best trad crag in the USA/world?

Hector Luevano wrote:

I would assume most Index locals have been to Squamish? 

Most have been...a few times. But many rarely leave Index.

hey man, EVERY route at index is a r star classic.  (even if the first 40 feet involves batmanning up a fixed rope over green carpeted chsloss, to get to 30 feet of decent climbing, to get to 30 feet of carpeted topout choss, to crawl under branches, to rap off a tree). 

the best? yep, squamish and the creek. i would throw the needles (cali) in there also.  gunks gets a major nod for a large number of easy routes that are good, which is fairly unicornish.

JCM, was that you in the blue subie leaving the murrin parking sunday night?  you probably got across just before the rcmp shut that crossing down (we didnt....)

All this Index talk.....

Indian Creek for pure climbing quality. The Sierras or Yosemite for long routes.

Anyone down to go to Squamish?  Cirque of the Unclimbable's ? Looking to get out

ANGUS WIESSNER wrote:

I hope that wasn't in June.

The Gunks!

- Fun gymnastic moves - I describe a lot of the climbing there as sport climbing from one horizontal gear placement to another horizontal gear placement to another horizontal gear placement...  

- Great exposure at almost any grade

- Not an overly vegetated rain forest with a very short climbing season ::cough:: like Squamish is ::cough::

- No soft grades!

the needles (ca)

I would rate quality as combination of: Variety/Diversity, Depth, Breadth, Access Ease, Camping Quality/Affordability, and of course, quality of actual climbing. And with those factors in mind:

World: Arapiles

North America: Squamish

USA: New River Gorge

Another vote for arapalies

Arapalies. Far and a away. Remember though . Fixed cans of spam are only intended for bodyweight and should not lead be used for lead protection. 

Khoi wrote:

The Gunks!

- Not an overly vegetated rain forest with a very short climbing season ::cough:: like Squamish is ::cough::

I'm from the Pacific Northwest and have been banished to New England for a few years. I like the Gunks, but they are even more crowded than Squamish and I'd say the climbing season is actually shorter than many crags in the Northwest. Probably comparable number of climbable days to the Smoke Bluffs. It's hot, humid, and miserable most of the summer, insanely buggy, and rainy-snowy-sleety year-round. There's no more-or-less  guaranteed good season, unlike summer in the Northwest.

MexClimber wrote:

fun fun

Hmmm. I'm out- grade or place, all my leads end in tears-

JCM wrote:

The Adirondacks deserve mention as perhaps the most underrated great trad cragging area. A superb area with a fraction of the fame it deserves.

Man I've spent so long trying to convince people this was the case. It's amazing how hard it is to get people up there, even after waving the guidebook in front of them. I feel vindicated.

City of Rocks in Idaho hasn't been mentioned.  When it comes to cragging, it's one of the best.

slim wrote:

JCM, was that you in the blue subie leaving the murrin parking sunday night?  you probably got across just before the rcmp shut that crossing down (we didnt....)

Say what? What happened? Which crossing?

That was me. We didn't have any issues, but we used the Lynden crossing.

Chris Reyes wrote:

Man I've spent so long trying to convince people this was the case. It's amazing how hard it is to get people up there, even after waving the guidebook in front of them. I feel vindicated.

I've been talking up the Rockyrondacks for years and every time I go, I am happy people haven't been listening.

T-Wall for cragging. For longer routes Red Rocks

JCM wrote:

Say what? What happened? Which crossing?

That was me. We didn't have any issues, but we used the Lynden crossing.

is lynden the same as the blain truck crossing?  we left about 10 minutes after you, stopped for a really quick bite in cloverdale.  then as we were getting really close to the border they had all of the roads taped off with yellow tape.  bunch of police lights and dudes/dudettes with machine guns acting pretty freaked out.  they were yelling at people to stay in their houses/cars/etc.  we got re-routed to peace arch, which luckily ended up going relatively smooth.  we never figured out what was going on.  i didn't even know they had machine guns in canada.