What are the best sandbagged routes you can think of? Sport, Trad, and Bouldering

SethG wrote: Pretty much all the Gunks routes mentioned are not sandbags IMHO. Modern TImes, Birdie Party, Coex, Madame G's, City Lights (which used to be 5.7), Laurel (which used to be 5.6), all CORRECTLY RATED.

I want to do it again before I make up my mind, but I actually think Laurel might be a soft rating at 5.7 and the old 5.6 rating is right. It's a grunt move at the beginning, but compared to 5.7s with a similar style of crux (The Brat a few routes over, or Reach Around at Peterskill) I think you'd find it's much easier.

EDIT: Actually a better comparison might be the opening moves of Classic. The opening boulder moves on Classic are harder and slippery-er than the crux of Laurel, and the slab above the bouldery start of Classic is even harder. They can't be both 5.7.

Totally agree, Laurel is not a sandbag. If you want a 5.7 sandbag in the Gunks, try Keyhole (5.7). I've climbed easier 5.9s.

That said, so many 5.6s are sandbagged here that it makes it hard to know what 5.7 should feel like.

All this is compared local ratings--almost everything here is sandbagged if you compare to other places I've climbed.

Sam Miller wrote: Index

The thing with Index is not that it's uniformly sandbagged, plenty of routes are very fair for the grade, it's more that 5.11 there encompasses everything from .10c to 5.13.

David Kerkeslager wrote: I want to do it again before I make up my mind, but I actually think Laurel might be a soft rating at 5.7 and the old 5.6 rating is right. It's a grunt move at the beginning, but compared to 5.7s with a similar style of crux (The Brat a few routes over, or Reach Around at Peterskill) I think you'd find it's much easier.

EDIT: Actually a better comparison might be the opening moves of Classic. The opening boulder moves on Classic are harder and slippery-er than the crux of Laurel, and the slab above the bouldery start of Classic is even harder. They can't be both 5.7.

Totally agree, Laurel is not a sandbag. If you want a 5.7 sandbag in the Gunks, try Keyhole (5.7). I've climbed easier 5.9s.

That said, so many 5.6s are sandbagged here that it makes it hard to know what 5.7 should feel like.

All this is compared local ratings--almost everything here is sandbagged if you compare to other places I've climbed.

Go try Baskerville Terrace, Trapped Like a Rat, and Thin Slabs Direct and get back to us.

John Clark wrote:
I thought the step across after the pin and then the right variation on the last pitch made it harder than 5.7. 

I had to do a move to reach the pin (crux for me at 5’7”) and then reversed the move to where it was more stable for me and traversed from there. If you climbed above the piton and traversed I’d definitely imagine it’s harder than 5’7” but at the same time maybe that’s the way the route is supposed to be done. I’m not really sure since it felt like a pretty odd departure from a protectable crack. 

rooooock wrote:

I had to do a move to reach the pin (crux for me at 5’7”) and then reversed the move to where it was more stable for me and traversed from there. If you climbed above the piton and traversed I’d definitely imagine it’s harder than 5’7” but at the same time maybe that’s the way the route is supposed to be done. I’m not really sure since it felt like a pretty odd departure from a protectable crack. 

Let's just say I wasn't clipping any pro that day. May have made for a headier experience.

Matthew Tangeman wrote:

The thing with Index is not that it's uniformly sandbagged, plenty of routes are very fair for the grade, it's more that 5.11 there encompasses everything from .10c to 5.13.

This. Index is pretty fair for grades under 11a. A 5.9 at index is no harder than a 5.9 anywhere else IMO. Tieton is where you'll find sandbagged 5.6-5.9 that feel like 10s

John Clark wrote:

Let's just say I wasn't clipping any pro that day. May have made for a headier experience.

Why would following be so heady??? ;)

has anyone cast a vote for Right Parallel Space (5.5!!) in Vedauwoo? I'll just mention that the MP description recommends a knee pad. I promise, you will have no ego remaining, with or without the knee pad. 

If I had to make a top 10 of the most sandbagged routes I've ever been on, Circus Trick would be #1, followed by 9 of the most slabby, sharp, crumbly, cryptic, psychotically run-out granite climbs in the greater Phoenix area.

EDIT: Actually I take that back. There are some problems in the Santee Boulders outside of San Diego that would be in the top 5 for sure.