Discussion Topic |
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 18, 2007 - 07:59pm PT
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Mine:
Sherry's Crack, Pat and Jack. The snot-slick starting feet are completely useless.
Bloody Crack, Looking Glass. Hideous abuse by toproping campers has rendered this once-innocuous line way harder than the original 5.7 rating.
Bastille Crack, Eldo. Ascended approximately 7 times/hr between March and October since about 1962.
(Hey, looks like Rob likes cracks. He'd have more to say if he ever went to Rifle)
Honorable mentions:
Lena's Lieback (and most of Swan Slabs)
That other thing by the Bishop's Terrace with the greasy fingers.
Crackattack, Way Rambo, Generic...most of the Supercrack Buttress in fact. Wingate seems to have a half-life, unfortunately.
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climbrunride
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Aug 18, 2007 - 08:04pm PT
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Anything on the Beaver St. Wall in San Francisco. It's a lot like climbing brown glass, but a little smoother.
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Brett Pierce
climber
Colorado Springs
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Aug 18, 2007 - 08:05pm PT
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Aren't you supposed to working the Fish Hatchery aid station right now?
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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Aug 18, 2007 - 08:06pm PT
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whats beaver street wall?
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 18, 2007 - 08:23pm PT
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Only one guy has come in yet, unwad yer panties.
I'll be there around 8.
Hey, we're grilling tonight, come on over.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Aug 18, 2007 - 08:51pm PT
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Try some of the popular classics on English limestone.
D
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 18, 2007 - 09:07pm PT
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Wouldn't the most polished routes anywhere be in Poland, or at least climbed by Polish climbers?
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Rock!...oopsie.
Trad climber
pitch above you
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Aug 18, 2007 - 09:35pm PT
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Ken's Crack in the Gunks gets the double treatment... half the time it's a waterfall, the other half the time it has legions of climbers marching up it. Smooooooooooth. At least the chalk get washed off regularly.
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Wild Bill
climber
Ca
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Aug 18, 2007 - 10:04pm PT
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Beaver St. wall is in (I think) Corona Heights playground area. Polished hard mud, friable but slick.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Aug 18, 2007 - 10:07pm PT
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sunny side bench: Jam Crack - honorable mention at least, and that was 15 years ago...
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libby!
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Aug 18, 2007 - 10:58pm PT
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Rebel without a pause, red rock
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 18, 2007 - 11:01pm PT
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Do tell, Warbler, I have no idea who Sherry is.
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T Moses
Trad climber
Paso Robles
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Aug 19, 2007 - 12:08am PT
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I second the motion for Sunnyside Jamcrack.
First pitch of After Six is purty polished too.
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murcy
climber
San Fran Cisco
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Aug 19, 2007 - 01:55am PT
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beaver street wall is a pretty fun 2.5 routes or so from 5.9 to 5.11. all the routes converge after 20 vertical feet or so. the top-rope anchor is a heavy chain around a fence-post at the top of the crag. they recently built a bizarre second fence shielding the part of the main fence with the chain-post. you can squeeze between the two fences, though.
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Greyalien
Trad climber
NJ
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Aug 19, 2007 - 02:33am PT
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Every problem on the camp 4 circuit...
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James
climber
A tent in the redwoods
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Aug 19, 2007 - 05:27am PT
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The junk at Mortar/Indian rock- super polished crappy rhyolite or any of the 5.11 "warmups" in Rifle. Those Colorado holds feel like bars of soap. Oh, and the Water crack on Lembert Dome in Toulumne. Lucho onsight free-soloed that thing barefoot back in the day. He must've had an inch of pine sap on his feet for them to stick.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Aug 19, 2007 - 07:35am PT
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Good call on Sherry's.
Nasty Rifle polish (the rope grooves are trippy). Found some of the 12's more polished than glass. I had to make up alternate beta to send one thing, couldn't use the 1/4" wide foothold on redpoint...could off the dog, barely.
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snyd
Sport climber
Lexington, KY
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Aug 19, 2007 - 08:19am PT
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Chimpanzadrome. First 13a on the continent and located at the crag closest to Paris. Like glass.
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TwistedCrank
climber
Luxury rehabilitation treatment facility in Boise
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Aug 19, 2007 - 10:28am PT
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Step it Up and Go in TM. But that was polished to begin with.
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rick d
Social climber
tucson, az
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Aug 19, 2007 - 11:56am PT
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anything at carderock, from kindergarten & beginners to merv's nerve.
most have been climbed every 7 times/ hour since 1940
(except rainy days or flooding).
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slobmonster
Trad climber
berkeley, ca
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Aug 19, 2007 - 12:02pm PT
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If Sherry's Crack was sandstone, by now the thing would be fists.
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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Aug 19, 2007 - 12:22pm PT
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How about Midterm and Trial By Fire?
Ken
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Aug 19, 2007 - 02:46pm PT
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Roger that Ken! Midterm sent me for a fifty footer when a fist jam squirted out long ago. Even Tom Frost recalled how slippery that one was on the FA!
My vote goes to the start of every route on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon. Thirty years ago the start to the Jackson -Johnson was rated 5.8 and was easily two grades harder! Then came the wave......can't even imagine the polish by now.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Aug 19, 2007 - 03:12pm PT
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Church Bowl Tree.
The slabby bit of varnish on There and Back Again in Red Rocks.
The first 4 on the Nose.
There's a giant arch of polish (that goes all the way across the formation) on one of the formations (which one?) in Tuolumne that can blind you at the road if you catch it in the right light. Do any routes cross it?
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Aug 19, 2007 - 03:30pm PT
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Water Cracks, T-Meadows...
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Aug 19, 2007 - 03:36pm PT
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anything on the apron, with a bullet for "misty beethoven" pure glass.
plus some of those upper pitches on hall of mirrors. according to woodward, who has some experience in this area, the most holdless rok EVAR.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Aug 19, 2007 - 07:18pm PT
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not 'most' but Right side of La Cosita start always 'slips' me up. both times I was on it even. ;)
Great Falls NP, holy sheep deep that stuff is slicker than goose sh#t.
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Jeremy Handren
climber
NV
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Aug 19, 2007 - 07:28pm PT
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This discussion ends right here! Any route at Stoney Middleton in the english Peak District. The slimiest, most polished rock known to man.
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J. Werlin
climber
Cedaredge
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Aug 19, 2007 - 07:40pm PT
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I, too, was thinking midterm and the church bowl rig.
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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Aug 19, 2007 - 11:38pm PT
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Brintons Crack 5.6, Devils Lake, WI.
quartzite thats slippery anyways, probably one of the single most popular routes in the entire Midwest, people been running up and down it daily since the 1940's.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Aug 20, 2007 - 01:44am PT
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Jamcrack? Really? I don't find it that polished... I think Church Bowl Tree is considerably more polished. What about that slanting rail thing on Midnight Lightning? The crux pitch of The Rostrum, off the ledge seems pretty polished to me. Wait... maybe that's just bad footwork!
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Aug 20, 2007 - 02:55am PT
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You said "anywhwere"...... Without a doubt it is 'Via delle Guide" on the Torre Grande in the Dolomites. First climbed in 1930 this route probably sees at least five ascents a day and the limestone on the crux move is so polished you can almost see the look of astonishment on your face and 5.5 becomes way harder!
Bruce
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elcap-pics
climber
Crestline CA
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Aug 20, 2007 - 10:42am PT
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Yo... Spiderwalk... carderock MD.
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AbeFrohman
Trad climber
new york, NY
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Aug 20, 2007 - 01:39pm PT
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I'll give a second for Ken's Crack in the Gunks.
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wilcox510
climber
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Aug 20, 2007 - 02:47pm PT
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Almost every route I've done at American Fork. I wouldn't have thought of Way Rambo or those other IC routes as polished. Some of them definitely show some wear, but they arent slippery.
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overit
Trad climber
Boulder
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Aug 20, 2007 - 03:16pm PT
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Face start of Country Club Crack
Every warm-up at Rifle
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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Aug 20, 2007 - 03:55pm PT
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some of the routes mentioned here show an obvious unfamiliarity with what real polished stuff is all aboot.
though i resulted to draw grabbing to get up that part of country club crack, the term 'polished' never occured to me. i just called it 'hard'.
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Aug 20, 2007 - 04:09pm PT
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Smoothest - I don't remember the cliff name, but it's in Alaska to the right of the Portage Glacier. The crag that is on the left side toe of a glacier coming down into the Portage glacier is by far the smoothest, most glacier polished, and steepest smooth crag I've ever climbed on - horrendous....
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Aug 20, 2007 - 04:17pm PT
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I'm with Jeremy. Anyone who has not climbed at Stoney Middleton has missed the benchmark for polished holds, against which all other polished holds must be compared.
Barring that, I'm willing to consider the Water Cracks as a second. Compared to that, even Misty Beethoven (yes I've done it)is grippy.
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DavisGunkie
Trad climber
Davis, CA
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Aug 20, 2007 - 04:23pm PT
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diedre, squamish
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Mark
climber
bend, oregon
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Aug 20, 2007 - 04:35pm PT
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the 5.9 start to nutcracker.
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landcruiserbob
Trad climber
the ville, colorado
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Aug 20, 2007 - 04:46pm PT
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-Bastille Crack, the move from the flake to the start of the crack.Everybody & their mother make that move.
-Every 5.11 in rifle.
-The first 2 moves on midnight lighting;every greasy dirtbag in the valley has touched it.(sorry boulder problem)
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Aug 20, 2007 - 05:39pm PT
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"the 5.9 start to nutcracker"
Absolutely.
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Aug 20, 2007 - 05:48pm PT
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Laurel at Gunks, which Swain calls "the most often done 5.7 in the Gunks." This is probably climbed 10 hours on weekends and dozens of times on weekdays.
It is also the climb where you will most often see someone with a towel or rug swatch for whiping shoes before the start!
If you want to see somebody deck on a 5.7 just hang out here for an hour or two. (NTYWWTDT!)
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Matt
Trad climber
always on the lookout for ed's 5.10 OW van
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Aug 20, 2007 - 07:56pm PT
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i was gonna say the starts to sherry's and midterm, on a warm day (guess i'n not alone)
parts of crest jewel are pretty slick, but so low angle it's not hard climbing
some of that glacial polish stuff in and around the meadows too
what about the crux bulge on leanie meanie?
the upper 5.11 (slab) pitch on freeblast (again, in the sun)
twilight zone (yuk)
and of course, a few of the more popular routes at ORG
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marty(r)
climber
beneath the valley of ultravegans
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Aug 20, 2007 - 08:23pm PT
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Inside of "Generator Crack" and the fist/shoulder/butt-sized sections of "Midterm."
Anything at the Wall of Glass or lower lot at Roubidoux.
Date-less climber's palms on a Friday night. And maybe Saturday.
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Rocky5000
Trad climber
Falls Church, VA
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Aug 20, 2007 - 10:22pm PT
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Many very smooth short climbs along the Potomac, due to the millennia of floods working on the fine-grained schist: Merv's Nerve, Ender, Soapstone, Winter's Tale, the Diehedral, Randomly Vicious, etc. And yet right around the corner one encounters excellent texture, where neither floods nor climbers have done much harm. But nothing teaches you the outer limits of what shoes and balance can do like a couple of years at Carderock.
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E.L. "One"
Big Wall climber
Lancaster, California
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Aug 20, 2007 - 10:33pm PT
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Fat Dad & Jeremy,
I'm with you......Stoney Middleton is absolutely the benchmark.
If you're solid on 5.10 in the states, don't even think of attempting anything harder than VS at Stoney. It is the slickest, slimiest, and most un-nerving sh#t I've ever climbed on! Nutcracker at Mission Gorge in San Diego comes in a distant second !!!
Cracko
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Aug 20, 2007 - 11:46pm PT
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If I put up a route and they up the grade later due to polishing do I get the credit for the harder grade?
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Aug 21, 2007 - 12:48am PT
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They call it the Hall of Mirrors for a reason...
If your shoes don't make squeaky sounds when you climb it, like you were rubbing a balloon, it doesn't qualify.
Peace
Karl
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Mar 18, 2015 - 03:48am PT
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This bump is overdue, the Gunks now resemble the name. The first ten feet of everything is like glass.
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mcolombo
Trad climber
Heidelberg, Germany
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Mar 18, 2015 - 03:52am PT
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Freyer Belgum, awesome place but I almost craped myself on the last moves of a route that should have only been like a 5a but the end was so slippery and rounded it seemed trying to hold on to and stand on oiled bowling balls.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Mar 18, 2015 - 05:59am PT
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Not even a question - hands down it's the glass at Devils Lake. Hell, chalk doesn't even stick to the stuff and makes the Bastille Crack look like it's covered with 60 grit sandpaper by comparison.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Mar 18, 2015 - 08:19am PT
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healyja, I have not been back to those blocks in thirty years.
They were slicked out then!!
I can not imagine the Polished starts now, after all the buffing, after decades of top roping!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Mar 18, 2015 - 08:22am PT
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Try sport climbing nearly anywhere in Europe.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
sawatch choss
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2015 - 08:26am PT
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Hey let's not forget the Durrance Route on DeTo.
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Mar 18, 2015 - 08:30am PT
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Mentioned earlier, most routes at Carderock.
Most polish value at 95 degrees and 95% humidity...
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Mar 18, 2015 - 08:40am PT
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hoipolloi asks, whats beaver street wall?
Hahaha, I think the word "wall" woke up his curiosity.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Mar 18, 2015 - 08:58am PT
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The trough, Big Rock CA
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Mar 18, 2015 - 10:42am PT
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There's a couple back by the water fall at Great Falls Basin which are as polished as granite can get.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Mar 18, 2015 - 10:51am PT
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I'm thinking 1st pitch of Athlete's Feat (with a mantel to boot) and Moby Dick Center.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Mar 18, 2015 - 11:02am PT
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Hogwash in Tuolumne is slick as hell...that gold glacial polish is unbelievably smooth as everyone knows...makes my hands sweat thinking about some of those polishy runouts...
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Mar 18, 2015 - 11:19am PT
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Two words, one polished place: Baldy Boulders.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Mar 18, 2015 - 11:27am PT
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Church Bowl Tree may be greasy, but the most polished I've run across has been in river gorges in low water. Anyone done the Muir Gorge recently? If not, it looks like this would be a good year.
Most polished I've encountered on a climb is probably the start of Bridalveil East, although I was never sure if I was really on route.
John
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Mar 18, 2015 - 11:37am PT
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Yin on the Yin Yang up at Sentinel, squeaky feet out right there.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Mar 18, 2015 - 12:07pm PT
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C Wall at Quincy Quarries.
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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Mar 18, 2015 - 12:13pm PT
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Clint,,you beat me to it. The only routes of comparable slime would be welsh Slate or maybe , as posted earlier Stoney Middleton in the UK.
Caderrock trales these nightmares by a lot
Strand
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Mar 18, 2015 - 12:33pm PT
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Jleaz,
Did Muir Gorge last year, it was fun. Low water, one mandatory swim and definitely some ultra slick rock.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Mar 18, 2015 - 01:07pm PT
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Thanks, Inner City.
John
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Mar 18, 2015 - 01:23pm PT
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Everything at CarderRock.
Classic Crack at Broughton's Bluff...yikes. And stop pawing at Tip City please. It was easy a few years ago, but is starting to surprise me.
I didn't think Ken's Crack was that horrible - but it's been 5 years.
I found Pitch 1 of most routes on Manure Pile and El Cap were slippery. The rock was sweeter the higher you go - showing that the polishers don't get too far.
Solution - you take lead 1. I'll take the next.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 18, 2015 - 01:32pm PT
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The opening moves of the Jackson-Johnson on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon.
Started out 5.8 but slicked up to borderline 5.10 back in the 70s and is likely even harder now.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jun 21, 2016 - 10:13am PT
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Burnin' Oil
Trad climber
CA
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Jun 21, 2016 - 10:30am PT
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^^ Looks similar to The Great Circle. That brown veneer is super slick.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Jun 21, 2016 - 10:32am PT
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Steve, do you mean Jackson's Wall direct? That has gotten real slippery.
Jackson-Johnson is a route on Hallet I think.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Jun 21, 2016 - 11:08am PT
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"Ego Booster" and "Ego Buster" at Ragged Mtn CT. I think "Ego Buster" was the really slick one.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jun 21, 2016 - 11:40am PT
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White Slabs Direct on Snow Creek Wall*. It's only '5.9' but it usually
has a nice layer of fine sand liberally distributed AND hard to see!
*Leavenworth, WA
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neversummer
climber
30 mins. from suicide USA
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Jun 21, 2016 - 12:45pm PT
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the trough...big rock...easy but greasy
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Jun 21, 2016 - 01:28pm PT
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Most polished, if as in it has had the most polishing done to it, has got to be the cables route on half dome, if you consider it a route.
3 feet wide path, hundreds of feet long of slick as snot rock, while the natural rock to the sites is pretty grippy.
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Jun 21, 2016 - 02:00pm PT
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Water Cracks in Tuolomne.
Mission Gorge in San Diego...
Gallwas Crack and Nutcracker always humiliated me with that slick snot.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 21, 2016 - 07:19pm PT
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The start of midterm, every route in rifle, the first face crux on Freestone....
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Jun 21, 2016 - 08:43pm PT
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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.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jun 21, 2016 - 09:04pm PT
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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.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jun 21, 2016 - 10:00pm PT
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Buster Douglas in Spearfish Canyon
Durrance on Devil's Tower can feel a little slippery.
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Alpinist63
Mountain climber
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Jun 21, 2016 - 10:31pm PT
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european top destinations to enjoy polished rock:
Massone (Arco) /Italy
Freyr / Belgium (the classics only, the harder routes are ok)
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Jun 21, 2016 - 10:32pm PT
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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.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 22, 2016 - 05:14am PT
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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....
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Gary
Social climber
Where in the hell is Major Kong?
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Jun 22, 2016 - 06:36am PT
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Short Wall in Indian Cove. Those Boy Scouts have really done a number on it.
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Levy
Big Wall climber
So Cal
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Jun 22, 2016 - 07:18am PT
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Precious Powder up at Mirror Lake comes to mind. Super smooth 5.11a, rarely done, kinda sandbagging IMHO.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Jun 22, 2016 - 07:32am PT
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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.
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Andy Middleton
Trad climber
Cow Hampshire
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Jun 22, 2016 - 07:36am PT
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Why all the hate for Stoney?
Also i think we could have two categories here; naturally polished, and polished by traffic.
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
Marcus McCoy from somewhere over the rainbow...
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Jun 22, 2016 - 07:39am PT
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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...
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Jun 22, 2016 - 08:46am PT
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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.
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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Jun 22, 2016 - 01:55pm PT
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PP is pretty slick, but North Wales slate takes the prize.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Jun 22, 2016 - 02:02pm PT
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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.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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Jun 24, 2016 - 06:25am PT
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Great post, Base!
I'm putting in a vote for Stoney Mid!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jun 24, 2016 - 06:41am PT
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That's why I will only climb in gyms....they can refurbish and/or use spanking new holds.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Jun 24, 2016 - 08:47am PT
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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.
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TahoeHangDogger
climber
Olympic Valley, CA
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Jun 24, 2016 - 11:02am PT
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+1 for Midnight lightning, it has the biggest foot hold ive ever just slipped off.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 24, 2016 - 12:17pm PT
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That's why I will only climb in gyms....they can refurbish and/or use spanking new holds.
You mean people still climb outside? Ewwwww?
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Jun 25, 2016 - 09:22am PT
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first move off the ground for Rixons
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