Low end grades

[chameleon]

Teth, I'm pretty sure you're thinking "4th class" being the scrambling vs. 5.4. I've been on plenty of 5.4s that are more than scrambling. I think the "hands are needed" when it gets into 5.0. I could be wrong though.

Steve, Main Face was a lot less wet than I was expecting, but Egully was dripping of course. I hooked up with Scott, Rich, and Conan. The boyz were kind enough to supply ropes, gear, food, and I even got a free pair of shoes out of the deal!! Rich took us up Anniversary. Then we did Up Over Down Under (sweet!!!) with a finish on Birthday (even sweeter - I forgot how hard Main Face 10b can be!). Rode the send train on Skinny Dippin' and finished the day on Point of View. It was a great day.

Did you find another Crag X for us?

[mike]

The way I had it figured was that class 3 was no hands, class 4 was hand assisted scrambling with no rope.
Once you get into the 5.x's you enter the world of the rope.

45 minutes eh? I'll remember that.

[The Teth]

OK, that makes sense. So 5.1 through 5.3 are probably only climbed on mountaineering routes? I have never seen a 5.3 listed in a guide book for rock climbing.

Yeah Mike, 45 minutes is a good rule of thumb, but the time varies according to the comfort level of your spouse. You can get away with a lot more if it is worm and sunny with no bugs, but if she is cold and hungry I would keep it to ten to twenty minutes max. Remember, your enjoyment of your climbing outing is completely dependent on your spouse’s comfort, so make sure she is dressed appropriately and has enough to eat. If she develops an interest in climbing she will put up with a lot more, but you can’t count on that.

[Fred]

I have never seen a 5.3 listed in a guide book for rock climbing.

There are lots in Welsford. Also, 5.3's at the Gunks have spit off even experienced climbers.

[The Mitt]

First pitch of Sea of Holes is like 5.1 and the last 10 feet are scarry. Most of the Standard route are less than 5.5 and can make a 5.8 climber soil themselves.

Mitt

[mike]

Hehehe- I'm definitely learning.

Stealing the title of my favorite route name ever- Hesitation Breeds Chaos- I was able to coax my new wifey into the pool for a bit of apres bar, sans atire swimming at the local fancy pants hotel. Managed to stay under the 45 minute time limit.

Had to bribe the gater security guard a whopping $2.50 to keephis mouth shut about the wet hair. Might be fun to do again some night.... or even every night!

I can't recall ever seeing a mountaineering route with a pitch graded 5.1... I guess that might be something that guides in Europe say to make fat, overaged American tourists (or super fit overaged Canadian Lawers on sabatical ) feel special about accomplishing something and not caring about the big dineros that they just forked out.

It may also be super old school, when the aristocrats were all jumping on the climbing wagon- I mean 5.10 was as hard as it ever got back in the day.

I'd guess that most mountaineers today wouldn't bother to rope up on anything up to around 5.5- 5.6, it's just too slow. That of course, is a personal opinion and certainly not a rule of thumb.

Mike

[peter]

Ouch! Get back in that pool!

Now this superfit previously out-of-work lawyer has climbed one three-star 5.2 route in his life, and here it is:

"Easy Overhang (aka Easy O) 5.2 G *** FA: Hans Kraus, Susanne Simon, 1940 - The Gunks, NY

I have a picture on my desktop at work of climbing it in amazing Apocalpse Now style mist, after a heavy day of rain. If I can figure out how, I will post a pic.

As a teenage canoe trip buddy of mine once said, while sitting in a river in Northern Ontario naked, trying to get minnows to come close enough to graze on his member, "Don't knock it 'til you tried it." (True story)

Pete

[mike]

Is yer friend a lawyer too? Crazy lawyers!

One of my teenage friends was sporting only a towel, whilst riding the hood of another good friends car, on the way back from some coed, back to nature, drunken swim lessons. Apparently his sexual bent leaned more towards the winds of mother nature, rather than the mouths of small fish, for as the vehicular movement-induced wind ripped the towel from his otherwise naked body, he prowdly announced to everyone within ears reach, that the car no longer needed a hood ornament, as it now possessed a dorsal fin.

(also true)

[granite_grrl]

OK, that makes sense. So 5.1 through 5.3 are probably only climbed on mountaineering routes? I have never seen a 5.3 listed in a guide book for rock climbing.

I'm not sure if the rock in NS really lends itself to climbs of easy grades. The best area that I can think of with amazing 5.5 and under routes is the Gunks, but I have also climbed some great easier climbs at Bon Echo in Ontario. There are 5.3s at the Gunks that'll make you quiver. I'm not sure if its so much the difficulty of the moves, but the exposure and height makes a huge differnece.

So no, they are not just climbed as mountaineering routes. They are excellent 1 to 3 (maybe more) pitch routes that stand on their own as good routes.

[The Teth]

Humm, The Mit should have also copied over my previous post as without it this thread lacks some context. Oh well.

Ok, having considered the exposure of being 30 feet up on a ladder I can see how an exposed 5.1 could be a fun climb. The rock would have to have pockets like Swiss cheese, or spikes like in pillow lava basalt I suppose to have a 5.1 grade and still be steep enough for exposure. I think Rebecca is right about NS Granite not lending itself to these lower grades.

I have only climbed in Nova Scotia, and in California at Yosemite, Bishop, Pinnacles, and Castle Rock. I did not encounter low grade routs in any of these places, although I could see where the Swiss cheese rock at Castle Rock could produce a 5.1 if it was lower angle.

Teth

[The Mitt]

Your right that was a bad split sorry Teth.

Mitt

[mathieu]

I have seen `low 5th Class` used but the practice of assigning a specific grade (5.0 vs 5.2) is rarely used. As I discovered this summer someones 4th class can be someone elses low 5th class. This grey area is where the YDS fails to apply to the alpine.

[Richard Eh!]

Check the North Conway Guides - Quite a few 5.2 pitches with belay/rap stations at the Whitehorse Ledges, including the first pitch of "Sea of Holes"(sorry Mitt ) - Ticked that one off on Sunday...pretty run out! Don't know where they got the name 'cause I only found two macrolitic pockets that would take anything(pink tricam)

[The Mitt]

Most of those 5.1-5.5 pitches would be like 5.6 or more here. Sea of Holes was a great route as a second, ur right though I could have counted the number of holes on one hand.

Mitt