My favorite type of terrain is.....

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What kind of above treeline terrain do you prefer?

Class 1 - trail all the way.
1
1%
Class 2 - tundra and terrain where I walk my normal gait
10
11%
Class 2 - talus
1
1%
Class 2 - scree
1
1%
Scrambling - not exposed
7
8%
Scrambling - exposed
9
10%
Scrambling - mix of exposed and non-exposed
42
47%
Unroped class 5 non-exposed (at least not very exposed)
0
No votes
Unroped class 5 exposed
4
4%
Class 5 - roped
5
6%
Snow climbs - below 40% slope
3
3%
Snow climbs - above 40% slope
7
8%
 
Total votes: 90
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12ersRule
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My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by 12ersRule »

Just curious...based on the discussion in the Favorite 14er thread.

I'll probably get lambasted for the options.
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by TomPierce »

Cool thread, I'm interested to see what shows up when you get more responses.

I voted for roped 5th class, fwiw. I just like the mental part of 5th class, and while I've done my share of unroped low 5th stuff, I actually enjoy the technical part of such climbing, e.g. placing gear, building anchors, rapping off a climb, etc. Just me.

-Tom
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by climbingcue »

Snow climbs with a great snowboard decent. That is where it is at for me.
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by IntrepidXJ »

I love high tundra ridge walks since I'm out for the views and scenery, nothing technical.
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by bdloftin77 »

For me, it was a toss-up between scrambling- exposed and scrambling mix of exposed and not exposed. I ended up choosing scrambling-exposed. To me, if I’m doing exposed scrambling, I feel like I’m “actually climbing a mountain.” Haven’t done a ton of roped climbing, and though I also enjoy unroped 5th class, I do realize there’s a higher risk involved. Unexposed scrambling is fun too, because it involves little puzzles of where to go from here to there, etc. But the exposure adds exhilaration, which apparently makes my day.

Like IntrepidXJ though, I also love high tundra walks on ridge walks.

Least favorite is class 1 with no views at the top (due to clouds, smoke, or forested) as well as class 2 scree, though descending scree can be a blast if it's deep enough to plunge step or run down.

Might be surprising to some, but my wife enjoys class 2-talus or “boulder-fields.” I think she also enjoys class 1-trail and class 2-tundra.
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by bdloftin77 »

12ersRule wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:24 am Just curious...based on the discussion in the Favorite 14er thread.

I'll probably get lambasted for the options.
I actually thought the options were pretty decent. Scree is an interesting option, though descending can sometimes be fun.

Which did you choose?
Last edited by bdloftin77 on Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by Bale »

climbingcue wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:01 am Snow climbs with a great snowboard decent. That is where it is at for me.
This is me too,(except I ski). Firm snow that holds ice axe and crampons for climbing, ride the corn down. My mouth is watering just thinking about it ;)
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by 12ersRule »

bdloftin77 wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:35 am
12ersRule wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:24 am Just curious...based on the discussion in the Favorite 14er thread.

I'll probably get lambasted for the options.
I actually thought the options were pretty decent. Scree is an interesting option, though descending can sometimes be fun. The only one I might add would be game trails and/or bushwhacking. I do love following very faint use trails or good game trails. Feels like a bushwhacking adventure without the actual bush whacking. EDIT - I suppose this could fall under option 2, though bushwhacking would be a different category. Probably few would choose bushwhacking though...

Which did you choose?
I went with Scrambling - exposed and non-exposed. However, I prefer the most exposed scrambling to be on the easy side. Exposed scrambling is one of the things that keeps me up at night the night before because I always have the gnarly photos in my head and I've built the section up to be massively scary in my head, but I almost always enjoy it once I'm there and conditions are good.

I neglected rock quality totally in this poll, but I'm going to assume that most people aren't going to say they like their scrambling chossy.
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by DeTour »

My addendum to “scrambling” is nice jugholds and solid rock please. A little air is fun as long as those other conditions are present. The kids are trying to teach me a little rock climbing but getting used to using little nubs, indentations, fingertip holds etc. is, shall we say, a work in progress. Still worthwhile for learning more about balance, friction etc. but I kinda doubt it will ever be my favorite.

As for the options - 12ers, they’re great. You deserve to be lambasted for many things but those options are not among them :-D .
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

Long run outs above sketchy pro
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by CaptainSuburbia »

I chose class 2 talus. I don't know why but I really enjoy it.
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Re: My favorite type of terrain is.....

Post by Ed_Groves »

IntrepidXJ wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:18 am I love high tundra ridge walks since I'm out for the views and scenery, nothing technical.
I chose Scrambling - mix of exposed and non-exposed; however, if there were no views of nature I probably wouldn't do any of it. Because of the views, I think I like it all to some extent although never ending talus and scree can be very tiring. Exposed scrambling with poor holds is not high on my list either.
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