Hey Radek, Serpentine has some good climbing on it, and so what if it's loose higher up? It follows a nice line on the mountain, and gives folks a chance for a long alpine day tour. It's been popular for many years for good reason!
Proud member "Serpentine is Phun" re-election campaign ;-).
Haha, I had forgotten that I'd already complained about "mediocre (at best)" over on the summit log months ago. I'm getting old, I came back and re-read the description, sputtering out my morning coffee with fresh indignation!! :D
Sorry Michael! Decided to take out this bs personal opinion. That kind of flaming belongs in a TR and not on the beta page :)
I know also that climbers get passionate about routes they've done (I don't necessarily mean FA's either - just any route). When I call a route "great" and someone goes and does it and says that it sucks, I just naturally take it very personally! ;) As if they had just insulted my multiple relatives!! Bottom line is that I don't want to get my tires slashed next time we're at a trailhead ;)
Also in retrospect, as I was writing up the TR for Backbone last night (and re-analyzing our Serpentine climb), it occurred to me that maybe it was not a good day out for me.
Take care and thank you for the visit/good vote.
RAdek
As long as you see it for what it is, the route is great. Just don't expect it to be some big wall classic. It's an enjoyable alpine route with a relatively short section of decent crack climbing in the lower half.
The upper half is highly enjoyable advanced scrambling if one stays on the ridge crest instead of bypassing via the crappy loose gulleys on the side (seriously... you came to climb, right?).
Finally, "most of a day" means grade III. Which is an accurate grade for climbers who know what to expect (i.e. prepared to simul and/or solo most of what is not included in the 5 technical pitches).
"As long as you see it for what it is, the route is great. Just don't expect it to be some big wall classic. It's an enjoyable alpine route with a relatively short section of decent crack climbing in the lower half."
yes.
"The upper half is highly enjoyable advanced scrambling if one stays on the ridge crest instead of bypassing via the crappy loose gulleys on the side (seriously... you came to climb, right?)."
yes.
"Finally, "most of a day" means grade III. Which is an accurate grade for climbers who know what to expect (i.e. prepared to simul and/or solo most of what is not included in the 5 technical pitches)."
yes.
PS grade IV comes courtesy of Nelson & Potterfield book which sometimes tends to be conservative with route length ratings (sometimes not) but I probably should not make such generalization given the small fraction of routes from that book that I've done.
mvs - Jul 25, 2006 6:49 am - Voted 10/10
that bad?"This mediocre (at best) route..."
Hey Radek, Serpentine has some good climbing on it, and so what if it's loose higher up? It follows a nice line on the mountain, and gives folks a chance for a long alpine day tour. It's been popular for many years for good reason!
Proud member "Serpentine is Phun" re-election campaign ;-).
mvs - Jul 25, 2006 7:00 am - Voted 10/10
Re: that bad?Haha, I had forgotten that I'd already complained about "mediocre (at best)" over on the summit log months ago. I'm getting old, I came back and re-read the description, sputtering out my morning coffee with fresh indignation!! :D
rpc - Jul 25, 2006 3:47 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: that bad?Sorry Michael! Decided to take out this bs personal opinion. That kind of flaming belongs in a TR and not on the beta page :)
I know also that climbers get passionate about routes they've done (I don't necessarily mean FA's either - just any route). When I call a route "great" and someone goes and does it and says that it sucks, I just naturally take it very personally! ;) As if they had just insulted my multiple relatives!! Bottom line is that I don't want to get my tires slashed next time we're at a trailhead ;)
Also in retrospect, as I was writing up the TR for Backbone last night (and re-analyzing our Serpentine climb), it occurred to me that maybe it was not a good day out for me.
Take care and thank you for the visit/good vote.
RAdek
schitthaedt - Sep 3, 2007 1:05 pm - Hasn't voted
It's greatAs long as you see it for what it is, the route is great. Just don't expect it to be some big wall classic. It's an enjoyable alpine route with a relatively short section of decent crack climbing in the lower half.
The upper half is highly enjoyable advanced scrambling if one stays on the ridge crest instead of bypassing via the crappy loose gulleys on the side (seriously... you came to climb, right?).
Finally, "most of a day" means grade III. Which is an accurate grade for climbers who know what to expect (i.e. prepared to simul and/or solo most of what is not included in the 5 technical pitches).
rpc - Sep 4, 2007 2:45 am - Hasn't voted
Re: It's great"As long as you see it for what it is, the route is great. Just don't expect it to be some big wall classic. It's an enjoyable alpine route with a relatively short section of decent crack climbing in the lower half."
yes.
"The upper half is highly enjoyable advanced scrambling if one stays on the ridge crest instead of bypassing via the crappy loose gulleys on the side (seriously... you came to climb, right?)."
yes.
"Finally, "most of a day" means grade III. Which is an accurate grade for climbers who know what to expect (i.e. prepared to simul and/or solo most of what is not included in the 5 technical pitches)."
yes.
PS grade IV comes courtesy of Nelson & Potterfield book which sometimes tends to be conservative with route length ratings (sometimes not) but I probably should not make such generalization given the small fraction of routes from that book that I've done.