I'm a little late to the discussion, but per my experience the MR is in a whole different class than the other 2. Angels (aside from the crowd factor -- I was lucky enough to be there in October) is a piece of (angel) cake. I did HD 25 years ago, and maybe the granite was less slick back then? Anyway, I thought it was easy and the chains were unnecessary, and this was before I had done any class 3.
With the MR, on the other hand -- you definitely need to keep your wits about you. It looks a lot worse than it is and, really, the hardest move is to get over the rock blocking the entrance to the final 400. But there was one ledge that I traversed that was pretty narrow.
The class ratings and the way they are described is sort of subjective. For instance, on Mt. Russell, a slip would be not just fatal, but cataclysmic, and yet the actual climbing is mostly class 2, with a little moderate class 3.
Last edited by Quentinc; 04/26/12 03:31 PM.
