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star vs no star


nmonteith

23-Mar-2007
1:54:25 PM

On 23/03/2007 oweng wrote:
>The more important question is how many stars will the "Alan Parsons Project"
>get when you finaly do it? Does our grading system need to be expanded
>to better reflect the significance of this route???!

it's already done owen!

23-Mar-2007
2:04:50 PM

On 23/03/2007 oweng wrote:
>The more important question is how many stars will the "Alan Parsons Project"
>get when you finaly do it?

Zero. I couldn't even get up it!!
Alrob the face guru did it. Wish i'd saved the great name for a route at VD Land though.

Anyhow back to the subject...

Why are photogenic 'gully routes' given stars ?


IdratherbeclimbingM9

23-Mar-2007
2:13:31 PM

KP wrote
>Another good example Owen is Kachoong.

>It has good rock, but is let down by its inconsistancy and lack of stature/height..
>One star

Punks in the Gym.
No stars ...
I am not inspired by it / The rock is polished / It is contrived (chipped) / I am not a mate of the FA or the guidebook authors ...
... and like KP says;
>Zero. >I couldn't even get up it!!

:P
Heh, heh, heh.


oweng

23-Mar-2007
2:38:55 PM

On 23/03/2007 kp wrote:

>Zero. I couldn't even get up it!!
>Alrob the face guru did it. Wish i'd saved the great name for a route
>at VD Land though.

I assumed there would be a media firestorm when that dragon got slain. Australian Story interviews, Newsweek front covers ;-).

>Anyhow back to the subject...
>Why are photogenic 'gully routes' given stars ?

To try to encourage people to make the effort to tramp up the gully and repeat the routes I guess.

Hows this for a friday afternoon acedemic question:

Should the access to a climb be a consideration in grading it. For example Pole Dancer on Tasman Peninsula is a ***22 sport route (apparently, I havent done it yet). It would take 20 minutes to climb, but requires a long day of hiking, abseiling and scrambling to get to that 20 minutes. Are routes still great routes if the access is so bad that the overall exeriance is diluted?

(Yes I know, the walk out to Cape Rauol is stunning, and the scrambling / rapping will be memerable, so maybe this isnt the best example, but I think people understand my point.)

gfdonc

23-Mar-2007
2:39:56 PM

On 23/03/2007 kp wrote:
>Alrob the face guru did it. Wish i'd saved the great name for a route
>at VD Land though.

Never mind Kent. Think of the derivatives that are waiting for you as consolation prizes. Put up a route on a nearby arete for example. "The Parson's Nose"...

rightarmbad

23-Mar-2007
3:06:07 PM

With the amount of albums he has released, there should be no problems finding more names.


dougal

23-Mar-2007
3:15:06 PM

Aspirational.

23-Mar-2007
3:18:30 PM

From The Asses Ears guide:

One star: A good route for the cliff. It may be a pile of choss but it's one of the best piles of choss at the cliff!

Two stars: A good route for the area. The route is good compared to other routes in the Grampians.

Three stars: An excellent route by any standard. You would drive a long way to do this route.

From the SW Vic Guide:

Stars are used to indicate the quality of a climb, 1 star is good, 2 stars is very good and 3 stars is fantastic. Remember that these ratings may be only in comparison to other climbs at that particular crag.
Hollow stars are used to indicate that the first ascenionist thought it met the criteria for quality, further ascents are needed to verify the FA euphoria; they are not counted in the Executive Summary.


oweng

23-Mar-2007
3:46:31 PM

On 23/03/2007 dougal wrote:
>Aspirational.

I have always aspired to be a better speller. Unfortunatly without the spellchecker I am rubbish.

gfdonc

23-Mar-2007
4:29:14 PM

I always thought the "3 stars for the crag" was rubbish.

Yes you can scale a little bit for the area but a 3-star route has to be worth going out of your way for, and offer a great climbing experience.

Did someone mention the You Yangs?


nmonteith

23-Mar-2007
4:49:31 PM

three stars should only be resereved for the very best in the country. many many crags don't have
anything worth three stars.


BadBrad of the Isles

23-Mar-2007
5:12:45 PM

Gotta add my thoughts on the discussion so far, it seems from a cursory glance that noone has mentioned the moves on a climb other than to say sustained. If im on great rock with great views that looks good and the moves are all of the same hardness but those moves have nothing to them im dissappointed.

Maybe the boulderer in me but if i think three stars i expect all the above plus unique and great climbing moves/ movement. For me invariably the most enjoyable element is the crux with the mono gasto crossover heelhook mantle move ;-)


six-sevens

23-Mar-2007
7:16:24 PM

On 23/03/2007 BadBrad of the Isles wrote:
the mono gasto crossover heelhook
mantle move ;-)

Can we get a picture of this?
Please

24-Mar-2007
10:51:42 AM

Dunno why the gaston is such a fave with the bouldering community. Here's a photo of Gaston Rebuffat (aka Ghastly Rabbit-fat) showing its original intended use, a crack climbing technique.

Photo from his book "On Snow And Rock" originally printed in French in 1959. This technique works pretty well on Angels Buttress too.

Onsight

26-Mar-2007
7:16:40 PM

I'd say... stars are subjective and basically consider quality as well as the overall experience of climbing it. Things like position/exposure, rock, consistancy/sustainedness should probably factor more than the approach.

>I always thought the "3 stars for the crag" was rubbish.
Agreed. We went somewhat up the wrong path with the Bluies 3rd Edition guidebook where stars were given "for the crag", when of course not every crag has a three star route. We had also indicated which the better crags were, but it doesn't work like that in practice. We've fixed it in the new guidebook (which is now at the printers).

The other thing I'd say about stars is that they should be "for that style" of climbing, otherwise it becomes way too subjective. For example we gave Landslide Chimney 3 stars because we're reliably informed that if you're into long loose chimneys (and apparently some people are) then it really is a mega experience. I'd be happy to take photos of someone on that route, but for climbing constitutes a nightmare in my personal book...

The other things we found in producing this new Bluies guidebook, is that whilst you have 1, 2 and 3 star routes (for good, very good, excellent/classic – or whatever - respectively) in most parts of the country, we found this woefully inadequate for indicating the range of experiences you’re likely to get up here in the Bluies. So we added the 4 star rating for “ultra-classic” and 5 stars, meaning “mind-blowing phantasmagorical mega-classic”.

Sounds like some people might take a bit of getting used to the five star system. If so I’d say give it a go and you’ll probably get used to it. I’ve found it a pretty good system when used it elsewhere.

Cheers.

There are 35 messages in this topic.