Hardest 5.8 at Joshua Tree

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Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Mar 7, 2019 - 10:54am PT
[Click to View YouTube Video]
The crack route of the same name is .8+ & is sustained at the top

~ Echo Rock ~>E Face.~

I'm sure that Big Al Sent me up Herb's bolted shakefest,,,
(1st EastCoaster,one of very early 1st,of a dozen ascents)
The current .10d seems about right for old school 5.8 Herb Laeger route.







Esparza

Trad climber
Westminster, CA
Mar 7, 2019 - 12:40pm PT
Captain Kronos was super hard for 5.7! I was gripped when I did that way back when. haha
zip

Trad climber
pacific beach, ca
Mar 7, 2019 - 03:19pm PT
Bikini Whale ? 😳
Kalimon

Social climber
Ridgway, CO
Mar 7, 2019 - 07:52pm PT
TS Special.
Fat Dad

Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
Mar 7, 2019 - 09:13pm PT
^^^
Yes! Groveling around that roof is heady stuff. This thread is taking me back. While I agree that Dogleg has that hard move at the bottom, I hopped on ZZZZ when it was rated.8, and it now, what? Kind of runout .10a/b? Same with The Deviate, which had a great photo in the old Wolfe guide that made you want to hop on it. I was probably 14 or 15. Humbling.
jeff constine

Trad climber
Ao Namao
Mar 7, 2019 - 09:27pm PT
What about The Flue 5.8 hmmmm
Fat Dad

Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
Mar 7, 2019 - 09:43pm PT
^^^
Did that around the same time. Kind of sketchy at the bottom as well.
G_Gnome

Trad climber
Cali
Mar 8, 2019 - 08:42am PT
The Flue was the second route I ever led, or climbed. The only reason I didn't die on it was cause I was too stubborn to fall off. I really don't think my one stopper would have saved me.
Largo

Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
Mar 8, 2019 - 09:09am PT
Ah, yes. The Deviate. Seemd like the shizzle when I did it back in high school in Robbins boots.
Spider Savage

Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
Mar 8, 2019 - 09:11am PT
Any 5.8 FA Herb Laeger.


I have not climbed many of those mentioned but would remark that Breakfast of Champions at 5.8 has a start that will totally spit you out. Once you get past that it's quite a bit less than 5.8. So don't mind the 80 ft runout at the end. You probably won't fall off the 5.0 finish and fall 160 feet to the ground. (You'll die hitting ledges and other features on the way down.)
Fat Dad

Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
Mar 9, 2019 - 10:52am PT
^^^
I don’t think that most are referring to the actual crack itself on Dogleg but that tricky move off the deck.
AP

Trad climber
Calgary
Mar 9, 2019 - 02:03pm PT
It seems the first 10 feet off the deck doesn't count in the grading, O'Kelleys crack for example.
Ksolem

Trad climber
Monrovia, California
Mar 9, 2019 - 03:20pm PT
Justthemaid:

Hey Kris- I was trying to find that really funny post you made at one point about how difficulty ratings REALLY line up numerically at J-Tree. It was sort of spot on. LOL.

It was in some sort of silliness between Tarbuster and me.

Roy - I love those topo's. That stuff is great! (I wasn't trying to call you out on that rating thing, just havin' silly fun..) We always used to have a joke about Josh grades, and how they really work this way: .10a, .10c, .10b, .9+, .11a, .11b, .11c, .10d, .11d, and so on....

The Frog

Trad climber
West Allis WI
Mar 18, 2019 - 08:47am PT
Continuum, 5.8+. John Long route if memory serves. When I led that, a buddy who had led a nearby 10a cleaned it and at the top said, "Well, that was a grade harder than what I just did..."
Ballo

Trad climber
Mar 18, 2019 - 09:33am PT
According to my 1979 guide book, zigzag is a 7
Brian in SLC

Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 18, 2019 - 10:32am PT
Always thought Bouissonier was hard for 5.7. Heck...hard for 5.8!
Jay

Trad climber
Fort Mill, SC
Mar 18, 2019 - 11:10am PT
I agree that Dogleg is a hard 5.8 for JT standards. Maybe that is why it's rated 5.8+ (or it was in the guidebook I had many years ago). Debating moderate sandbags is an interesting business. I think there is a lot of value when the opinions come from the folks who are closest to their limits on such routes. And the information is most valuable to others at the same relative skill level, but probably not so much to those to regularly OS routes that are orders of magnitude above the range.
I was a fairly inexperience climber when I did Dogleg back in ‘95. I did Bishops Terrace and Nutcracker in the Valley earlier that year and I had maybe 20 other pitches of easier trad leads and under my belt. Dogleg was the most challenging route I had touched up to that point and was the first time I hung on gear.
That said, it's not really all that hard compared to some 8s I've done in NC and TN. In fact, not even close. Go to Moore's Wall in NC near Winston Salem, or the Tennessee Wall near Chattanooga. There you'll find some 8s that are serious sandbags. Gear is excellent at T-Wall, so no big deal. Moore's Wall is a different story, watch the hell out!

2nd on Bouissonier
berg

Trad climber
los angeles, ca
Mar 18, 2019 - 04:22pm PT
i agree with Captain Kronos. hardest/scariest 5.7 lead for a barely 5.7 leader. mountain project has it now at 5.9 R.
brian benedon

Trad climber
tucson
Mar 18, 2019 - 07:21pm PT
Double Cross was 5.7 when my wife and I did it. She was pretty mad.
I watched some guy drag a different sucker up Dogleg unroped day after day.
Tom Patterson

Trad climber
Seattle
Mar 19, 2019 - 06:01am PT
I remember Pinched Rib being 5.7 (which is why I used to lead it, even after it became a 5.10--unbeknownst to me, and many). Always struck me as a sandbag, but the number made me believe it was no big deal. I also remember the sitting, unprotected hip belay in the scooped out part at the top.
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