i've heard otherwise from so many people so many times that i've almost convinced myself i'm delusional or something, but i'm still hanging on to the idea that grafton notch to rangely is actually substantially easier than rangely to east flagstaff rd. the treadway may not be as difficult but the amount of times descent inverts upon ascent and back again (and many thousand feet each time) killed me.
frankly the mahoosucs from rt 2 until just a bit before carlo col are easier too i think, in some sense. again, treadway is more difficult but you aren't climbing uphill steadily for 3 miles to just go straight back down the other side and back up again.