Well fashions have certainly changed. I was glad to see lycri pass, but hey painter's and rugbies? They were so cool. LOL

At the risk of bringing this discussion back on topic...

The question of good 5.9's comes up fairly often. I still have a summary of the discussion from 1996 (when I was breaking into 9's). All of the following had their fans:

Ant's Line
Bonnies Roof
Directissima
MF
Apoplexy
Roseland

Mike, those are a list of some of the best 5.9's, but not the best 5.9's for breaking into the grade, right? I'm running out of "easy" ones but I'm still scared to try MF.

A few more:

Higher Stannard: what a great first pitch! The crux comes at you early, with two good moves up the thin face at the thin crack behind the tree. Great pro in the horizontal at the base of the crack, but the crux moves are above this gear. Fairly graded at 5.9 minus, I think. The two overhangs at the top are a bit easier, and really fun. The pitch wanders, but I found it easy to follow the chalk highway. The pro is good throughout. Fairly sustained climbing, with great moves most of which are in the 5.7-5.8 range.

The Nose/Fillipina: another high quality pitch, but not as good as Higher Stannard. The early 5.6 Nose dihedral is fun and I thought a little tough for 5.6! Then moving left from the little tree is not exactly hard but it is awkward, and I seemed to make each move more and more slowly as I got closer to the scary roof. I don't know where Dick gets the "minus" from on this climb, I thought there was nothing minus about it. The final roof problem is super-intimidating, because you can't see where you are going until you commit to move right to a thin horizontal where the feet just drop away. Then the holds are all there but it is a good three or so burly moves up through the roof. I placed two cams while traversing but the crux moves take you up a ways-- a fall from the crux would get you some air time for sure, and the slab below isn't that far away. I think this one is a sandbag, and not an introductory 9.

Friends and Lovers: I followed this for the second time, did it clean, but I still think this is a hard 5.9. Both cruxes are short but tough. I'm scared to lead the second crux even though I've now done it successfully twice. But looking back maybe it isn't any riskier than Fillipina?

Seth,
I told you this the other week, and I'll say it again, you gotta stop looking at the numbers so much! (Williams may be a God but his book ain't the bible!) Eg: The next time I climbed after we did those climbs you just mentioned I sent Wegetables and then decked on WASP. Soooo... it just depends what your strengths are. Its just like comparing F+L to Fillipina. Thin face moves or steep jugs? Sure they are both rated 5.9 but the styles are so different. Thankfully we didn't have to test it out but, I think a fall on F+L would be more serious than on Fillipina, but maybe I didn't realize how close the slab on Fillipina was not being on lead...

Also having climbed together I can definitely say you are climbing stronger than you give yourself credit for. What you want/need are super G rated 8+, 9, 9+ and 10a.

But I haven't climbed long enough to give out too many recommendations, I haven't done MF myself...

Hey Parker! I'm sure you are right. Nice job on Wegetables. Let's climb again soon.

It's been a while, but I thought it was properly graded, and with pretty good gear. I was stuck for a while at what I think you refer to as the thin traverse right (there were two narrow cracks with two old pins, if I recall correctly, that I would not wanted to fall on). Once I figured out where to go and got to the roof, I got a good cam above but then downclimbed a little and took a hang because, as you wrote, it's hard to tell what's coming. Once that cam was in, I didn't think there would be serious consequences from falling on it (assuming it held). I agree that the moves were a bit burly, but I didn't think they were that bad once you know what's up there. Probably could have gotten it clean, but better safe....

It seems characteristic of many Gunks 9s that the gear can be good but pumpy to place (such as Keep on Struttin', which is one of my favorites though it's definitely not an introductory 9).

Yea, soon. Like October. I haven't climbed much lately but if I was, due to the heat I'd be climbing 6s,7s. Kinda spooked after my WASP experience.

You could do Land's End! According to Mr. W its only 5.9- G!!! Biggest sandbag my gumbie ars has been on...

Please elaborate on what you call decking. If you deck (crater whatever you want to call it) you may want to back off on pushing it, until your experience level catches up with ability. I'm all for pushing ones ability (hell, I'm expecting to get my butt handed to me on a silver platter on a .14 crack next week so badly that it will be hilarious) BUT decking is NOT an option.

Parker, I assumed from the way you first wrote about it that the WASP experience wasn't that big a deal. Hope you weren't hurt.

Yeah, I found neither the "-" nor the "G" on that one!