Newly Established and Found Routes (Since the '07 Guidebook)

[mungeclimber]

Shorts and T-shirts. Oh the humanity! Where's the snow?

[clink]

 A2 includes awkward placements. Bap, did Brad ever look awkward while on the lead?

[BAP]

Clink,
 Wearing that pair of short shorts, of course he looked awkward.

[clink]

 YES!

Next witness.

[Brad Young]

^^^

The two posters immediately above are dead meat.

[BAP]

me dead.

[F4?]

Leading is shorts like that...I'd prefer not falling.

[mynameismud]

nice pics

[waldo]

Leading while wearing shorts adds new context to overhangs. Are additional ratings needed? G, PG, R, NC-17?

[mynameismud]

Everything with his shorts are x rated.

[Brad Young]

^^^

Envy:

"a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck."

[BAP]

Of Course, we all "long" to wear "short" shorts. 

[clink]

 Alas, Snow White has seven close friends who envy you.




 I must confess that I used to own and wear a powder blue pair of OP shorts in the 80's.

[NOAL]

[waldo]

BAP, nope! My nickname in jr. high gym class was birdlegs.

[clink]

A fun 45 foot aid route which accesses two free climbs above.  The aid consists of...

The climb is on a 100 degree wall. In other words almost all of it overhangs by 10 degrees. This is the gear I placed to lead the pitch today:

-  bolt

-  hook

-  hook

-  hook

-  two fixed pins three inches apart driven very deeply into a horizontal slot/crack

-  bolt

-  bolt

-  hook

-  bolt

-  hook

-  bolt

-  hook

-  bolt

-  bolt

And the last bolt was followed by a few 5.5 free moves to a three bolt anchor (there is a slight stance at the two bolts I set up for rappel, but it is not enough for two climbers to hang on a vertical wall and so a third bolt allows a slightly more comfortable sling belay).

The first three hooks are in incut, deep to very deep pockets in good to very good rock (one could hang a portaledge from them). The upper hooks are almost as bomber, although the holes are not quite as deep.

So this route, The Joy of Hooking: is it 5.5 A1 or is it 5.5 A2?

By the way, the two free climbing routes in the streaks above will be Having Hooked and Once a Hooker.

 Let me know if you want a counterbalance/B-layer.

[mungeclimber]

Has Kev weighed in?

[cobbledik]

Hooks by definition are A2, even if they're bomber. If those 3 hooks are spaced at the extent of one's  reach then you could possibly claim an A3-

That said, if the ALL of the hooks are 100% bomber, you could claim A1+ as that speaks to the experience of the climbing, but for best practices I'd go with an A2 or A2- for the grade.

[Brad Young]

I am unable to post my full response of three short paragraphs.

I will see if it will do the first paragraph:

^^^
Thanks for the additional comments. All I am missing at this point is an end opinion from Rob. I would value that as much as I value the one above from Kevin.

[Brad Young]

Next:


The Kevin comments have me to the point of changing my mind already, however. I was wavering, but leaning toward A1 (and I want to rate it A1). Beyond the thoughts expressed above, the fact that one of the hook placements needs to be made fairly carefully needs to be considered (I looked at it again today while rappelling over it and realized that it isn't as down-and-incut as the others). And, especially, the strenuous nature of the climb. It's slightly less than 40 feet of overhanging aid to the short section where it is vertical. But someone without a fairly smooth aid climbing ability could absolutely burn out and then flail trying to pull themselves up. I think that the best rating is 5.5 A2.