WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
|
|
|
Jan 21, 2013 - 07:57pm PT
|
|
|
Footloose
Trad climber
Lake Tahoe
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 21, 2013 - 08:07pm PT
|
Lucky dogs!
Looks like it was a beautiful day down there. Thanks for posting up.
How you'd guys make out on Walking Jack?
On sight? Red point? Hanging jack? :)
|
|
WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
|
|
|
Jan 21, 2013 - 08:14pm PT
|
It was beautiful up there, some hanging jack indeed. Not too much but still getting used to protecting those funky flaring cracks. Placed my #5 down low and thought I was clever...then got up higher where others have said a 6 is necessary...and quickly realized why. "AH SHET!" my #6 was gleaming in the sun on the ground nearby where I had placed it after deciding I wouldn't be needing it. Still didn't need it, made the moves and kept on rolling.
I had never been on Walking Jack before and I think that it is orders of magnitude easier than Sun Wall, Left. If SWL is 10c, then this thing is 10b? 10a?
I would rate it an honest 10+ but SWL is way more burly.
|
|
moosedrool
Trad climber
lost, far away from Poland
|
|
|
Jan 21, 2013 - 10:25pm PT
|
Thank you WML.
|
|
Jebus H Bomz
climber
Reno, Nuh VAAAA duh
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 06:07am PT
|
A #6 on Walking Jack? I think I led it safely with a 3.5" friend as the big piece? I love that crack, it's some good trad bouldering. I'm pretty sure it's not 5.10a though, Weston, you have a fascinating grade-o-meter ;).
|
|
WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 07:02am PT
|
Jebus, I had read your comment on MP about bringing one to sew it up since I was pushing it grade-wise and considered dragging it up the thing but left it on the ground. just made for some exciting moves.
In no way do I think Walking Jack is actually 10a, fair 10c/+ish. I'm just saying that Sun Wall Left, comparatively, is extremely stiff for the grade.
|
|
Ron Anderson
Trad climber
Soon to be Nipple suckling Liberal
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 08:32am PT
|
Yur just experiencing the grading of one Mr Jay Smith..Those sum wall routes,, all Jay..;-)
|
|
Footloose
Trad climber
Lake Tahoe
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2013 - 08:42am PT
|
On the Perfect Lieback, it's always an issue for me: Where to put that first piece! Among other things, running it out can mean you REALLY REALLY trust your belayer. :)
That five foot section on Walking Jack has always humbled me. Maybe this season will be different, haha.
(If any of you guys rolling through the Carson Valley try out Sunny Delight at CV Sentinel, please let me know on the grade and rating, I'm looking for a consensus. So far it's 5.10 (not 5.9 afterall) and more than comparable in star quality to Dinosaur Rock's Color Me Gone. Sorry, Ron, lol. )
|
|
WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 09:09am PT
|
Footloose, you referring to the thin hands cranking 5' section?
Ron, indeed...Sun Wall Left is definitely a bag at the grade. I think old skool 10d is fair.
|
|
Footloose
Trad climber
Lake Tahoe
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2013 - 09:16am PT
|
wml, yes, that flaring and frustrating (for me) crack section.
(Though I'd like to add I have a partner who not only floats it, but pauses in the middle of it after placing pro to beta me. Basterd, lol!)
|
|
WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 09:59am PT
|
That was without a doubt the crux for me as well. Weird, flaring, and strenuous to place good pro in. But again, I'm also not a good climber.
|
|
BurnRockBurn
climber
South of Black Rock City (CC,NV)
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 11:00am PT
|
Nice to see the Fords getting its winter gathering going on. Damn I need a break from work to get back out there......
I miss my second "Home"
Shawn
|
|
Jebus H Bomz
climber
Reno, Nuh VAAAA duh
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 06:14pm PT
|
In no way do I think Walking Jack is actually 10a, fair 10c/+ish. I'm just saying that Sun Wall Left, comparatively, is extremely stiff for the grade.
I'd agree on SWL. I consider it 5.11a, although it's been more than a year since I got on it.
Woodfords is a Tahoe crag that doesn't seem to have the consensus other Tahoe crags do. Maybe that reflects true old school Tahoe area grades, not the creeping influence of road trippers and day trippers from the near west. To continue the dull rubric of comparison (at least on my ruler): If Cat Scratch Fever is 5.10a, I Be Jammin is easy 5.8+/9. If SWL is 5.10c, then Walking Jack is probably 5.10b, etc., etc....
For consistency, I mostly compare against the standard I see at other Tahoe crags to arrive at my personal grade, not using some sand bagged things at Woodfords to serve as my ruler against the climbs there. I mean, hell, you can go to Snowshed and rate everything by Karl's Gym if you want, but then Peter Principle is going to be 5.10c ;).
For true sand bagging at the Fords, go do a 5.9/10a called the Utah/NV border that is by the Hillside Strangler. It's the sneaky man's way of saying 5.9+! A Danno route I doubt many 5.10+ trad leaders will onsight. I wouldn't call it a great route, but it will certainly bitch slap the f*#k out of your ego if you hold to the grade.
|
|
WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 06:46pm PT
|
You mean Karl's gym and Nova aren't the golden standard for grading at Snowshed???! :-)
|
|
rick sumner
Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
|
|
|
Jan 22, 2013 - 08:57pm PT
|
mr. burnrockburn, that april fools wall route you be doing looks an awful lot like a route Greg Dexter and i did 2 years ago. Wasn't no bolt, except near the top if i remember correctly, after we were done-just sayin....
|
|
Jebus H Bomz
climber
Reno, Nuh VAAAA duh
|
|
|
Jan 23, 2013 - 08:24am PT
|
You mean Karl's gym and Nova aren't the golden standard for grading at Snowshed???! :-)
I got cleanly up Nova as a gym gumby crack n00b. 8+, tops ;).
Karl's Gym may just be a stylistic thing for me, some people find it easier than I do, but it sure seems harder than the 11- cracks I've done in the Donner area. Lead, TR, whatever, that crack dislikes me.
I guess it comes down to crag versus area ratings. In fact, I find grades remarkably consistent at most all the CA trad crags. From Joshua Tree to Tahquitz, Needles to Tuolumne, High Sierra to the Tahoe area, I'm never really thinking the grades are systematically off kilter (maybe Open Book was 5.10b though, hahaha).
There is a standard at Woodfords established by Smith and crew on certain routes, however, so it's a choice of honoring it or whitewashing it. I have my opinion of what the routes should be rated, of course, but if you honor the original while knowing it's going to be a testpiece there is really no harm except, perhaps, to the ego. I just don't think that standard necessarily applies to grading other routes, it's more of an asterisk deal.
|
|
WML
climber
Biggest Little City, NV
|
|
|
Jan 23, 2013 - 08:43am PT
|
8+ you say? Sounds fair ;-)
|
|
Ron Anderson
Trad climber
Soon to be Nipple suckling Liberal
|
|
|
Jan 23, 2013 - 08:49am PT
|
Hmmm... Ok,,it wasnt that other routs were actually compared with any others for the rating. It was the TIMES.. Those times when the letter suffix thing was still in its infancy really. We didnt know for sure what the diff between a 10A (which back then was considered harder than just 10),, or a 10 B.. Reluctance of adding a letter was high.. If you think rating a climb today can be a little confusing,, try being the ones using the letter grades for the first time.
|
|
Chim-Chim
climber
|
|
|
Jan 23, 2013 - 09:55am PT
|
Heh Rick, I think your mistaken to have claimed that you and Dexter climbed April Fools before Shawn and I. That picture he posted is at least four years old. When we climbed it on April Fools day four or five years ago there were no bolts, just sayin. Dan
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!