Top 10 Classics of MP...Flyboys?

I'm confused why Flyboys, clearly not a 4 star route (as evidence by the 100+ votes giving it only 3 stars), is on the top 10 all time classic climbs of Mountain Project.  What kind of algorithm are they using?  Can you like pay to have your route featured on the top 10? 

We should probably riot. 

Bailey Layzer wrote:...gets wildly more page views than anything else (500 more/month than the Nose)

It’s about to be exponentially more too.

Cpn Dunsel wrote:

Remember: what you see there is not opinion but absolute, solid, unequivocal facts.  The crack team of MP mathematician climbers spare no expense in making sure everything posited on this site is 100% empirical & fully substantiated facts.

DO NOT QUESTION THE OVERLORDS

Little early for the conspriacy theories isn't Cpn Dunsel?

The route has also had 2 featured articles in climbing magazine (or R and I, I don't recall) since it's creation. 

I would bet it's because it's an 18 pitch sport route.  By it being a sport route it probably doubles the pool of potential climbers.

Eric Howe wrote: I would bet it's because it's an 18 pitch sport route.  By it being a sport route it probably doubles the pool of potential climbers.

Bingo.  That route has three good pitches and potential rock fall with all the gym-yahoos climbing on it.

here's the previous thread with an oddly similar title...

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/114806275/flyboys-wa-listed-as-one-of-the-top-20-classics-on-mp-homepage

I have always been curious about the MP rating algorithm as well - but Nick keeps it close to the chest and doesn't share it with the people. Anyways - from what I can tell the algorithm contains the following components:

1. geographical component - there is an obvious component that doesn't allow a single area to contain all the "classics" and forces them to spread out physically. IMO this is why flyboys is on the list.
2. multi pitch gets extra points, alpine may get even more points.
3. number of ticks.
4. number of ticks with high score. 

If its all about ticks stuff at Leav should be much higher!

Drederek wrote: If its all about ticks stuff at Leav should be much higher!

Its not all about ticks, but it does play a role. 

I climbed prime rib and thought it was at least a 3 and 1/2 star route. I'd say just as enjoyable as southwest rib on sews. Great place to get better at multi pitch climbing. And pretty awesome views. If you slapped alpine on it, goat wall would have 4 stars.
Agreed lots of crags at icicle and Tumwater are underappreciated.

It's because it's multipitch sport, also because of the grade. They list the classics by grade starting easy and working it's way harder.

It gets so many hits, because it's so approachable to the masses. All you have to do is be sufficient moderate sport climber to climb as many rope lengths as half of el cap.

"I can climb 5.9 sport, wow I can climb a big wall" the problem is, it's not a big wall. It's a ridgeline with a bunch of walking and single pitches linked together.

I think if the same route had been engineered with mostly 40m or 50m pitches, so the same climb was generally done (more quickly) as an 11 or 12 pitch route, it would be far less popular.

That implies something about the arbitrary nature nature of what is attracting people to Fly Boys.

Deven Lewis wrote: I climbed prime rib and thought it was at least a 3 and 1/2 star route. I'd say just as enjoyable as southwest rib on sews. 

Hahahahaha

Deven Lewis wrote: I'd say just as enjoyable as southwest rib on sews. 

I agree.  But in the opposite sense -- I thought SW Rib was over-hyped.  Both two stars for me

I find that climbers often (incorrectly) conflate "classic" "quality" "unique" and "popular".  We can argue all day about what each work means, but I'm pretty comfortable with saying that they are not the same. I  find that the most famous and historic "classic" route at a crag is not always the best route (it is usually the most obvious line and the one that got established early in the area's development), and there may be an nearby, more modern route that is actually higher quality than the "classic". Not to mention that routes can suffer from "classic" status (polished, crowded, over-hyped).

So where does Flyboys fit in to this? Is it popular - yes, absolutely. Is is a high quality? Meh. Is it unique? Absolutely, at least for the US. There are very few other routes with that length and pitch count, that are that accessible, that closely bolted, and at that grade. Is it is a classic?  This is debatable. I don't think so. To me, "classic" requires some sort of historic context, and Flyboys is just too new for that title. Maybe it will age into that title, but my guess is probably not.

So, Flyboys is a unique route, since it (for better or for worse) allows relatively inexperienced climbers venture up large cliff at a low grade with 1 rope and a bunch of quickdraws. This also makes in very notable and popular.  It is a trendy route currently, rather than a classic.

Eric Roe wrote:

I agree.  But in the opposite sense -- I thought SW Rib was over-hyped.  Both two stars for me

I'll concede to that aurgument. 

Also thought this was about having goat wall on the Washington classic list. Not the overall US classic list my bad.

Drederek wrote: If its all about ticks stuff at Leav should be much higher!

Underrated comment

They are especially bad in April

There are also no top classic climbs from any other countries.