really unpleasant. That parallel sided first pitch, also 5.9, is way more pleasant.
As for Quicksilver, sure it's runout but it's still 5.9. I did that when I was 17 and wearing a pair of EBS. You had to be on your toes, lots of climbing up one set of hold that would runout, then you'd downclimb and try another way, but it was still 5.9. No way every move on that first pitch is 5.8 either.
I think my vote would be Left Side of the Cookie.
|
|
Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 04:44pm PT
|
First pitch of the DNB deserves mention. Put any 5.7 leader on that for revenge.
The whole Steck Salathe gets the lifetime sandbag award in my mind.
Peace
Karl
|
|
Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 05:05pm PT
|
First pitch of the DNB deserves mention. Put any 5.7 leader on that for revenge.
Yes! I had a buddy (posts here as Cancerboy once in a blue moon)--a solid 5.10/11 climber--who tried that and was so frustrated by how weird it felt, ending up bailing and being so pissed he didn't want to climb the rest of the day. By way of reference, the next day, once he got over his funk, we went and climbed Stoner's Highway without any problems.
I recalling reading one of Largo's posts that he considers that pitch a .10a.
|
|
Alexey
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 05:19pm PT
|
I was with Werner that day he soloed Reed's Direct. He carried the radio to be funny. I was right below him out of frame. What is harder: climb with only one hand without radio, or climbing with the radio? Any book recommendation to dial this technique ...
|
|
Mason
Trad climber
Yay Area
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 18, 2010 - 06:25pm PT
|
BOMBER!!!!!!
Haha right? Just don't fall out backwards.
DNB doesn't even sound like an easy route just from it's description. There's another climb that I read about in the Roper guide. It's supposedly the most unaesthetic, unpleasant climb but also rated "5.6" I'll see if I can remember it.
I know, the pods and sharp edges would knife into my left hand but it didn't matter because I could cam my hand in those tapers and hang...as long as I wasn't exerting energy I didn't care if it hurt.
Steve, want to lead Quicksilver?
|
|
bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 06:38pm PT
|
Steve, want to lead Quicksilver?
I gotta scope it out from the base....
uhhh, prolly not!!
|
|
Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 07:21pm PT
|
First pitch of DNB indeed...that was brutally hard for the rating, dangle and thrash!
|
|
phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 07:58pm PT
|
Mason, it may not be true for everyone, but for me, when things feel "harder" than their rating, it's often because it's something that I don't have much experience doing, and as a consequence my technique is not that good.
In my case, I rarely do harder fist or off-width crack climbs. As a shorter woman with small hands, these tend to feel much harder to me. If I can't reach past a wide spot, I can get stuck. For example, I once followed the Valley climb called Hardd. There is a wider part on the lower section, 10.a, which felt desperate to me. I hung and thrashed and got hauled through it. If I didn't know from the route description, I would have said that the 10.a section was harder than the 5.11 section, which was beautiful fingers, above. That doesn't mean it is harder, obviously, just that I can't rate it wide stuff acurately.
Keep climbing. Soon, Reed's will feel like 5.9.
xoxo Phyl
|
|
franky
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 08:11pm PT
|
gollum right.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jun 18, 2010 - 11:48pm PT
|
Gollum right is pretty grim for 5.8! and that .10 face pitch on Rixon west, I've always sort of fallen across the gap and felt lucky...
I'm glad Hobo mentioned Tulgy Wood, now that's a reality check for saying,that npitch2 RD is a sandbag... and the kind of thing I was thinking of when I gave Mason disingenuous sh#t for saying valley climbs are under rated. (sorry about that)
I don't think Green Dragon is a sandbag, it's just hard. It's rated .11c isn't it? that should be hard, I think it's consistent with the grade, though. I did follow if before I first led it though, back in EB days.
Hobo, or anyone, have you climbed Fall wall @ Vedauwoo? It's rated 5.9+ and I always thought it would be .10b in the valley. scuffy onsighted it, on or about his 56th birthday, and said he thought that it was .9 and not .10. That was the day he became known as Mr Smooth, BTW.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!