World’s Hardest 5.8? I need your input!

Sam Beeduhlwrote:

This one is pretty hard for cragging... I flailed on it as an early 5.10 onsight leader and went back a couple years ago and still thought it was pretty stout for a few moves https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105793864/classic-crack 

My brother-in-law flailed on that. He's a pretty skilled face climber, not so much on crack climbs.

I felt that it was about dead-on for Vedauwoo 5.7, because it was all hand jams.

When Herb Laeger and Paul Clark did the first ascent of Igor Unchained at the California Needles they gave it 5.8. Years after the FA, over some beers, Herb had me pretty much convinced they were right. 5.8 it is then!

Six Toe Crack, Castle Crags

slimwrote:

Umph slot is easily a number grade harder than grand giraffe, modern times, or any of the other routes listsd above that i have done. I would say it is the hardest 8 i have ever been on. I cant think of anything similar in difficulty.

I would agree about Umph Slot, but it was always understood that the 5.8 rating only applied if you could fit all the way inside the crack making it a squeeze chimney. Even 'High Over Boulder' copywrite 1970 has it as Maximum 5.9

J Ewrote:

I'm far from a wunderkind crack climber, but Diedre's P3 had me huffing, puffing, and punting far more than most 10b's,

Glad I’m not the only one! #2 for me behind modern times. Left Up at looking glass (originally 5.7) gets the “least secure” honorable mention.

The Pooper at Devils Lake was originally graded 5.8

Still gives me a solid workout every time lol 

Left Hand Crack 5.8 Taylor Canyon, CO. Hardest 8 in the state!

Titties and Beer at Looking Glass, NC (5.8/5.10)

Honorable mentions:

Granola 5.8+ at Rumbling Bald, NC. If you blow the first move you’re taking a 30ft fall in a crevasse that has claimed many a femur/spine.

Bloody Crack 5.7+ at Looking Glass, NC. Crux is a committing smear on rock so polished you can see your reflection. Crack was renamed after all the bloodshed on it

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/112204373/58d

Even the slightest skōsh harder and this would be a 5.9.

Take a look at my recent "Does overhanging 5.6 exist?" thread. You'll find a lot of hard 5.8s there.

Curt Hairewrote:

The "worlds hardest 5.8" is most likely one that was established before 1970 and has not had enough traffic for the climbing community to have reached consensus on what a "modern" rating might be.

-Haireball

I think this sums it up and should help me on my quest. Lots of old crags in the alps, too. Anything I’ve climbed that was soloed in leather boots 100 years ago is normally hard. Thanks, Haireball!

- Hairbrain

John Gillwrote:

How times change. In the late 1950s when 5.9 was the top of the scale, Chouinard told me that often 5.9s were a sequence of 5.8 moves. 5.8 seemed hard back then.

Says the guy that climbed V9 in hiking boots!

Kyle Millswrote:

Triple S at Seneca deserves an honorable mention. 

I see people say this all the time but I didn't find it particularly hard for the grade. Of course that was 20 years ago so I guess it might have polished up a bit since then.

Wiesner chimney Humphries is rated 5.8.  It’s shares the same first pitch as the guides route which is rated 5.9 and the bottom of the guides route is the crux. ( old school 5.9)

june mwrote:

Wiesner chimney Humphries is rated 5.8.  It’s shares the same first pitch as the guides route which is rated 5.9 and the bottom of the guides route is the crux. ( old school 5.9)

I can’t find the crag or route you’re talking about with an internet search. Where is it located?

Brys Jungwrote:

I can’t find the crag or route you’re talking about with an internet search. Where is it located?

Humphrey Ledge, North Conway, NH, just down the road from Cathedral Ledge.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/110964287/east-gruesome

Bump for Titties and Beer and Looking Glass Rock in NC

The Burn at Seneca Rocks is a strong contender.

Clutch and cruise @ Beer walls in the daks is a total Joke at 5.8  100% ego rateing. I have had folks say oh you just don't know how to jam cracks which is also nonsense. Didn't say I had a hard time climbing it, just said it wasn't 5.8.  Put my visiting desert rat friend on it without telling him what it was. he hiked it easily and when I asked him what he thought it was he said 10b ;) 

Thrombus at Taylor’s falls mn!  Four full numbers m (not letter grades) below my limit and still can’t send it and I’m not the only one!