Let's list the hardest 5.7's around

Trapped Like a Rat, Gunks.

I see MP has it as a 5.8 but sure the old Williams guides had it at 5.7. 

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsionwrote:

Mother #1 was my nominee but Handjacker is right up there.

Now if we’re talking 5.6, the first pitch of Moor Crossing is the real deal.

I remember watching you cruise handjacker in enormous foam rubber hulk gloves, silver Lycra tights, and a blond mullet wig. Couldn't have been that hard.

The handjacker sandbag is made funnier because an error in the first edition of heel and toe confused it with Lower Progressive (5.9+), which REALLY humbled people.

I have heard multiple people describe the 4th pitch of the Bastille Crack as a sandbag at 5.7, but I've only felt that if I was off-route.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Not  sure if this couts because it's  7+ but West Pole  at Seneca has  a nice  10b roof  .. and west pole  direct  finish 5.6 in the book is really  engaging.  

Thank you for the validation. 

Westpole at seneca. Not sure if anyones mentioned this one, but the double roof pull is hardest sequence ive ever done on a 5.7. Ive seen a couple people mention Prune, its hard for the grade but in my opinion on par with other seneca 7s.

Something interesting at the gunks is also pretty stout for 5.7, but not nearly as hard as westpole IMO

Tuolumne Climberwrote:

The 5.7 pitch of "The Yawn" in Tuolumne seemed like full value.

West Crack on Stately Pleasure seemed pretty hard for a 5.7 as well

EDIT:  West Country*****  Not West Crack.  Im an idiot.

Ezra Elliswrote:

Zoo view at Moore’s  wall , 5.7 plus.

Fairly overhanging with a large roof, full value for sure.

This. Especially the old school (5.10) way. Scary too for a 5.7 leader to have all that exposure! Seen so many epics on that route!

I always thought "Golden Earring at Moore's was hard for the grade. They don't call it "Almost Seven" for nothin'...

Zoo View story - 15-20 years ago I was leading it for the first time with my wife. A few years earlier I had followed my son up it. I had clipped the lone bolt traversing out left on the second pitch and got in one more piece i believe. I was heading over to get established in the crack and was traversing too low off route and got into territory way harder than ".7". Started working my way back and came off and did a 8'-10' pendulum and smacked into a corner below Zoo View's intended line. I had a nice #3 camlot tattoo on my butt for a couple weeks, plus a core shot on my rope where it ran over a large rounded smooth rock.

The traversing left sequence to get established in the crack is the crux, not the roof. The roof is just a fun airy jug haul. The double roofs on West Pole at Seneca are much more difficult IMO.

Dan COwrote:

Carey Corner @ Ragged

That and Thin Slabs are the very definition of sandbag

Petsfed 00wrote:

I remember watching you cruise handjacker in enormous foam rubber hulk gloves, silver Lycra tights, and a blond mullet wig. Couldn't have been that hard.

The handjacker sandbag is made funnier because an error in the first edition of heel and toe confused it with Lower Progressive (5.9+), which REALLY humbled people.

I have heard multiple people describe the 4th pitch of the Bastille Crack as a sandbag at 5.7, but I've only felt that if I was off-route.

One lap I was wearing bunny slippers, the other, roller skates. The bumper edge was a lot better than I would have expected.

Gunklandia (P3) on Precipice at Acadia NP Maine

West pole is probably the hardest 5.7 I’ve climbed. Haven’t done Prune. I saw someone said golden earring. Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that was super hard. 

Not Hobo Greg wrote:

Durrance. Took me a dozen laps to finally agree that it’s 5.7.

Agreed. I’ve never been so tired after a 5.7. To be fair I made a Gumby move and brought wide gear up there with me. I think we happened to run into each other on one of the belay ledges and you asked me what I thought about Pitch 3 while laughing. Pretty big workout for a “classic 5.7” lol  

Another Vedauwoo suggestion. We’ve talked about OW but what about slab?

Cold fingers, 5.7 and one of many peoples first climbs. It’s a helluva thing though. Actually gets harder once you learn how to climb.

Anyone ever climb at Granite Mountain near Prescott. Arizona? It’s been decades, but I remember feeling like the grades were pretty stiff there. There is a 5.7 called The Classic or some such thing that I remember doing but I can’t recall my feelings about the grade on that specific route. Am I just an old man yelling at a cloud? Is my memory off?

https://www.climbonmaps.com/wtf-5-7-tour-red-rock.html

This is a fun thing that I've been following for a bit thats pretty fun.

Yes, grades at Granite Mountain are stiff, but it has also been a very long time for me, so can't remember route specifics.

When I did Durrance (on the Tower, I presume) it was rated 5.6 and seemed right for the grade--though I was a Devil's Lake climber, so had a distorted comprehension of grades.

West Pole is HARD. Quite likely the hardest of that grade that I've done.

Red River Gorge, Indian Creek, Slimy Creatures 5.7 

Ezra Elliswrote:

Zoo view at Moore’s  wall , 5.7 plus.

Fairly overhanging with a large roof, full value for sure.

I rope-soloed that route one year when I was visiting for Christmas thinking it would be a nice chill day out. 

It. 

was. 

not. 

chill. 

But it was an awesome climb!

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Not  sure if this couts because it's  7+ but West Pole  at Seneca has  a nice  10b roof  .. and west pole  direct  finish 5.6 in the book is really  engaging.  

I personally have always felt the start of West Pole was the crux. Not the roofs. Heck, I thought the roofs were pretty straight forward. 

Tuolumne Climberwrote:

The 5.7 pitch of "The Yawn" in Tuolumne seemed like full value.

5.9 hands.

But the "5.7" on DNB is a 10a flare. I know which poison I'd pick ie hands any day.