Bill Kirby wrote: We should try and meetup this winter. I'm not sure what's happening now. I'm back in Baltimore getting things together to start a directional boring company. I think this will ruin my ice climbing season. I'll PM you when it gets cold. I would try and meet at the Gunks somtime too. That place scares me! Some of the routes i did had polished cruxes. I bet you know your way around there pretty well. My address is williamk@nasercon.com if you ever need it.
I know the Gunks pretty well, until recently better than the Dacks. But lately I spend about 75% of my climbing inside the Blue Line.
Almost all the single pitch stuff below 5.10 is polished, making it at least 1-2 grades harder in my estimation. And it's gotten significantly more polished in just the last 10 years. I remember Black Fly being a tough start 10 years ago, I literally had to have my partner ass boost me through the low crux because my foot skated off the holds. Bunny is equally scary. and anything that guides can set a top rope on is also polished. Once you get off those routes, the climbing is still extremely steep for the grades and the feet are challening because of all the little overhangs and horizontals that hide your feet, but the climbing is fun and the route finding challenging. There are some aspects that make you a better climber, like the route finding, and mininizing rope drag, and spacing between gear (not many vertical cracks to gear ladder yourself up) so often your 10-15ft above your last piece. In the Dacks I usually can sew a route up. but the lack of cracks also can stunt your growth.
One thing about the gunks, you often don't climb distinct features, most places you climb a crack or a corner. In the gunks you just wander around, left, right, around corners, around or through roofs. And I've learned a corner can be anything. You can easily end up on much harder terrain.
I'm leading select 5.7s in the Dacks, cruising 6s in NH (pretty sure I could probably lead 7s and 8s on gear in NH, we'll see next year), but I'm still a 5.5 gunks leader. I'm planning to hit a few 6s tomorrow and Saturday if I feel good. I definitely CAN lead 5.6 or 5.7 in the Gunks, but mentally it's challenge for me that I don't struggle with in the Dacks.