UKC

Let's say you have a brilliant single pitch route.

Next to it is another route that has three pitches, the first two of which are every bit as good as their neighbour, followed by a really rubbish pitch to the top.

Which route gets more stars?

In reply to Andy Moles:
Depends who is writing the guidebook?

You could always just accidentally crop the 3rd pitch out of the photos and make the descent description include the top pitch?

In reply to Andy Moles:

Which one is the better overall route ? its entirely subjective

In reply to Andy Moles:

Where's the lower-off

jk

In reply to Andy Moles: If you are writing the guidebook, you decide although prepare to be lambasted by similarly dull threads if you get it wrong.

A parody of your question would be. I like red, but I quite like blue. Which is best?

In reply to Andy Moles:

Neither - starring routes just generates a honey-pot approach to climbing. It detracts from the overall enjoyment of the sport by concentrating large numbers of climbers on specific climbs or crags.

Just for argument's sake, like...

In reply to Andy Moles: The single pitch route clearly. It gets three, since it is without flaw and one of the shining examples of it's kind. The longer one only gets two, even though it actually has more good climbing on it as you have to put up with some rubbish. Obviously, in this case the route with fewer stars is actually the better route (I'd say), which just goes to show you how funny the star system is....

In reply to neil the weak:

I disagree - the answer is purely down to the subjective quality of the whole route, not the route analysed move by move.

The Strand is undoubtedly (to me at least) a *** E2 but it still has a funny little 4b 'non pitch' at the top - doesn't matter.

In reply to Andy Moles: Presumably it depends a bit on whether the top pitch is actively horrible or just not very interesting...

In reply to Hephaestus:

You could argue that the stars concentrate the crowds into easily avoided areas allowing you to enjoy the rest in peace and quiet

In reply to GrahamD:

I could, but what I actually want is to get on all the (ex) 3-star classics without every bumbly punter this side of Watford getting in my way! Is that too much to ask?

More seriously, though, climber footfall is massively affecting many crags. I think I'm right in saying that Bridestones has been left out of the most recent yorks bouldering guide because of problems with erosion, and the huge channels at the top of southern sandstone crags worn by top-ropes is affecting the nature of the climbing.

Is there a case for removing stars from guidebooks to help spread the load across a greater area?

In reply to Hephaestus:

The only way you are going tp reduce wear and tear on Sandstone is to remove the 10 million plus of UK population from its doorstep. Its doing remarkably well considering.

In terms of footfall, maybe we should seriously think about the level of promotion that is given to climbing, trying to encourage people who wouldn't automatically gravitate to it ?

In reply to EeeByGum:


My girlfriend and I were in an antiques shop and whilst trying to flog a couple of paintings from which to steal the frames for a couple of pieces that we'd just bought, the dealer said as his best motivation for buying these paintings.... "People like birds!" I mean come on. People like a lot of things. We didn't buy them!

In reply to EZ:

youtube.com/watch?v=93WRQ8HT_WA&

In reply to Blue Straggler:

haha.