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General Climbing Discussion

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Climb Quality - how do you rate it? 13-Sep-2012 At 1:05:28 PM pmonks

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On 13/09/2012 gfdonc wrote:
>Good points, I'll add some:
>- the Yosemite select guide is a perfect example. Too few routes for
>the whole Valley, resulting in queues (and some nice lines clearly scruffy
>for lack of traffic, such as the Layton-Kor route I think on Middle Cathedral).

I think a large part of the Valley's problem is that there just aren't that many free climbs full stop, and many of them are by no means "moderate". Glacier Point Apron was a major concentration of moderate free climbs, but in the last 10-15 years there's a very real sense that you're flirting with death every time you go in there. I've only climbed there once, and we walked straight up to the climb we wanted to do, did it, then got the hell out of there - it was pretty spooky, though for no obvious reason (it's not like you can see a hundred thousand tonne loose block that's 500m above you).

>- sometimes what is missing from the select guides is a problem in itself.

Yeah I had that problem with the circa 1992 select guide to the Blueys (by Mikl and Andrew Penney, IIRC?). Very glad I bought the UBM guide soon after.