Top __ Most Polished Routes Anywhere

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Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber

Out Of Bed

Jun 21, 2016 - 08:43pm PT

Ho man this

Anything on the Beaver St. Wall in San Francisco. It's a lot like climbing brown glass, but a little smoother.
The 2nd post, from climbrunride, Trad climber, Durango , CO
Aug 18, 2007 - 08:04pm PT

The Uberfall is home to some Qurtzite, that also climbs like glass,
Laurel, & Rhododendron , Bunny Apoplexy, almost the whole base can have that condensation that forms on the polish as the evening temperature changes.
The move to step up the flake a face hold for the left foot of a lay back is completely
Slicked out.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Jun 21, 2016 - 09:04pm PT

There are two very slick areas I've climbed, unlike any place I've been:

Devil's Lake, WI
Ragged Mountain, CT

both of these formations predated friction.

mike m

Trad climber

black hills

Jun 21, 2016 - 10:00pm PT

Buster Douglas in Spearfish Canyon
Durrance on Devil's Tower can feel a little slippery.

Alpinist63

Mountain climber

Jun 21, 2016 - 10:31pm PT

european top destinations to enjoy polished rock:
Massone (Arco) /Italy
Freyr / Belgium (the classics only, the harder routes are ok)

Mighty Hiker

climber

Outside the Asylum

Jun 21, 2016 - 10:32pm PT

Pffft! You need to climb in North Wales to experience real polish. Many routes there were first climbed more than a century ago - in nailed boots. And were climbed repeatedly in nailed boots until the 1950s, then in vibram, and finally in smooth rubber. Plus, it being North Wales, it's either raining, or was recently raining, or soon will be raining. If it's not snowing. Skating rinks in the sky.

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Jun 22, 2016 - 05:14am PT

Yeah Ed, but Devil's Lake is qurtzite. It was slick to start with. It didn't need to get polished to be slick. Big Cottonwood canyon is the same way....

Gary

Social climber

Where in the hell is Major Kong?

Jun 22, 2016 - 06:36am PT

Short Wall in Indian Cove. Those Boy Scouts have really done a number on it.

Levy

Big Wall climber

So Cal

Jun 22, 2016 - 07:18am PT

Precious Powder up at Mirror Lake comes to mind. Super smooth 5.11a, rarely done, kinda sandbagging IMHO.

steve s

Trad climber

eldo

Jun 22, 2016 - 07:32am PT

Devil,s Lake doesn't count as the rock is not polished, it's quartzite and its lack of friction is the nature of the beast. It lends it self to really precise footwork and movement.
The most polished I've climbed on would be Stoney Middleton in Blighty(England ) the climbs are slicker than snot.

Andy Middleton

Trad climber

Cow Hampshire

Jun 22, 2016 - 07:36am PT

Why all the hate for Stoney?
Also i think we could have two categories here; naturally polished, and polished by traffic.

kaholatingtong

Trad climber

Marcus McCoy from somewhere over the rainbow...

Jun 22, 2016 - 07:39am PT

I am surprised no one has mentioned goodrich pinnacle right side yet...that 6th pitch was where I first experienced the squeeking of rubber shoes on granite that Ed refers to...

k-man

Gym climber

SCruz

Jun 22, 2016 - 08:46am PT

Precious Powder up at Mirror Lake ...

Great shorty, once on the cover of Climbing mag, you needed polarized sunnies just to look at the magazine.

From what I've seen, nothing polishes like limestone. That, and Locker's Knob down in Josh.

slabbo

Trad climber

colo south

Jun 22, 2016 - 01:55pm PT

PP is pretty slick, but North Wales slate takes the prize.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Jun 22, 2016 - 02:02pm PT

If you look at the hardness of minerals, and how well sandstones are cemented, that will give you an idea of what areas are going to get slicker with continued use.

First, limestone is pretty much calcite or dolomite. A hardness of only 3 on the Mohs hardness scale. So Limestone routes are probably the most susceptible ones just based on how soft the rock is. You can scratch calcite with your fingernail.

Sandstones are mainly composed of quartz grains that have been weathered out of an igneous rock, transported or even recycled over the ages. The quartz grains are hard. 7 on the hardness scale. You can't scratch quartz with a steel knife. It is harder than steel.

The problem with sandstones is that they are cemented sand grains, and how well they are cemented varies like crazy. I've seen sandstone that I can crush in my hand to individual grains, and I've seen sandstone that is pretty tough. Eldo sandstone is one of the tougher ones that I've climbed on.

What happens over time is that the sand grains get knocked off, because the cement, even if it is quartz overgrowths, is pretty weak. You can take a nail and carve your name in Wingate Sandstone. Not so much in Eldo, but Eldo is mainly face climbing. Indian Creek is mainly crack climbing.

Both will suffer with traffic over time. Wear and tear will knock off grains and holds will get slicker.

Granite is a pretty tough rock. Much harder than shoe rubber, but it remember, it is an assemblage of small crystal grains. Quartz is a major constituent, as are Feldspars, generally orthoclase or plagioclase feldspars. They are softer than quartz.

As a rule, I'd say that hands and shoe rubber won't greatly affect granite, but particles of shoe rubber could be torn off and "coat" the holds.

Following that logic, the Quartz Monzonite in J-Tree should be a little softer than El Cap granite. All Quartz Monzonite is, is a name for granite like rock that has less quartz in it, and more feldspars, which have a hardness of 6, just beneath quartz. It is rough rock, and over time it will chew up shoe rubber and it will coat the holds. You also can mechanically break the grains apart if it isn't well cemented, and wear away holds like that.

Since I've only climbed at Josh once, I don't know how the routes have changed. I know that the granite routes close to home here are still in pretty good shape.

The softer rock like limestone or poorly cemented sandstones will suffer the most. I can imagine Rifle becoming very slick over time, and face holds in SE Utah also breaking or wearing away.

But...calcite is a very soft rock. Limestones, or even sandstones that have calcite face holds (like on the Priest in Castle Valley), are very tender. The face routes along Potash road near Moab started showing wear very quickly. That rock just wasn't made for heavy climbing pressure.

I've seen guys boulder on poorly cemented sandstone. They spray it with a urethane-like spray can to keep it from getting slick over time. That will be a losing battle. Sandstone bouldering will suffer greatly in areas where it isn't cemented well.

I saw that the Bastille Crack is now slick. I did that in like 1976, and never did it again, although we used to hang there after it got too hot in the valley. So even that nice Eldo sandstone is suffering.

Mark Force

Trad climber

Ashland, Oregon

Jun 24, 2016 - 06:25am PT

Great post, Base!

I'm putting in a vote for Stoney Mid!

donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Jun 24, 2016 - 06:41am PT

That's why I will only climb in gyms....they can refurbish and/or use spanking new holds.

fear

Ice climber

hartford, ct

Jun 24, 2016 - 08:47am PT

Interesting.... local rock here is some kind of volcanic basalt. Very small grains and very, very hard. Drilling this stuff takes a long time.

This area has been climbed extensively since the 40's. I can't think of any really super polished holds.

Perhaps most of 'em break right off before they get to that point.