What is the most average crag?

When talking about climbing areas we often reach for superlatives. The best or the worst. The crimpiest or the juggyest. The cleanest splitters or the chunkiest choss. While these are interesting descriptors, this thread is not about those places.  This thread is about the crags that defy superlatives, that sit right in the middle of each bell curve on each parameter. 

So what crags would qualify? They would be not best area, nor the worst. Not the biggest, nor the smallest. Not the steepest, nor the slabbiest. Not the shortest, nor the tallest. Not the easiest, nor the hardest. Not the prettiest, nor the plainest. They would have a mix of styles, but not a superlative amount of variety. And so on. Perhaps the only superlative that would apply is the "most average". 

What climbing area(s) would you nominate for this distinction?

Mission Gorge

The area that came to mind for me: Bolton, VT.

It's a decent climbing area, but nothing amazing. The rock is good enough, but not the best. Its most known for single pitch sport climbing, but also offers trad, bouldering, and even some ice in the winter. The setting is nice enough but not the most spectacular (except during fall colors). There are some decently long single pitches, and a couple short multipitches, but nothing especially tall. Some approaches are short, others are longer. It would be a nice home crag if you lived nearby, but there's nothing calling climbers to travel from far away to visit. It is just...a crag. An average crag. 

But is is the most average crag? What other places would qualify for this list?

plantmandanwrote:

Mission Gorge

Definitely below average. (I say that with love)

Most of Boulder Canyon

This is by definition not a destination area, so I'm trying to think of crags I've lived locally to. Maybe the pit in Flagstaff?

Crow Hill, MA. 

I almost said Farley, but then I remembered that THIS place exists. People roll out to Crow Hill not because it’s great, but because it’s simply…good enough. 

Marc Hwrote:

Most of Boulder Canyon

My vote for the front range goes to North Table Mountain. More average than Boulder Canyon imo

Danny Pocetawrote:

Definitely below average. (I say that with love)

Far below average

A couple picks:

• Exit 38, WA. Just some OK cliffs in the woods. Some good routes, but also some choss. Some hard stuff and also some easy stuff. Almost in the mountains, but the views aren't anything special. Fun if you're in the area, but no one has ever said "let's buy plane tickets to Seattle so we can go to Exit 38!"
• The Emeralds, I-80, CA. Just some OK cliffs in the woods. Some good routes, but also some choss. A few hard routes but mostly moderates. In the mountains, but the views aren't anything special. Almost shady enough to be a summer crag but not quite. Too snowy to be a winter crag. So it's best in the spring and fall, just like everywhere else. No one has ever road tripped to California, driven past Tahoe and Yosemite, and gone to the Emeralds.

I'm trying to think of more but nothing really stands out...

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, Arkansas. Don't get me wrong, I do love it.... but.....

The rock is fantastic, but the same quality can be found at a couple dozen other locales ranging from 20 minutes away to 4 hours away. Mostly sport, some trad. Some tall, some not. Some hard, most not. A fair amount of bouldering, but again, the same quality and quantity can be found nearby. 

Sharma put it on the map in the mid 00s and the only reasons it is still a "destination" is the shear quantity of routes in a single location. All that said, given the style in which it is being developed/stewarded, and the number of people there any given weekend..... it may as well be a gym.....

I was going to nominate the Pie Shop in the So. Lake Tahoe area, but then I took a look at the page and new development seems to have added a bunch of harder, many starred routes in the vicinity. Not clear if these now elevate a nicely average ( not great/ not bad) crag to more of a destination, and bump it out of average?

All the basalt crags in the east(CT), ORG, and almost all the basalt crags in the west. Not awful at all, just not enough memorable lines to be real destinations.

Vantage, WA.  Chossy basalt near a highway.  

Governor's Dodge

Isn't the best or the worst for beginners- A few solid 5.9 and below, but not a ton.

Isn't the best or the worst for hard climbers- One 13, and a few 12's but nothing harder.

Isnt the tallest or shortest- pretty average height for a single pitch area.

A little Trad mixed in the area.

Isnt the worst or the best- Cool moves on decent rock.

Isnt too steep, and isnt too slabby- It has variety but nothing extreme.

Only a single crag, so nothing epic to explore, but better than no rock at all. 

Sam Pughwrote:

My vote for the front range goes to North Table Mountain. More average than Boulder Canyon imo

If it was most below average crag, then I would agree.

Rumney.

Fight me.

Massacre Rocks ID, the same 5.11 700 times.

Castle Rock State Park seems like a good one. There is some exceptional bouldering, but not too much of it. The roped climbing is distinctly meh, with the really fun routes usually being really short. Most routes aren't very tall and most routes aren't sustained-- many only have one or a few moves at the given grade. It is beautiful in the Santa Cruz mountains but it isn't as pretty as numerous seaside crags or say the mountainous landscapes of the Eastern Sierra. 

I think I love Castle Rock more than just about anybody else as it was my home crag for the first four years I climbed outdoors and I did a lot of TRS out there alone enjoying the beauty and tranquility, but a lot of what I love about it has to do with the natural beauty and the fact that there are a gazillion little crags, half of which most people don't know about, so there's always something fun to get on even if the popular crags are mobbed and lines are forming to get on routes. Just walk 5-10 minutes elsewhere and you'll have a crag to yourself. 

Essentially I feel towards Castle Rock the way I feel towards the local cafe that only has one really good coffee but has really good decor and friendly staff-- sure, it's a profoundly average spot, but it's my profoundly average spot and I've come to appreciate it exactly as it is and wouldn't have it any other way, thank you very much. 

I actually have a climber's map hanging up of CRSP, I love it so much. Funnily enough many of those unknown crags that aren't in MP or in books are in that climber's map. I have no idea why more people don't buy them, they're like $4 from the rangers. 

Nkane 1wrote:

• The Emeralds, I-80, CA. Just some OK cliffs in the woods. Some good routes, but also some choss. A few hard routes but mostly moderates. In the mountains, but the views aren't anything special. Almost shady enough to be a summer crag but not quite. Too snowy to be a winter crag. So it's best in the spring and fall, just like everywhere else. No one has ever road tripped to California, driven past Tahoe and Yosemite, and gone to the Emeralds.

Climbing here last weekend actually is what inspired this thread. We commented throughout the day that this was just a perfectly average crag, for all the reasons you mention. That said, we had a great time and really enjoyed climbing there. There's a lot of fun to be had at an average crag.

This raises an interesting question: How good is the average crag? Where do we place the quality meter when seeking average?  The subjectivity makes it tricky. But I think its fair to say that some areas are too good to get mentioned as the average crag. ORG is, IMO an above average sport crag and a legitimate destination area, so doesn't belong on this list.  Whereas North Table Mountain just kinda sucks - decidedly below average.

We could think about the median crag, as a counterpoint to the average crag. There are a lot of pretty mediocre climbing areas out there, so the quality of the median crag is probably pretty low. So perhaps North Table is the median crag. Whereas the average gets pulled upward by the high outliers.  So the average is pretty decent and has some nice climbing. Emeralds feels like about the right quality level for average. But, of course, this is all subjective.

Lots of good suggestions so far!

Big Redwrote:

Rumney.

Fight me.

Naw. It has one of the most iconic photographed routes in the united states, I think it has the most easily viewed 15a in the country, and has a hard open project people actually try. 

If you filter all of mountain project by route stars and single pitch, often at least one rumney route  will make the top 50 by grade (at least for 5.11a-12b). The only crags that come up more regularly are Indian Creek, the red, and the new. 

For the Colorado front range people, is clear creek better than boulder canyon?