--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "aintnorock19" wrote:
...
> Are there any "rules" for classifying a box?


There is really no accepted set of guidelines for classifying box
difficulty. This is not to say that people have not tried:

Take for instance this one on Silent Doug's site:
http://www.letterboxing.info/rating/

Or perhaps the Mapsurfer:
http://www.mapsurfer.com/boxes/mrating.html

Then there's Poison Ivy:
http://poisonivyrules.blogspot.com/
(okay, that's a bit different)


The problem is that the difficulty of a letterbox depends on a wide
variety of factors, like distance, steepness, altitude, clue
difficulty (the hike might be twice as long as necessary if the clue
is vague), weather, and so forth. Determining the relative
contribution of each factor is highly subjective.

Plus, the difficulty of boxes varies greatly by region. A hard box in
Connecticut might be more like a medium box in Colorado. So a box
rating system would have to take into account the relative difficulty
of other boxes in the same area.

Finally, letterboxer placers are a cantankerous bunch, so getting them
to agree to a particular rating system, or even include any rating at
all can be a challenging endeavor. Your best bet is to read through
the clue to try to get a feel for how long the hike is, do some
research on the area to decide what the terrain is like, then make an
informed decision, which could include choosing not to look for a box
that _might_ be out of your league.

If in doubt, you could also contact the box placer and ask about
distance, terrain, etc. Most will answer your questions if you ask
nicely.

Happy Boxing,
-Isosceles

> What constitutes Easy?

All boxes are easy, unless otherwise noted by someone else. =)

Unless it's a MapSurfer box then the clue will be devilishly tricky,
but quite possibily labeled as "moderate". ;o)

Or one of my boxes, in which case I'll label it as "moderate", but
most people think it's a crime to call it anything less than "impossible".

But seriously, there is no standard definition of what is "easy." You
know the saying about one man's trash being another man's treasure.
It's like that with rating the difficulty of a box. One man's easy is
another man's impossible. Best bet: ignore any indicates of easy,
moderate or hard and look for more objective measures such as
elevation gain or how long the trail is. And if that information isn't
in the clue, look it up yourself on the Internet, in a guide book, or
on a map. When it comes right down to it, you have a better idea of
your abilities than anyone else in the world and it's up to you to
decide if a box is easy, moderate, or difficult--NOT the person who
planted the letterbox.

-- Ryan

Thanks, Ryan. I think I know what you mean. The clues looked easy,
but I should have known better. And I still wonder where the darn box
is.