Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Author

Testpieces at the grade

climbingjac

18-Jun-2003
2:13:43 PM

Here's a testpiece for you:

"Orinoco Flow" - Grampians (gr25, trad, 45 degrees overhung, pumpy as hell)


phil_nev

18-Jun-2003
2:24:40 PM

wheres this route jac?? .... cant find it in my guides.... sounds impresive... must be a H route......

(removed)

18-Jun-2003
2:29:24 PM

Firstly, thanks everyone for their input ...

Some comments from the last couple of posts (and these are just my opinions, so take them all with a grain of salt)

Bard pitches 3-4 (combined) is the best 12 going around IMO. First two pitches are crud and the last one is average, but that shouldn't take away from the experience in the middle of the climb.
Morfydd is given 20 in Louise's guide and I thought it was pretty stiff when I did it.
Two Tribes is a pretty average route, there's gotta be a better 24 out there.
The Rack would favour good jammers significantly. I don't think Eurydice is soft touch.
Punks is 31 in Selected climbs, ruling it out of 32 consideration
There's gotta be 5 25's at Araps that see significantly more ascents than Diazepam that are equally as good or better (HAGF, Debutante's, Henre Bolte, Spasm, Trojan - come to think of it, 25 has gotta be THE grade to climb at Araps if you add in Aftermath, Low Down, Flashing Blade, No Exit, Ride Like The Wind, Station To Station, Tjuringa and Cliffhanger) even if they are all easier
Dunno how many people are doing Sirocco either as good as it looks.
PCL is definitely soft-touch for 27. I think Angular's the go there ...

Note, I'm still not happy with 15, 19, 24, 30, 32+


tmarsh

18-Jun-2003
2:29:29 PM

Diazepam as a grade 25 testpiece? Mebbe I'm a softie, but that route is so goddamn hard for the grade it's not funny. And when you have routes like Trojan and Have a Good Flight at araps for benchmarking, it doesn't rate a mention in my book.

I'm amused to see phil_nev including Quisling at Araps in his list. To be fair to anyone who goes and leaps on it on the basis of me talking it up, it's, er, rather stiff for the grade. Entertaining though. Jst don't do it straight after Tannin as your second 19.

Cheers,
Tim


Megan

18-Jun-2003
2:41:17 PM

Actually, how about Beautiful Possibilities for 15?


phil_nev

18-Jun-2003
2:59:50 PM

It looked through all my guides and couldnt find a "mega Classic 24"...... anywhere...
For Grade 18, how about skink? Dosnt favour jams like the rack does.

I was reading rock recently about this visiting french guy who has climbed 9a, he onsighted, flashed a lot of hard routes and ticked a lot of other hard things on his seccond shot... off all these routes he found punks very ahrd and said it was deffinitly '32'.... Ive never climbed it, but theres so many differing oppinions on this route.... If it is 31, then i think it should replace lord of the rings...

Good point re: grade 25 being THE grade to lead at araps.... theres so many good routes at that grade.... Diazepam dosnt see many ascents caus its mega tough for the grade.... All the routes you spoke of are classics, hard to pick just one.....

Whats wrong with debutante at rosea... could be the best 15 in gramps araps... resignation, beautifull possibilities also good choices...
Grade 19, diane, marten Eden at rosea????
24-Genesis Direct at bundaleer gets three stars in selected guide... but its glenn's route so could be overrated
30- already said this, but daniel or-tiger

James

18-Jun-2003
3:03:57 PM

Surface to Air is a bit soft for 17, I thought (could be a test piece at 16, but Brolga is probably better).

How about Missing Link for 17?? & Skink for 18 is definitely good.

Dalai

18-Jun-2003
3:09:47 PM

Grades need to go by concensus - of all the reports I've heard of Punks, most have believed 31 is fair. As for Lord Of the Rings, it's said to be 30 which I think is right, Nic Sutters direct THE Lord of the Rings is the grade 31.


Rich

18-Jun-2003
3:19:47 PM

for the slabber in you:
20: Fly Lichen Eagle (Awesome name too ;)
21: Auto Da Fe


Rich

18-Jun-2003
3:30:30 PM

yeh missing link is a better example than surface to air for 17, skink, aside from the bloody belay is not very hard for the grade IMO..

no offence phil_nev, but i'm not sure its fair to argue that a climb is a test piece if u haven't attempted it. but just my opinion.. :-)

(removed)

18-Jun-2003
3:38:17 PM

Actually Common Knowledge pitch 2 is a pretty decent route at 24, just not sure if people are doing these routes for comparison. Has anyone else done this route ?

While we're on the subject of 24's I'm pleased to see no-one has suggested Orestes or Despatched Direct (too easy, despite being outstanding routes) or those scary mofo's up on Curtain Wall which also look excellent.

Daniel Ortega / or-Tiger i thought had come down to 29, although that could be my imagination. It's a shame the LOTR and PITG are both sort of split (30/31 and 31/32 respectively) as they would have been great candidates. Other than these two, I struggle to think of routes above 29 which have seen a large enough number of repeats to have a concensus.

BTW: Did anyone get an answer on the Spartacus question, and while we're at it, has Flower Power seen any repeats / attmepts yet ? Or are the hard men and women busy new routing rather than repeating ?


nmonteith

18-Jun-2003
3:43:11 PM

Third pitch of World Party for testpiece 24 perhaps.

(removed)

18-Jun-2003
3:50:16 PM

Yes indeed Neil, the best 24 going around ... except you have to climb 27 to get to the start of it and you're normally completely farked by the time you start ...

Good suggestion though, now what about the harder stuff ?


Rich

18-Jun-2003
3:58:21 PM

25: debutantes and centipedes


phil_nev

18-Jun-2003
4:19:46 PM

"no offence phil_nev, but i'm not sure its fair to argue that a climb is a test piece if u haven't attempted it. but just my opinion.. :-)"

I agree... but the thing is... im pretty sure most of all, if not all have not climbed punks, lord of the rings, serpentine, etc but we are still talking about these routes arnt we? We are stating our oppinions regarding routes that we have climbed/attempted and some that we havnt....

Besides that rich, how do you know which of these routes i have or havnt attempted??

phil


Rich

18-Jun-2003
4:30:34 PM

On 18/06/2003 phil_nev wrote:
>"no offence phil_nev, but i'm not sure its fair to argue that a climb is
>a test piece if u haven't attempted it. but just my opinion.. :-)"
>
>I agree... but the thing is... im pretty sure most of all, if not all
>have not climbed punks, lord of the rings, serpentine, etc but we are still
>talking about these routes arnt we? We are stating our oppinions regarding
>routes that we have climbed/attempted and some that we havnt....

yeh fair enough perhaps
>
>Besides that rich, how do you know which of these routes i have or havnt
>attempted??
>
>phil

cos i've seen what sort of grades u climb mate ! ;-) and before u say well i've attempted this and that, IMO trying the first move just doesn't cut it.. and don't get me wrong phil i'm not bagging u cos u can't climb mega high grades cos neither can i!!


phil_nev

18-Jun-2003
4:44:48 PM

"cos i've seen what sort of grades u climb mate ! ;-) and before u say well i've attempted this and that, IMO trying the first move just doesn't cut it.. "

Im not gona get into this, and im not gona go off spraying things ive done/tried. Rich, you and i have climbed together twice, for one day last year at easter, and once at weribee, so really you have no idea what i am capeable of climbing.... Im not saying ive done all the routes on the list, far from it, but i have done a few and attempted a few (making more than just the first move on some).....


Rich

18-Jun-2003
4:56:05 PM

relax mate, take a chill pill bill.. i wasn't having a go at u. my point was that IMO i don't think people can judge what are testpieces of certain grades if they are not climbing them.. but if u feel otherwise, fine, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
u said urself u hadn't attempted many of the climbs u stated in ur original post so my judgement on ur climbing is irrelevant anyway so lets leave it at that hey?

*shouts next round
Cheers
Rich


nmonteith

18-Jun-2003
5:03:26 PM

fight fight fight


phil_nev

18-Jun-2003
5:13:50 PM

Sorry, didnt mean to sound like i was having a go... just didnt seem fair that you were assuming things i have/havnt done. I agree, people cant judge testpeices at grade if they cant climb that grade.... The hard routes i put down, were just oppinions from things ive read, people ive spoken to etc... As i stated before, i dont think many people in this forum have climbed much above garde 28(bar a few), so of course a lot of the routes stated are merely oppinions as to testpeices at hard grades, what i dont understand is, 'why was it only my oppinons you had a problem with?'

Neway, this was sposed to be a bit of fun..... Back to making the
"OFFICIAL HARD MANS TICKLIST"

Cheers, Phil

P.S When this list in completed and a consesnus is achieved we should make up a chockstone hard mans ticklist tshirt like the one spoken bout before.... They could be used to raise a bit of money for Mike and his great website..... Just a thought...

There are 94 messages in this topic.