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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 26, 2017 - 12:51pm PT
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Lots of great climbing areas being offered up.....BUT they don't meet the criteria I proposed. They need to have a uniqueness, reputation or quality that draws people from different continents. The Needles, City of Rocks, Elephants Perch, Gunks and others are what I would call national class in that they draw people from all over the states..
Red Rocks might qualify as some foreign climbers have posted on this thread.
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ecdh
climber
the east
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Feb 26, 2017 - 01:47pm PT
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Hyalite
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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Feb 26, 2017 - 02:31pm PT
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Gotta add Needles (CA) IMO,, just so good..The Gunks was but has faded..kinda like Hueco
Maybe the Boulder area, if you include RMNP..but that's like Bishop if you add the Sierra's
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 26, 2017 - 03:14pm PT
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What Donini wrote just upthread is exactly right. Which brings up an important qualifier: our impressions of what is or is not "world class" mutates over time. For example, if this question were posed to the group in 1985, Joshua Tree would easily make almost everyone's list. It was the premier world crossroads for winter rock climbing. Everybody who was anybody came through, and everybody who was nobody was there as well.
But Werner really nails it:
If it's in your heart its world class
If it's only in your head it ain't ......
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Feb 26, 2017 - 03:26pm PT
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Like BVB states what's world class changes with time. Back in the 80's lots of euro,s would make the pilgrimage to Eldo....But not anymore more. Eldo, Yosemite, Jtree, and the Gunks were the top four back then. Yosemite will always make the list.
If yer gonna put Jail House rock out there might as put Devil,s Lake , Wisconsin on the list !
Cheers
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 26, 2017 - 04:00pm PT
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Smith Rocks, 1987, hosted the top climbers from around the globe. It was "world class" by every definition of the term. That is no longer the case.
On the other hand, in the lower 48, Yosemite will always be, and always has been, *the* must-tick world class crag for everyone who owns a rack and a rope. For pure rock climbing, Yosemite is probably alone in a standard that wildly exceeds mere "world class." I think every other crag mentioned in this thread may trend up or down in favor, subject to the dictates of time and trends and taste, but Yosemite is, well, it's the f*#king Valley.
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trailridge127
Trad climber
Loveland, CO
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Feb 26, 2017 - 04:17pm PT
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Rocky Mountain National Park(including lumpy)
The Diamond is not really an area. RMNP is probably world class with much help from the diamond, but great climbing else where in the range.
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Feb 26, 2017 - 04:23pm PT
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ah, devil's lake, wisconsin
many a euro has been spat out there
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 26, 2017 - 05:43pm PT
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Big Rock
Oh hell yeah!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Feb 26, 2017 - 06:14pm PT
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Assuming Jim means only purchase 1 international flight ticket to reach 1 area, then there are very few areas indeed.
Yosemite
Smith Rocks
Donner Summit (could have been in the late 80s early 90s)
American Fork (could have been in the late 80s early 90s)
RRG (perhaps is today's AF)
Red Rocks
Bishop, for sure
Hueco
BC for ice
Zion
and fricking Pinnacles!!!
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timy
Sport climber
Durango
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Feb 26, 2017 - 06:22pm PT
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jeez, I gotta disagree about Indian Creek. Super soft slippery rock that barely holds pro. Thuggish, painful climbing, drab landscape, buncha idiots from Boulder and everywhere else. Dirty. Shitty camp hole. Seems like a bandwagon. Almost anywhere else is preferable.
Ouray rock climbing is getting to be world class.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Feb 26, 2017 - 06:30pm PT
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Ouray is world class ? Better than Jailhouse? Or Eldo ?
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Feb 26, 2017 - 07:21pm PT
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How many worthless climbing areas in the USA?
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Feb 26, 2017 - 08:24pm PT
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I haven't seen Eldorado Canyon pop up once. I know for a fact
that internationals travel here to climb . . .
My .02
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Feb 26, 2017 - 08:45pm PT
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Ouray rock climbing is getting to be world class.
Perhaps Ouray and environs . . . Ophir wall is our Eldorado, but the rock is very different. The Falls wall area also contributes to making Ouray a potential WC destination.
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kpinwalla2
Social climber
WA
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Feb 27, 2017 - 07:54am PT
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When Europeans come here to climb seems they're often looking for great climbing in a unique landscape. Interestingly, two places on my list, RRG and Smith, didn't "take off" as climbing destinations until "European-style" rap-bolting tactics were employed in the 1990s. I started climbing in the 1970s (pre-bolt)in the RRG and many of us thought of it as just our local crag that was hopefully prepping us for the "real thing" out west. I remember the first time I heard a west coast climber say he was traveling back east to climb at "the Red" (what we always called "the gorge") - blew me away.
Yosemite
Smith Rock
City of Rocks
Red River Gorge
Joshua Tree
Desert Towers/Indian Creek
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newport
Sport climber
UK
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Feb 27, 2017 - 08:13am PT
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I think I would distinguish between worth a visit and world class. Out of all the places I've climbed (40+ years, 30+ countries) the standout destination for me is around Moab. I agree that Indian Creek is amazing, but to climb the same splitters on some of the desert towers in Canyonlands, Castle Valley etc. is even better. Not forgetting the Fisher Towers! As others have mentioned, you can't separate the moves from the whole experience of being where the climbs are situated.
I thought we had some world class climbing (such as Pembroke) here in the UK, but it seems we don't meet some peoples' weather criteria!
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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Feb 27, 2017 - 08:40am PT
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World class -
Grit
North Wales
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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Feb 27, 2017 - 03:24pm PT
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Grit would be except for the USA part ?
Gunks for sure was, but Skytop isn't legal anymore,,,and tha'ts the best crag there.
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