Cool Hand Luke 

Great climb, but hardly Vedauwoo 5.11 Try Maxi Lash or B-G Crack and then call this 5.11a without laughing.

I agree this isn't as hard as Maxi Lash, but that's a known sandbag, and offwidth to thin crack comparisons are not so useful. I thought it was harder than Boardwalk (11b), 2nd pitch of Friday the 13th (11a), and Mud in Your Eye (11b), and hence the proposed rating... but ratings will always be somewhat subjective.

Ratings are a "should I walk up the hill and try that" guideline. 11a or 10d, if that is your range then hell yeah you should walk up the hill and try that, no need to upgrade everything. Climb because you love it, and use numbers in a general sense to recognize your own improvement, because that is undeniably important to us. It helps us feel that we have accomplished some degree of improvement and proficiency, and that is very human. This climb was originally graded 10+, and 10+ it should stay. If you feel it to be a sandbag, deem it so and don't worry about the actual number assigned to it. A challenge is a challenge, and we all know when we are and are not pushing ourselves. Sandbags have the wonderful characteristic that they allow you to get on stuff you might not otherwise try, and on well protected climbs, especially single pitch climbs, this is not a bad thing at all. I was once talking to a very enlightened person about the grades at Vedauwoo, and he opened my eyes to a beautiful perspective. He said when you are up there getting you ass kicked on a pitch that carries a grade that you can typically onsight at many other places, you know you are climbing the line not for the number assigned to it, but because you really want to do it. I think this is a very wonderful outlook on climbing.

This climb demolished my 8a.nu rating, and I hate hate hate it!

.12d in the Sport Park, easy.

Well said Jammer.

Cool Hand Luke is #3 on the beta photo (Piana and Arnold,'83). Failure to Communicate is #1 on the beta photo.... named by Kelman and probable FFA by Waterman (date?). Route #2 is 'Dragline's Demise'. It surmounts a series of ledges to the crux, an overhanging bulge at about 10a, and tops out via a decent hand crack. This was put up by Harper and Diamond in '92. Since then, someone has put in rap anchors on top. This is a great little area and the climbs are fun, despite grade controversies.

I don't have enough experience at Vedauwoo to feel I can grade this climb accurately, so I'll just add my two cents here, where you can take it or leave it, and it won't go into the MP grading algorithm. I cruised the thin-crack crux (which I'd put at low to mid-5.11). The upper OW crux nearly spit me off, but I'm not a great OW climber. So, I'd give the upper crux 10+/11-. Overall, I'd grade it low to mid-5.11.