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Crag & Route Beta

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Topic Date User

Arapiles newbe 2-May-2016 At 10:31:31 AM Wendy

Message

On 1/05/2016 simey wrote:

>
>Geez Wendy, I was already questioning your judgement on climbs, but now
>I realise that you are a lost cause.
>
>Next time you find a 100m high buttress with 5 pitches of varied climbing
>in outrageous positions with every pitch at grade 12, then you let me know.
>
>As fine as the climbing is on those other routes, some of your comments
>are just plain weird. You talk up Arachnus as being better than Bard, but
>the climbing isn't as varied, the protection at the crux of Arachnus is
>not particularly good, it certainly doesn't follow a better line than Bard,
>and it is shit for seeing and communicating with your seconds. I'm not
>trying to put Arachnus down though, as I still think it is an awesome route.
>
>Eskimo Nell is another great route, but it also suffers from a slick,
>bouldery and poorly protected start that is significantly harder than the
>rest of the route. And the positions are nowhere near as exposed as Bard.
>
>Bard is not about giving you warm fuzzies, it is an out-there route that
>has you packing darkies despite its very moderate grade. It is a remarkable
>climb.
>

Just because all pitches are grade 12 and it is exposed doesn't mean I have to like the climb. Call me terribly boring, but I love the climbing on EN and Arachnus and I don't like the climbing on Bard. I love the rock on EN and Arachnus and I don't like the rock on Bard. Maybe you should go do some long easy routes in the alps - i've done much better 4-500m 5as there than Bard. And given the things I tend to climb, I don't think you can say it's because i like routes that give me warm fuzzies.

Sure the start of EN is bouldery and slick, but it does actually have gear, which is more than you can say for the start of Bard. And the middle pitch is probably the best pitch of grade 9 in existence. Then you get the exposed funky top chimney plus a crawl through a cave. Heaps of fun. The top pitch of Arachnus is probably the best pitch of grade 8 in existence with glorious rock going bang up the middle of a dominant feature. In fact, I'd take the Watchtower as a great feature to climb over Bard Buttress as well. And communicating with your second? How many yelling epics have you heard off Bard? It's almost constant. It's a feature of long pitches. You develop strategies to deal with it. It certainly doesn't detract from the route. And if I was to stress about a route for my second, it would be Bard with it's traverse then diagonal pitch.

I don't like Bard. I'm not even alone in my opinion. If I had a friend coming to Araps for only one day wanting to do an easy multipitch, there's no way I'd take them up Bard. I don't like Second Coming either if you want to argue over another supposedly classic route.