Good times was one of the few climbs that I have been on that has made me want to cry. It is definately one of the 8"+" climbs. It has been a few years since i have been on it. I should get on it again and see if it still seems so dang hard.
To me there is pushing the grade (doing hard routes with great gear or bolts), then there is pushing the gear (doing easier routes with poor gear or long runouts). Both of these are good for people to work on. But the hardest, and the one to watch out for, is pushing both at the same time (doing hard routes with poor gear). Bouldering works kinda the same. You can do really hard moves with nice landings, or easy moves up high with bad landings, or you can do hard moves up high with bad landings. But this can also be the most rewarding type of climbing. If you are up for the challange.
Yep, after reading "stone crusade", I gained more respect for Verm and those early bouldererer dudes, doing crazy hard high-balls with really, really bad landings. Hard grit kind of stuff. The Hueco guide books discription of the star rating system is pretty funny. Two star routes are "scary with bad landings" Three star routes are "scary with bad landings, FA by the author.
Want to hear something sad, I haven't taken a lead fall in a year. For some reason I am afraid to fall. I still climb sport in the 11's and want to climb the occansional 12, but I do what ever i can not to fall. I feel that I can climb so much harder than 11's if I would just go for it, because 11 redpoints don't feel that hard to me, but I am afraid to go for harder stuff.
