How to rate a 10 stage multi

[+Itzzie]

Quick question. My cousin and I are working on a 10 stage multi and would like to rate it a 5/5 and would like your opinions. We have everything from uv, cryptex, chypers, difficult containers not to mention 10 stages..... so D is not an issue. It is the T. We have the tree climbing or TOTT needed. How else can we accomplish a 5 for T?

[+Chrysalides]

Without seeing the cache description it is hard to judge, but I don't think anyone will object to a 5/5 rating with what you described so far If the tree climbing is not too hard, maybe D5 / T4 or T4.5?

[+Itzzie]

Do you have any tips or hints on how to set up a multi this large? Or additional ways to up the T besides hills, rocks, water.....

[+Panther&Pine]

Do you have any tips or hints on how to set up a multi this large? Or additional ways to up the T besides hills, rocks, water.....

I used to own three or four, four stage multis, my recommendation would be to let people know how many stages and total distance traveled.

 

And expect hate mail about it along with lots of maintence and very few finds.

[+cerberus1]

Do you have any tips or hints on how to set up a multi this large? Or additional ways to up the T besides hills, rocks, water.....

...my recommendation would be to let people know how many stages and total distance traveled.

 

And expect hate mail about it along with lots of maintence and very few finds.

+1

Had to check that the OP's not local.

We had one where we used to live, who placed a few 5-stage multis with high D/T.

First one or two was kinda fun (did it with others), but future similar ones ended up ignored.

Depending on time of year, many folks were running outta Sunlight and had to stop another day to complete.

That's not fun for me.

Letting people know how many stages they're in for (they already know about the D/T...) can help them decide whether they want to attempt it.

- If you want to keep folks friendly.

[+coachstahly]

Easiest way to create a 5 T cache is by requiring the use of special equipment, most easily accomplished with a boat or kayak. Minimize distance between stages rather than zig-zagging back and forth over the same territory, although every once in a while that could be done. Make sure you specify the number of stages and an approximate distance covered and time allotment, which will be purely speculative based on their ability in finding each of the stages. Have duplicate stages ready to go to replace in case of muggles or problems. Make sure all your locations are good to go before actually submitting it for review. Two ways to do this. Make sure you've found all the caches in the area (ALL types with physical containers) OR, easier to do by far, contact the reviewer in your area to run the set of coordinates by them first, just to be safe.

 

There are quite a few 5/5s out there. My suggestion is to create a 5/4.5 or 5/4 as those are somewhat rarer D/T combinations and you might be able to draw a few more cachers in to give this one an attempt so they could fill their grid.

[+L Frank]

I have an multi-stage puzzle cache rated a 5/5. Besides going up and down hills, there is no water, I have some steep terrain where I put one of the stages. You do not need a rope, but it would not be a bad idea. From car to car in is approximately 8 miles of walking and driving to complete. If your terrain is fairly flat, then distance would be your only way to achieve a 5 rating. Personally, I do not like tree climbing, simply because limbs get broken and the trees are not mine. If you would like more detail, send me a note. Hope this helps.

[+Sivota]

"We have everything from uv, cryptex, chypers, difficult containers not to mention 10 stages".

 

These all result under difficulty. I assume ten stages will be somewhat of a hike, but that alone makes terrain difficulty not 5 stars.

 

At least not according to this

 

[+Itzzie]

"We have everything from uv, cryptex, chypers, difficult containers not to mention 10 stages".

 

These all result under difficulty. I assume ten stages will be somewhat of a hike, but that alone makes terrain difficulty not 5 stars.

 

At least not according to this

 

Correct our D is not the issue

[+Harry Dolphin]

I did a 32 step multi with about ten miles of walking. Took us three tips to complete. Terrain rating: 2.

A ten-step multi with at least 6.2 miles. Terrain rating: 3

And, of course, the evil 11 step mystery cache, about ten miles. (Mystery was indeed evil, and took us about three months to finish.) But, sorry, the terrain probably only qualified for 3.

5 terrain is usually far over-rated.

Of the seven 5 Terrain caches I've found, perhaps two actually qualify for 5 Terrain. 300 mile drive for one. And two days backpacking with 4000' of climb for the other. Other than that, they were 3 Terrain at most.

[+NanCycle]

Can you put a stage on an island in the Platte River so that a boat would be required?

[+coachstahly]

Sivota's link is a good one, but I find the rating system to be close, but a bit inaccurate for rating an actual cache. The star descriptions are pretty good though, even if they don't really apply well to actual caches. I used it for a couple of my earlier caches and either D or T was off by a star, based on what I had found in my personal caching experience and applied to my hides.

 

I'll reiterate, the "easiest" way to garner a 5 T rating is to include the use of a boat/kayak/raft. It will be more work for you if the stage gets washed away freqeuntly (always a concern on rivers) during flooding. We have some rather steep gullies in the southern portion of our state and there's a cache placed in the midst of some tornado damaged trees that requires a long hike up and down ravines where hands are needed to help go up or down (or you slide down on your butt) and it's rated 4 T.