Bastille Crack is 8-

Greg Maschiwrote: Maybe 5.4ish in the Gunks ,Eldo is notoriously soft by ease coast standards.

Having climbed at both, I would hardly say that. I would compare Bastille Crack to Something Interesting, both around challenging 5.7. Gunks 5.4 is like Eldo 5.4, pull on the jugs until you get to the top. I never found anything in Eldo as sandbagged as Thin Slabs Direct, but to say Bastille Crack wouldn't be at least 5.7 in the Gunks is featherbagging both Eldo and the Gunks.

Kole Hwrote: Wait! The video beta seemed like the most intuitive to me. How are others doing this. Also I agree with the 5.8 rating, seemed comparable to the great dot start on rewritten which goes at 5.8.

I go up into the right flake.... then take a wide left step, plug a cam, reach over and follow through into the left crack.  There's more feet this way, it felt right on the sharp end to me... also usually how I have seen most others also make the move. It helps that I'm kinda tall with a +2 ape index.

...still won't reduce the amount of gumbronies epic-ing on any given day...

who gives a shit what the book thinks, the projects is all that matters.

Kinda who cares? 5.6, 5.7, 5.8 you know what you are getting into. 5.9+ or 5.11 and 5.12-5.13. We could probably break it into easy medium and hard and nothing would change. Go have fun and pull hard.  With as subjective as ratings are and the various styles of climbing and peoples strengths, ratings are just guidelines. Some badass 5.12 crimp climber or crack master can get shut down on some mid range slab. 

Glad we can agree the ColoRADo is soft and climbers from there will most def get humbled by our west coast and east coast and anywhere not Colorado moderates. 5.4 at Cochise.

The 1984 4th edition of High Over Boulder, by Pat Ament and Cleve McCarty, rates the Bastille Crack at 5.7+ or 5.8, so calling it 5.8- has a long pedigree.

Kole Hwrote: Wait! The video beta seemed like the most intuitive to me. How are others doing this. Also I agree with the 5.8 rating, seemed comparable to the great dot start on rewritten which goes at 5.8.

Ehh, Great Zot start is much more of a bulge that necessitates crack climbing technique to cruise through, which warrants the higher grade IMO. When I first climbed Bastille I hadn't ever crack climbed and still made it up; not sure I would've followed cleanly that day on p1 of Great Zot. 

Just my $.02.

It's pretty simple 7+ Is the same as 8-
Altho if you have climbed real cracks before and have a grasp ( hahah) for jamming , it's pretty 5.7
The + prolly comes from the steepness and sustainedness to warn 5.7 leaders you might wanna be confident in 5.8 b4 stepping too
Altho I onsighted as a 5.7 leader with little to no real crack skills , thinking it was stout and def 7+++

All I remember about it was the pro getting to the crack on P1 being a little sketch. A #11 Hex sideways and a stopper below it, all extended with long slings. But the jam is good once you get to the crack. I'll give it 8- just for the slick factor now (although I haven't been on it since the 90's).

Those intro moves into the flake are easy if your tall, n if so I think I remember you can even plug something in it before pulling over .. 

It's solid 5.11 by Clear Creek Canyon standards.

S2k4 MattOateswrote: Those intro moves into the flake are easy if your tall, n if so I think I remember you can even plug something in it before pulling over .. 

IIRC that is what I did (6'2"), stretch your left leg over to a dish, lean over and plug a red/gold Camalot. Then jam your way up. 

Jon Zuccowrote: It's solid 5.11 by Clear Creek Canyon standards.

My wife is 4’10.”  She certainly made it look like 5.11. Fortunately, she can climb 5.11. :-)

Jim Twrote: This guy’s line shows the easy way to do the transition from the flake to the crack, which I think keeps the pitch at 5.7.  (Most climbers seem to do it the hard way by going higher before moving over.)  Third pitch crux feels like Eldo 7/7+.

Levin’s new guide probably puts it a 5.8- since the intuitive way is the hard way.

Don’t want the beta?  Don’t watch the video.

Yep.  I think the mistake a lot of people make is to stay on that right flake as long as they can and trying to traverse higher up.  This causes them to miss the jug (and also puts them higher above their pro).  I remember psyching myself up because I knew about the pitch’s reputation and being pleasantly surprised.  I think the key is to really just focus on getting over to the left ASAP.

There's almost no way both Friday's Folly and the Bastille Crack are both 5.7, but I always thought that it was because Friday's Folly was graded a little more generous then what it is. Then again, it's not overwhelmingly out of the ordinary to see someone soloing Bastille Crack barefoot while having a conversation with someone on the ground, so what do I know (answer: not much).

Happy Bastille (Crack) Day to any French readers.

Not much to debate.

Real climbers think it's easy and gumbies think they got sandbagged. Don't worry though, we were all gumbies at some point!

Ted Pinsonwrote:

Yep.  I think the mistake a lot of people make is to stay on that right flake as long as they can and trying to traverse higher up.  This causes them to miss the jug (and also puts them higher above their pro).  I remember psyching myself up because I knew about the pitch’s reputation and being pleasantly surprised.  I think the key is to really just focus on getting over to the left ASAP.

the key to climb 5.8- in eldo is obviously to euro blow every move.