14ers list by difficulty

[highpilgrim]

Would any of you who have done both agree that Sunlight (presumably the summit block) is more exposed than Capitol? Just curious because I don't hear too much about it.

Once you get more than about 50 feet of exposure, they all work the same. Gravity wins, you lose.

[justiner]

The difference between Sunlight and Capitol is pretty big in my book. There are a ton of no-fall areas in Cap, beginning with K2, and many of those spots are loose, so getting hit by a kicked rock is probably also higher. Routefinding on Cap. has been demonstratively harder. Whereas Sunlight is a ton more solid (relatively), and the summit block is one of the only real no-fall places. Personally, I spend so much time prancing around on the flatirons that coming to a big ol' slab of a summit block doesn't really give me pause.

[TallGrass]

https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/usrpeaksrall.php

Perhaps instead of a list, we need a chart to plot the peaks/routes. One axis is difficulty (Class rating over how sustained the hard bits are), one axis is overall time to complete (length of route/general conditions of the route) to complete.

Ala the Distance to Denver thread graphs?


I think many are more geared to a one-dimensional ranking order, hence Roach lumping factors into one Effortculty number.

The ranking of 58 standard routes is interesting, but not everyone goes standard. My first 14er (Holy Cross) was Halo via Notch, which covers the standard and then some, for example.

Are 14er finishers (58) who didn't always take standard routes excluded from voting?
"Sure, you did the Bells Traverse, but hold your tongue until you bag Sherman."

What about a ranking of all the listed routes? Or would someone have to complete all of those (140+?) to vote?
Then there's accounting for weather conditions and snow coverage (waist-deep wallowing? scree-solidifying snow slope?). Fun.

The difference between Sunlight and Capitol is pretty big in my book. ... Routefinding on Cap. has been demonstratively harder.

??? You just stay on the ridge for Capitol, whereas Sunlight is scrambly climbing a pick-your-path from the saddle. Both have solid trails leading to them and decent lines of sight of the terrain ahead.

[GeezerClimber]

I looked at the user rated list a lot before completing it. I rated them myself after finishing. No two people are going to agree on every rank, but, overall, I thought it was pretty accurate, especially the hardest 20. I understand people may use different criteria and I'm OK with that. With nearly 400 entries, the blend works IMHO. I think it should remain.

Regarding exposure levels, why is Missouri rated 4? Seriously, exposure ratings are far more subjective than difficulty. For instance, one of my partners climbed the Needle and was never bothered but was a little freaked by the home stretch on Longs the following week. The upper part of Capitol scared me more than the knife edge. For my partner, it was the other way around.

Dave

[JaredJohnson]

You just stay on the ridge for Capitol, whereas Sunlight is scrambly climbing a pick-your-path from the saddle. Both have solid trails leading to them and decent lines of sight of the terrain ahead.

At least if you follow the 14ers route description, between the knife edge and the summit you stay under the ridge instead of on it, and there is some loose terrain that I managed to mess up and get myself into, it was pretty sketchy.

I haven't been on Sunlight to compare but I was sure glad I had done the needle and others before Capitol, so I felt equipped to deal with the trouble I got myself into, and so that I didn't get into any worse trouble

[BillMiddlebrook]

Regarding exposure levels, why is Missouri rated 4? Seriously, exposure ratings are far more subjective than difficulty.

The standard Mizz route is rated 3/6 (not 4) for exposure. Even though that one pitch is only 20 feet or so, I think it's an "ok" rating.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Here are the updates to the "Routes by Difficulty" page:

https://www.14ers.com/routes_bydifficulty.php

I think it's a lot better than the confusing way things were ranked on the old page. Now, the routes are first grouped by Class, then sorted by overall difficulty/"effortculty"

Did I end up having to create my own type of "R Points" behind the scenes? Sort of. I still have to tweak some numbers because there are a couple of Class 2 routes that I feel should be changed.

[TallGrass]

You just stay on the ridge for Capitol, whereas Sunlight is scrambly climbing a pick-your-path from the saddle. Both have solid trails leading to them and decent lines of sight of the terrain ahead.

At least if you follow the 14ers route description, between the knife edge and the summit you stay under the ridge instead of on it, and there is some loose terrain that I managed to mess up and get myself into, it was pretty sketchy.

The standard route listed does note going left for the last 300' or so of vert and crossing the face as the easier path, and many prefer to just hold the ridge to stay on solid rock. Both peaks are fun. ToMAYto, toMAHto.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Taking the ridge-direct at the end of Capitol is much more difficult than the bypass to the left and holds some large, loose rock.

No comparison to the much easier (and less dangerous) summit block on Sunlight.

[TallGrass]

The difference between Sunlight and Capitol is pretty big in my book. ... Routefinding on Cap. has been demonstratively harder.

??? You just stay on the ridge for Capitol, whereas Sunlight is scrambly climbing a pick-your-path from the saddle.

Taking the ridge-direct at the end of Capitol is much more difficult

The factor discussed was "routefinding." Following the ridge strikes me as simple as it gets -- continue ascending via the highest path you can go (weaving any gendarmes or such, naturally).

The pair I caught up to by K2 (and later pulled away from my lowlander lungs ) did the ridge up and back. It was his first 14er and he enjoyed it; his GF was the peakbagger. I went up the NE ridge but returned via the face thinking it may be faster. Next time, I'd take the ridge back as others did who left the summit before me.

Cap's ridge scrambles a longer distance than Sunlight's, but Sunlight had some moves Cap' doesn't. Like K2 where some prefer going over and others around, tomayto tomahto, pick your pleasure or devil. They're both a long approach and a fun finish.

[JaredJohnson]

Here are the updates to the "Routes by Difficulty" page:

https://www.14ers.com/routes_bydifficulty.php

That looks awesome to me!!

A future nice-to-have might be to add some (or many or all) non-standard routes as well. Especially classics such as Torreys via Kelso Ridge and Quandary via West Ridge. Obviously this might be a lot more work and even more subjective

[seano]

Here are the updates to the "Routes by Difficulty" page:

https://www.14ers.com/routes_bydifficulty.php

... Did I end up having to create my own type of "R Points" behind the scenes? Sort of.

I disagree with some rankings (Lindsey easier than Wetterhorn?), but it looks like a useful list. I'm curious about your "sort of" route points formula.