The *REAL* 50 Classics

So my partner Tim and I are presently stuck in Talkeetna, trying to get into the Alaska Range. Last night our time-killing activities included making our own 50 Classics list, eliminating routes that were generally agreed to be less-than-classic, out of condition due to climate change, or included because Fred Beckey climbed in in 1962 and thought it was cool. We replaced these routes with others which had been put up since Steck and Roper’s book was published in 1979 and/or we felt were deserving of 21st-century classic status. I’ve included the list below for your viewing/arguing pleasure: 

Quick point of clarification:  Roper and Steck have pointed out many times that their book was about 50 classic climbs in North America, not "THE" 50 classic climbs.

They've stated that there are many others that are as good or better but they just put together 50 that they liked.

And your link to your list is not showing up (at least on my computer).

  

1. Bibler-Klewin, Mt. Hunter  
2. Cassin Ridge, Denali
3. Slovak Direct, Denali
4. Infinite Spur, Mt Foraker
5. Harvard Route, Mt Huntington
6. Ham & Eggs, Moose’s Tooth
7. East Buttress, Middle Triple Peak
8. NW Ridge, Mt Sir Donald
9. Sunshine Cracks, Snowpatch Spire
10. Beckey-Chouinard, South Howser Tower
11. Andromeda Strain, Mt. Andromeda
12. Infinite Patience, Mt Robson
13. S Face, Mt Waddington
14. E. Ridge, Devil’s Thumb
15. Lotus Flower Tower
16. NE Buttress, Mt Slesse
17. Liberty Ridge, Mt Rainier
18. Torment-Forbidden Traverse
19. Liberty Crack
20. The Grand Traverse
21. Direct Exum Ridge
22. Direct S. Buttress, Mt Moran
23. Pingora
24. Wolf’s Head
25. Cobra Pillar, Mt Barril
26. D7
27. Fine Jade
28. Finger of Fate
29. Astroman
30. The Nose
31. Freerider
32. E Face, Mt Whitney
33. Mithral Dihedral
34. Positive Vibrations
35. Epinephrine
36. Moonlight Buttress
37. Polar Circus
38.  Hydrophobia
39. Broken Hearts, Cody, WY
40. Shune’s Buttress
41. N Ridge, Mt. Stewart
42. Bastille Crack
43. Carbondale Short Bus
44. Hallucinogen Wall
45. Reality Bath
46. Winter Dance
47. Jah Man
48. Lightning Bolt Cracks
49. Direct Beckey, Elephant’s Perch
50. Montana Centennial Route 

I’d argue Fine Jade should be replaced with The North Face of Castleton.  Sure Fine Jade is a great route but it’s soft for the grade and doesn’t really even summit a tower. Also, Castleton is the king of towers and is not included. Or perhaps Primrose is the best tower route, certainly up the best Tower. 

Also, Bastille Crack?  That’s gotta be an attempt at a joke.  The logical Eldo classic is The Naked Edge, but maybe I’m just feeling the peer pressure.

Also, where’s Wunsch’s Dihedral? Best shortish route in Colorado.

I'm with Don - Naked edge over Bastille.

Carbondale short bus looks amazing, but I think its pretty hard to call it an ultra classic when it only has 2(?) ascents. Also it falls pretty far outside of the line with the other more adventurey climbs. If any single pitch climbs were to be included, particularly in the creek, I think Supercrack is the obvious choice over carbondale short bus.

You forgot Plumber’s Crack at the Kraft boulders. Significantly more committing than The Andromeda Strain. 

I wish I had done any one of those routes back when I had a higher tolerance for suffering. Pingora was the only route on that list I have ever but boots on, and we immediately got snowed/stormed off.  Climbed top of Bastille from Werks Up, wasn't that impressed.  Naked Edge has a better mystique to it, I have never climbed it.

Greg Kosinski wrote: Carbondale short bus looks amazing, but I think its pretty hard to call it an ultra classic when it only has 2(?) ascents. Also it falls pretty far outside of the line with the other more adventurey climbs. If any single pitch climbs were to be included, particularly in the creek, I think Supercrack is the obvious choice over carbondale short bus.

Agreed about CDSB. Single pitch and climbs that don’t top out should be excluded. While technically Supercrack does, nobody ever climbs the second pitch. 

32. Mount Whitney East Buttress over East Face.
33. I'd still take Charlotte Dome South Face over Mithril Dihedral.

Mike McKinnon wrote: Yep not sure why Bastille is on there. I would actually take anything from Eldo off the list. It is just a historic choss pile :)

 You are missing these:

Original Route
Positive Vibrations

it is #34

Henry Coppolillo wrote: 
45. Reality Bath

As in the one Albi Sole said was "so dangerous as to be of little value except to those suicidally inclined?" 

Replace Reality Bath with Wild Thing or the Greenwood/Locke.

Why reality bath? Because of the icefall hazard? Has it even been repeated? I think something on mt. yamnuska should be included in this list over any single pitch route. Also, what about all along the watchtower on north howser tower? 

Should have started here:
Classic:
"judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind"
"remarkably and instructively typical"
"a work of art of recognized and established value"
"serving as a standard of excellence"

Ty Gilroy wrote: Why reality bath? Because of the icefall hazard? Has it even been repeated? I think something on mt. yamnuska should be included in this list. Grillmair chimneys or cmc wall perhaps?

Reality Bath has not. I rank it up there with Hummingbird Ridge. The fact that it got done is amazing, but the objective hazards are just too great to deem it a classic, let alone a desirable route.

Reality Bath is not a classic, but Gimme Shelter is.  I would make that swap. 

You're going for too many obscurities, I think "classic" should require the route is well-traveled, which was the problem with many on the original list. It bears repeating too that the list was "50 classic climbs" and not THE 50 MOST classic climbs. So inevitably the list will reflect it's author's biases. Yours looks a bit biased toward ice and mixed alpine climbing?

Why strike the moderate classics from the Valley? You'd really remove the Steck-Salathe? And RNWF Half Dome?? Swapping Freerider in for Salathe wall is kind of pretentious.

I haven't climbed D7 but I'd argue for the Casual Route instead, for the biases I mention above.

I think a lot of your list "deserve" to be included, but that's the problem with making an arbitrary limit on how many classics you're gonna describe. I would suggest that making a couple lists with some other criteria might be more interesting. Comparing those epics up in Canada and Alaska with the friendly cragging routes in California is kind of contrived, another one of my issues with the original list. What about challenging yourself to make a list of 50 more classics with none of the original 50?

You should sort your list by location and give it location headings.

Wouldn't every climb on The Hulk be classic? 

Greg Kosinski wrote: Carbondale short bus looks amazing, but I think its pretty hard to call it an ultra classic when it only has 2(?) ascents. Also it falls pretty far outside of the line with the other more adventurey climbs. If any single pitch climbs were to be included, particularly in the creek, I think Supercrack is the obvious choice over carbondale short bus.

Carbondale Shortbus has closer to 4 or 5 (Gobright, Kennedy, Segal, Pearson, Martino(?))I believe, but I agree with you. 

Eric Fjellanger wrote: You're going for too many obscurities, I think "classic" should require the route is well-traveled, which was the problem with many on the original list.

This was my main problem with the original, too.  Has Hummingbird Ridge had a second ascent yet?  Also, despite some valiant efforts, no one has managed to climb all of these 50 "classics."  The skill, time, and money required to do so are insane.  I've done a few of the easier ones, but I'll never organize multiple expeditions to Alaska and the Yukon.

My own list of (much easier) "classics" has a few obscurities, but plenty of well-known climbs that deserve their (perhaps unfortunate) popularity.  They're also all reachable without planes or helicopters.

Whew, kind of a hot take to only have three routes in the Valley. Also surprised to see that nothing on Devil's Tower makes the list, nor anything in the east--surely there's a Gunks or Cannon Cliff climb worthy of this list.