Cache Rating?

[+The Weasel]

Was sitting here looking out the window at all the new snow and was wondering if the seasons effect the difficulty rating of your cache? I have a couple of caches that would be a 2-3 rating in the spring/ fall (due to the lack of ground cover yet) and a solid 3 in the summer (due to all the weeds and ground cover) but after a decent snow of 6-8 inches, the cache could possibly be a 4 due to not being able to locate it under the snow especially when a GPS gives a "general" accuracy. Does anybody change the rating of their cache depending on the season and time of year?

[+Sparky-Watts]

I haven't done that with my own cache, but I've seen other threads where people say the caches should be rated on the difficulty at it's worst. I have a hard time going along with that because right now, my cache is a 1/1, but in 2 feet of snow, I'd think it would go to at least a 3/3, maybe even 4/4, but we rarely get that amount of snow, and when we do, it may change the cache rating for only a week out of the year at the most. Of course, if we ever get rain again (we're in a severe drought now), my cache would most likely be a 5/5, depending on the amount of rain, but again, it wouldn't be for more than a few days.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

I have one cache in the mountains. I rated the terrain a 3 for the typical conditions. I put a note in that the terrain rating should go up to a 4 in the winter. The road is closed from December to May and would add a 6 mile round-trip hike.

[TahoeJoe]

I have a cache that I placed in the winter that is fairly easy to get to using snowshoes or cross country skis. After the snow melts, its difficulty goes up due to the boulders and brush you have to maneuver around to reach it. I wasn’t aware of this till I read some of the log entries.

[dead_white_man]

Here in ohio, the terrain diffivulty doesn't vary much with the snow, but it sure makes them harder to find.

[+DustyJacket]

I did on my night cache.

The ground was dry when I placed it.

Now it is very muddy and slippery and has running water.

[+Damgiz]

I believe most people rate caches as they are when they place them. That being said I'm not sure how you could rate a cache for all the varying conditions which may occur in many of our areas. Early spring it may be easy with lack of leaf cover but 3 weeks later it could be very difficult.

Whenever I go cacheing (not a lot in our area yet) I tend to study the cache page and area before I go out. One item I watch for is the date of placement of said cache. This will give some clue as to what conditions existed at the time. Half the fun is seeing how accurate my evaluation of the area is. (I'm usually wrong)

[+Dan-oh]

Damgiz - Your avitar was responsible for a few laughs at our office, cat lovers and haters alike.

[+Damgiz]

We have a cat with attitude we call GIZ, hence the name damgiz. A friend sent me that photo last month under heading " Things to do with spare time". Make helmut out of melon for cat, we both like cats but we also have a demon side we have fun with.

[+Renegade Knight]

I've got one where the snow makes it easier to do and plenty where it makes it harder.

 

To be honest I set my terrain/difficulty at the time it's placed and let people worry about adjusting for snow conditions.

[+briansnat]

I use the conditions that the cache hunter is most likely to find to rate my caches. For example, I have one cache that could be 5 star terrain (after prolonged, heavy rains), or 2 (after an extended drought)...but most of the time the terrain is 3.5, so that's what I keep it at. I do note on the cache page that changing conditions could affect the rating.

 

As far as snow, I assume that most caches will be harder. I'm sure other geocachers make the same assumption, so I don't bother adjusting the ratings in the winter. Besides, conditions can change day-to-day, and I don't want to be constantly tweaking the ratings.

[+Mule Ears]

Here in southern Arizona we just assume that in summertime the Terrain rating is stated in terms of quarts of sweat per hour (QS/H).

[+stu_and_sarah]

There's a cache we're hoping to do in Finland in a couple of weeks which requires a boat in summer, a hovercraft/helicopter in spring/autumn, but in winter we can walk, or even drive to it!

 

Should be fun - as long as the weather stays nice and cold for the next 10 days.

[dead_white_man]

Here in the Ohio valley, if you don't like the weather... just wait a minute.