 |
Went up to Gianelli Edges, above Pinecrest, CA, in the Sonora Pass drainage for a get-together with a bunch of folks. The Sonora Pass Highway guidebook (by Brad Young and others) is notorious for its sandbag ratings, especially at the Edges. Anyway, we all had a great time, even though cool fall weather had arrived (never fear, Indian Summer will be here in a week or two and the temps will be back in the hot range). I managed to get up the Prow on Genesis. Brad and several others climbed the route several times, since there has been a lot of argument that the 5.8 rating is way way sandbag. Brad says he rates things "conservatively." Well, the group were doing it as a lead to get a "fair" rating and for a couple hours were going to call it 10a or 10b. But Brad didn't want to up the rating too much, so he decided for the next edition (and the website) to call it 9. The other 3 or 4 who were with him still wanted at least 10a, so Brad decided he will use "9+". Several other 8s are to be upped to 9s (Brody's Run for one) and one of the 7s is to go to an 8. This is a good illustration of how inconsistent ratings can be from one area to another. Just to compare, Brody's (5.8 in the book) felt a lot harder to me than the 10a's on Cal Cliff at Castle Rock State Park (Santa Cruz Mountains Castle Rock), while the 7 Clover, Brian, and I did in Little Cottonwood back in August felt easier the the 6 (Bright Light) at Roche Edges (about 200 yards from Genesis at Gianelli). Here are some photos from this weekend. The first has someone who should be familiar to most of you. Second is the Prow, and the third is OGBO on one of the 7s that supposedly is going to be moved to 8. Probably 5.1, though, since I made it up. |
Rate
this topic
Printer-friendly copy
Email this topic to a friend
