What’s the softest 5.12a in the US?

Jaren Watson wrote:

That’s somewhat ironic, don’t you think?

ikr! 

3 Weenies doing 5.12

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/107239243/three-weenies-doing-512

Lone Pine wrote: Some Contenders in my opinion:

Let the Wind Blow and Push at the New
Any 5.12 on the sunny and Steep Wall in RR
Tieranny in Obed

Hank Caylor wrote: Guns 'n Posers- Rifle, CO
Defenseless Betty- Rifle, CO
Cookie Monster- Yosemite, CA <--- especially this one..

Rifle and "soft" are not synonymous 

MarcYY wrote: Dogleg if you are over 6'

There I fixed it for ya   

Richard Dana wrote: Loving how everyone's just posting stuff that plays to their strength/hand size. Swedin-Ringle and Technosurfing 5.11? Yeah, right...

Swedin-Ringle is definitely soft. I handjam on solid #3's and can finger lock .5's on most routes. I'd hardly describe it as a friendly size. It just has great feet. The route is mostly ringlocks for me with a pinky mono jam to clip the anchor. Still light at 12-.

AL . wrote:

Swedin-Ringle is definitely soft. I handjam on solid #3's and can finger lock .5's on most routes. I'd hardly describe it as a friendly size. It just has great feet. The route is mostly ringlocks for me with a pinky mono jam to clip the anchor. Still light at 12-.

so you're agreeing with him...

Mark Paulson wrote: Push at the New in a conversation about the softest 12a in the US?  Crazy.  I can name a dozen 12a's at the New that are easier, not to mention every 12a I've ever touched in WY and ID. I mean, congrats if it felt easy to you.

So what are your opinions on softest 12a”s at the new? 

Chas Kristopher wrote:

So what are your opinions on softest 12a”s at the new? 

Starry?

Starry, Backlash, Lost Souls.  Pockets of Resistance has a reputation be being easy but I've never tried it.  I thought Push was not a gimme at 12a.

All the .12s at Jack's Canyon, AZ.

Chas Kristopher wrote:

So what are your opinions on softest 12a”s at the new? 

Starry?

This is talkin about the softest 12a in the entire country. The new is not a place known for vacation grades so I’m not sure you’ll even find many “soft” 12a’s there. But to contribute to the sub-debate at hand, I would say that Ministry felt easier than Lost Souls to me. 

Cocoapuffs 1000 wrote:

Starry, Backlash, Lost Souls.  Pockets of Resistance has a reputation be being easy but I've never tried it.  I thought Push was not a gimme at 12a.

If Push didn't have huge rests . . . But yeah Starry and Lost Souls feel a bit easier.  Regardless, Starry, Push, and Lost Souls, all great climbs.  

fat hand at horseshoe canyon ranch. pretty much every 12a at that place, but the 11c two routes over is significantly harder

Austin Hancock wrote:

Honey Bucket in Maple is one guidebook 12a that is MP concensus 11c. Mega soft.

No one here has done every 12a in the country, so it would be hard to say for sure, but the logic above is pretty strong.  Also notice if you look at the grades that all of the first 12a sends call it 12a and others grade it as low as 11a. In Maple the land of make you feel good grades this is easier than the classic 11b just a few yards to the left of it. 

Leron wrote:

No one here has done every 12a in the country, so it would be hard to say for sure, but the logic above is pretty strong.  Also notice if you look at the grades that all of the first 12a sends call it 12a and others grade it as low as 11a. In Maple the land of make you feel good grades this is easier than the classic 11b just a few yards to the left of it. 

Not sure this should even count as a 12a.  If the consensus is 11c wouldn't this climb be 11c. Just cause a guide book gives one grade doesn't make it right. Unfortunately by this logic there are no soft or hard climbs just mislabeled ones.

I think this is right, but it's really only practical to say that a route is misgraded relative to the area. We could, however, call entire areas soft (Maple).

This conversation brings up an interesting point. If a climb is labeled 12a in a guidebook but the MP or local consensus is that it is a lower grade, is it really a 12a? There's a difference between a soft 12a and a route that's labeled 12a but is in reality a letter or two grades lower. I climbed Rooster Cogburn in wild iris, which the guidebook said was 12a. After climbing it I decided there was no way it was even a soft 12a, and sure enough the MP consensus was 11d. Much of the climbs being brought up in this forum are similar, and in my opinion if the consensus if 11d or 11c, you can't really take it as just a soft 12a because the guidebook says so.

Jason Giblin wrote: This conversation brings up an interesting point. If a climb is labeled 12a in a guidebook but the MP or local consensus is that it is a lower grade, is it really a 12a? There's a difference between a soft 12a and a route that's labeled 12a but is in reality a letter or two grades lower. I climbed Rooster Cogburn in wild iris, which the guidebook said was 12a. After climbing it I decided there was no way it was even a soft 12a, and sure enough the MP consensus was 11d. Much of the climbs being brought up in this forum are similar, and in my opinion if the consensus if 11d or 11c, you can't really take it as just a soft 12a because the guidebook says so.

Guidebook taketh and guidebook giveth away. Wherever you take your grade should be consistent imo

MisterSir wrote
But seriously we are all arguing or discussing a topic that is 90% subjective lol 

Right you are. Anyway, here are the results. The softest 12a in the US is:

MisterSir wrote: 
But seriously we are all arguing or discussing a topic that is 90% subjective lol 

Right you are. However, I think we finally have an answer. The softest 12a in the US is:

Agreed this is a subjective question with a different answer for everyone. I love these threads! Everybody's right! But I feel like a better way to ask it is: what's the easiest kind of rock to climb?

Even though I hardly ever climb on limestone - as an Oregon climber - almost all my 12a sends are on limestone (Jack's canyon in AZ, The Pit in AZ, Tonsai, Thailand) with an outlier on sandstone (12a Sweet Pain in Red Rocks).  I got every one on the first or second try, too. I consider myself a 5-11 climber at best on oregon basalt and tuff but 12a on limestone.The only reason I sent some 12a routes on basalt is because I live near them.

This is my way of saying that limestone seems to be the easiest medium for sport climbing.

Has anyone mentioned any "soft" 12a on granite yet? (The hardest medium for me, at least, whether bouldering sport or trad)