I mean objectively, which crack size tends to have the hardest grades?

I know, some people struggle with offwidths (I was told the crux move on Wounded Knee, a 10+ on Pistol Whipped, was the knee jam, and not the thin hands bit), but its rare to find a bonafide 5.13 offwidth. I've never seen a 5.13 handcrack that wasn't a boulder problem (and they had harder starts and finishes). Then again, I've never seen a ringlock roof either. Any thoughts?

I would say you have to rule out tips/seams because then it is just a question of what a crack is. Same with non-continuous cracks and flares.

So for splitter cracks that are fingerlocks or bigger:

Yea, loose fingers is probably the hardest (not much feet) with ringlocks a close second (slightly better feet).

I find the hardest is OW is just below knee size. Too big for fist jams, but you can't get your knee in.

There is another tough size just below squeeze chimney (too small to get the hip in). Too big for stacks and too big for knee locks. Awkward size for feet.

Too lazy to look the grade up, but Owl Roof in Yosemite looks like it would be a pretty mean OW.

Ringlocks are starting to feel easier for me, although I've been doing mostly ringlocks in offsets. Coyne Crack Simulator, for instance, felt pretty casual, but it is really short.

heh. Coyne Crack Simulator IS casual. However, I do agree that ringlocks feel significantly easier for me right now than baggy fingers.

Interesting cheesetitting there.

I was surprised at how easy it felt, considering how much difficulty I've had with that size. Ask angry about my flailing on something at Maverick Buttress the day of your wedding.

I won't deny that its casual, I'm just saying that I didn't expect it to be that way considering the size. I usually feel much more secure on baggy fingers.

Coyne Crack Simulator is simply way way WAY easier than Coyne Crack. That's all there is to it. There's absolutely no need for a single ringlock/off-fingers on CCS.

But, just for simple size, the overall hardest size is usually regarded as off-fingers (not to be confused with ringlocks), which is that middle ground between a ringlock and a fingerlock. For me, and most other average-sized males, this would be a large .5 camalot. A sustained roof of this size (I do not know of any specific routes) would be well into the 5.13+ or higher range.

Huh. I must be really shitty at ringlocks, then. Because I find I get way more power from something that's just over fingers, where if I jam my thumb under the bottom knuckle of the pointer finger as far as it'll go (usually not very far, otherwise it'd be a ringlock) and torque like crazy, it's almost as secure as a regular fingerlock.

Whereas I find that the wider the ringlock gets, the more absolute and total crap it is, until finally I can get a super-thin hand, and it improves dramatically.

Or did you mean that your feet are just that much more useless when you lose that 1/4 inch and go from ringlocks down to off-fingers?

GO

heh, sounds like we each need to work on something, Gabe! I was talking about just pure sizes, regardless of feet, although in pure splitters the feet are obvously a bit better for big ringlock cracks (.75 camalots for me).

But yeah, I am not that good at the size just bigger than fingerlocks (.5 camalot for me). My last hard project, still unsent, had a crux of two or three moves off of that precise size, about 40 degrees overhung. I had a real hard time with it.