Grade of Hypothetical Crack Climb

Bowens wrote:

Vertical Hold or Mesa Rim?  If I am vaccinated does that mean it's just 5.8?

New Mesa Rim.  The 5.11 hand to finger crack is probably 10b/c as well, but then add a grade for Hep and maybe half a grade if that one cute girl is on the treadmill and you get distracted.

rafael wrote:

because maybe someone wants to know how it would compare to a climb outside? Thats what grades are for, to be able to compare route difficulty. Oh right, ratings are to stoke ones ego, I forgot

Pretty much this.  I've been working on developing crack technique lately, and pretty much every climb I've done outdoors so far is flared, thin, wide, etc.  I've haven't climbed a "perfect" hand crack on real stone yet.  We do have a perfect hand crack at a local gym, however, and I am just trying to get an idea of how that translates grade-wise. 

Thank you all for your input.

Bowens wrote:

Pretty much this.  I've been working on developing crack technique lately, and pretty much every climb I've done outdoors so far is flared, thin, wide, etc.  I've haven't climbed a "perfect" hand crack on real stone yet.  We do have a perfect hand crack at a local gym, however, and I am just trying to get an idea of how that translates grade-wise. 

Thank you all for your input.

FWIW, I'm interested in this as well. I started trad leading this spring, and since so many trad climbs require crack technique, I've been working to improve my crack skills as well. I'm comfortable trad leading a 5.7 face climb, but not sure if I'm ready for a 5.7 jam crack; as such, this type of a comparison is useful to me.

Bowens wrote:

Pretty much this.  I've been working on developing crack technique lately, and pretty much every climb I've done outdoors so far is flared, thin, wide, etc.  I've haven't climbed a "perfect" hand crack on real stone yet.  We do have a perfect hand crack at a local gym, however, and I am just trying to get an idea of how that translates grade-wise. 

Thank you all for your input.

Bowens, if you want to do some crack climbing in the Woodson area, hit me up.  Run laps on the cracks at the gym to get your hands/ankles used to the abuse, and soon you'll forget all about stupid face climbing.

Burchy (or anyone else for that matter) have you climbed the hand crack at the original Mesa Rim, the one in the back that is slightly angled and overhanging? And if so, can you compare it to IC 5.10. I'm headed there next week and want to know if I will be ok, or if need to bring diapers.

To answer the question I also think 5.9.

Jason Kim wrote:

Burchy (or anyone else for that matter) have you climbed the hand crack at the original Mesa Rim, the one in the back that is slightly angled and overhanging? And if so, can you compare it to IC 5.10. I'm headed there next week and want to know if I will be ok, or if need to bring diapers.

To answer the question I also think 5.9.

I think I know the one you mean, haven't been there in a while.  They call it 10c maybe?  Seems like a ton of 5.9 moves to me, but you get gassed on it, so I guess it's harder than that.  It's definitely harder than the 5.9 one I mentioned at the other MR.  IC is a crapshoot, depending on your hand size.  If you have small hands, you'll likely do better on the 5.10-11 stuff in IC than you will on the 5.8/5.9.   No matter what, IC is a playground for all size hands.  You'll have a blast, don't forget to tape up.

EDIT:  If you can find your way over to the Pregnant Lady or Pregnant Woman wall (I think it's called) there are a ton of fun moderate climbs, and I believe it's less traffic than the usual places people head - supercrack and all that.

Mark Waterous wrote:

Didn't I just see you at Wild Walls? Yep. Pretty sure I saw you.

I only go to Bloc Yard and troll on MP...

GabeO wrote:

Maybe you're joking, and certainly you're trolling, but I'll bite.  I can think of plenty of 5.9s at the Creek that are way more involved and tricky than the climb described by the OP that are rated 5.9.  Can you give an example of a 5.10 at the Creek that's that straightforward?

Anyway...

My answer:  5.9-

GO

Not trolling. The IC 9s are usually great hand jams, less than 20m, with features, and less than vertical. 

Blue Sun is my proposed straightforward 5.10. 

Third class.  

How has this gotten to 2 pages?!

blue ribbon wrote:

Third class.  

At Woodson.

5.9; 5.8 at Indian Creek.

Yeah that's the one.  Someone at the front desk told me it was a 10c but I always took that with a grain of salt.  Based on what I've done in Joshua Tree and Tahquitz I am guessing 10a is in the ballpark, I just haven't ever been on anything as long and sustained outside.  I think my hands are about average size, maybe a bit bigger.  I'll check those areas out, thanks.

Addem Bursh wrote:

New Mesa Rim.  The 5.11 hand to finger crack is probably 10b/c as well, but then add a grade for Hep and maybe half a grade if that one cute girl is on the treadmill and you get distracted.

yeah, I thought that one was super soft for 5.11, the steep part is perfect hands. The long 5.9 wide hands crack I thought deserved the 5.9, but the 5.12 finger crack felt easy

What is do you call a jug haul on a 90 degree vertical face? Once you get comfy with them, perfect hands should be a jug haul.

5.9 unless its super long and perfectly parallel, then 5.10a

Bowens wrote:

This may be a strange question, but humor me.  

If you have a hypothetical pure crack climb that is a splitter perfect hands crack, 90 degrees vertical, that must be climbed 100% in the crack, what difficulty/grade would you say it is?  

Whose hands?

If it's perfect hands (for you) and ~20 meters, vertical, I would say ~5.8 - similar to a vertical jug haul. Could change drastically of a little narrow or wide (for you), of with even a short section that is non-perfect.

Em Cos wrote:

Whose hands?

The climber's hands, obviously.

Addem Bursh wrote:

Bowens, if you want to do some crack climbing in the Woodson area, hit me up.  Run laps on the cracks at the gym to get your hands/ankles used to the abuse, and soon you'll forget all about stupid face climbing.

Thanks for the offer dude.  I've climbed some of the easier stuff at Woodson (Elsa's crack, for instance), but I've really been wanting to give the Robbins Crack a shot.  

At this point, I can climb the perfect hand crack at the gym consistently (and when I encounter similar short sections at Tahquitz and the like), and have also had inconsistent results on "less than perfect" 5.8 hand cracks (Crack of Dust at MG, Komodo Corner at Suicide, etc.).  Just kind of curious what the concensus is on difficulty for a "pure perfect hand crack."  

I'll be binging on granite cracks in Joshua Tree this weekend, so maybe I'll be more enlightened afterward.