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Climbing in The Gunks
Apr. 2nd, 2013 03:03 pmI just spent this Easter weekend at the Gunks -- it was my first trip there, and I'm quite impressed. Good climbing, good rock, easy approaches (at least for the Trapps) and I had good time. Only down-side -- access fees ($17/day) felt a bit steep.
I went with 4 friends, and we stayed at a hotel in Poughkeepsie, which I was able to book for free on miles. Cast: me: most experienced climber in the group, most experienced leader, mid-grade climbing strength; Phil: strongest climber, poor lead-head, not much trad experience; Trevor: almost as strong as Phil, far-better lead-head, own rack but not experienced trad leader, about 3 letter grades stronger than me; K8: does some leading, about 2 letter grades weaker than me; and Jex: about 1-2 letter grades weaker than K8, doesn't lead trad at all.
On Friday, we stopped in at Rock & Snow in New Paltz, since I wanted to look at getting another guide book. I had Swain, but some online reading suggested it wasn't the best choice. I'd hoped to have gblauer along to show us around, but she was off to Costa Rica instead. So, I picked up the Williams guide to The Trapps, and I was glad I did. It had a lot better route descriptions, and especially, start descriptions. What I don't like about the Williams guide is the separation of route descriptions and route pictures. We split 3/2 most days, I was leading for the group of 3 for Friday and Saturday, while Sunday and Monday I was climbing with Trevor in a pair, and got to follow a couple tougher climbs.
Friday I started with Easy Keyhole (5.2, 2 pitches) as my warm-up climb, and to get a feel for Gunks rock, and gear. It was easy -- though with a couple interesting moves for a 5.2. I found the gear placement fairly easy and my rack seemed to work well. (I've got a lot of tri-cams on my rack -- most of the weekend I was mostly using tri-cams and nuts, very few SLCs.) I also lead Black Fly (5.5, one pitch) and from that top-roped a 5.7 (clean) and failed on a 5.9. I also did a quite TR run up The Brat (5.6), where I failed to pay attention to the climbing and took a fall. I think my brain decided it wasn't on lead, so it didn't need to pay attention to the climbing.
Saturday we moved a bit farther along The Trapps, into the Uberfall area. I lead both pitches of Dennis (5.5), and found the crux right at the opening (pulling over the bulge) to be very committing on lead, especially for a 5.5. After Dennis, K8 lead P1 of Roddey, then I lead the 2nd pitch of Belly Roll as a 2nd pitch there. From the rappel, we setup Jackie (5.5) on top-rope. Finally it was getting late in the day -- but Jex wanted to go up the first pitch of Belly Roll, so I lead it in the gathering dusk, and we rappelled, then hiked out in the dark. Amusingly, I lead both pitches of Belly Roll -- but in reverse order.
The weather had been gorgeous so far -- mostly sunny, varying from comfortable to a bit chilly depending on sun and breeze level. But generally quite nice for spring.
Sunday I was climbing with Trevor, and we looked at Laurel (5.7), but he doesn't have a lot of small pieces (cams or nuts) on his rack, so didn't like the look of the gear, so he lead Rhododendron (5.6) instead. After following that, I took a shot at Boston (5.5) on Trevor's rack (rather than my own -- Phil had my rack with the other two climbers), but after finding that I was lacking either the larger or smaller pieces I wanted for protecting the climb, I down-climbed, removing the two pieces I had placed. Trevor then lead Ken's Crack (5.7) with on hang, and I got it clean on the follow. He lead it like a face climber, and I used a lot more crack technique to make it easier for me. Finally I lead Bunny -- because I had to climb Bunny on Easter making it an Easter Bunny. We'd have climbed more, but it started to drizzle at that point, so we decided to call it a day.
Monday was going to be a short day -- but we thought about cancelling. Everything was wet in Poughkeepsie, and even on the drive up. Once we got to The Gunks, it was quite foggy, so we figured the rock would be too wet to climb, but we decided to hike in anyway, and found that, in fact, the rock was quite dry enough to climb. Jex wasn't up for the climbing that day, and K8 and Phil wanted to head out early -- so they got one climb in and left. Trevor and I had been eying Horseman on a couple previous days -- but it hadn't been open, but today it was. Trevor lead it, as 2 pitches, and I followed. That's a magnificent climb -- I especially like the moves out to and around the arrete. After that, Trevor wanted to do a run up Belly Roll, so despite having climbed it before, I followed him up it. It started getting dark, and spitting rain as we headed up the 2nd pitch -- but we finished the climb and rapped off. Then hiked out and headed back to Ottawa.
All in all, a really good trip.
Lead: Easy Keyhole (5.2), Black Fly (5.5), Dennis (5.5), Belly Roll (5.4), Bunny (5.4).
Followed: Roddy (5.2), Rhododendron (5.6), Ken's Crack (5.7), Horseman (5.5), Belly Roll (5.4)
TRed: The Brat (5.6), Nice Crack Climb (5.7), Jackie (5.5)
I went with 4 friends, and we stayed at a hotel in Poughkeepsie, which I was able to book for free on miles. Cast: me: most experienced climber in the group, most experienced leader, mid-grade climbing strength; Phil: strongest climber, poor lead-head, not much trad experience; Trevor: almost as strong as Phil, far-better lead-head, own rack but not experienced trad leader, about 3 letter grades stronger than me; K8: does some leading, about 2 letter grades weaker than me; and Jex: about 1-2 letter grades weaker than K8, doesn't lead trad at all.
On Friday, we stopped in at Rock & Snow in New Paltz, since I wanted to look at getting another guide book. I had Swain, but some online reading suggested it wasn't the best choice. I'd hoped to have gblauer along to show us around, but she was off to Costa Rica instead. So, I picked up the Williams guide to The Trapps, and I was glad I did. It had a lot better route descriptions, and especially, start descriptions. What I don't like about the Williams guide is the separation of route descriptions and route pictures. We split 3/2 most days, I was leading for the group of 3 for Friday and Saturday, while Sunday and Monday I was climbing with Trevor in a pair, and got to follow a couple tougher climbs.
Friday I started with Easy Keyhole (5.2, 2 pitches) as my warm-up climb, and to get a feel for Gunks rock, and gear. It was easy -- though with a couple interesting moves for a 5.2. I found the gear placement fairly easy and my rack seemed to work well. (I've got a lot of tri-cams on my rack -- most of the weekend I was mostly using tri-cams and nuts, very few SLCs.) I also lead Black Fly (5.5, one pitch) and from that top-roped a 5.7 (clean) and failed on a 5.9. I also did a quite TR run up The Brat (5.6), where I failed to pay attention to the climbing and took a fall. I think my brain decided it wasn't on lead, so it didn't need to pay attention to the climbing.
Saturday we moved a bit farther along The Trapps, into the Uberfall area. I lead both pitches of Dennis (5.5), and found the crux right at the opening (pulling over the bulge) to be very committing on lead, especially for a 5.5. After Dennis, K8 lead P1 of Roddey, then I lead the 2nd pitch of Belly Roll as a 2nd pitch there. From the rappel, we setup Jackie (5.5) on top-rope. Finally it was getting late in the day -- but Jex wanted to go up the first pitch of Belly Roll, so I lead it in the gathering dusk, and we rappelled, then hiked out in the dark. Amusingly, I lead both pitches of Belly Roll -- but in reverse order.
The weather had been gorgeous so far -- mostly sunny, varying from comfortable to a bit chilly depending on sun and breeze level. But generally quite nice for spring.
Sunday I was climbing with Trevor, and we looked at Laurel (5.7), but he doesn't have a lot of small pieces (cams or nuts) on his rack, so didn't like the look of the gear, so he lead Rhododendron (5.6) instead. After following that, I took a shot at Boston (5.5) on Trevor's rack (rather than my own -- Phil had my rack with the other two climbers), but after finding that I was lacking either the larger or smaller pieces I wanted for protecting the climb, I down-climbed, removing the two pieces I had placed. Trevor then lead Ken's Crack (5.7) with on hang, and I got it clean on the follow. He lead it like a face climber, and I used a lot more crack technique to make it easier for me. Finally I lead Bunny -- because I had to climb Bunny on Easter making it an Easter Bunny. We'd have climbed more, but it started to drizzle at that point, so we decided to call it a day.
Monday was going to be a short day -- but we thought about cancelling. Everything was wet in Poughkeepsie, and even on the drive up. Once we got to The Gunks, it was quite foggy, so we figured the rock would be too wet to climb, but we decided to hike in anyway, and found that, in fact, the rock was quite dry enough to climb. Jex wasn't up for the climbing that day, and K8 and Phil wanted to head out early -- so they got one climb in and left. Trevor and I had been eying Horseman on a couple previous days -- but it hadn't been open, but today it was. Trevor lead it, as 2 pitches, and I followed. That's a magnificent climb -- I especially like the moves out to and around the arrete. After that, Trevor wanted to do a run up Belly Roll, so despite having climbed it before, I followed him up it. It started getting dark, and spitting rain as we headed up the 2nd pitch -- but we finished the climb and rapped off. Then hiked out and headed back to Ottawa.
All in all, a really good trip.
Lead: Easy Keyhole (5.2), Black Fly (5.5), Dennis (5.5), Belly Roll (5.4), Bunny (5.4).
Followed: Roddy (5.2), Rhododendron (5.6), Ken's Crack (5.7), Horseman (5.5), Belly Roll (5.4)
TRed: The Brat (5.6), Nice Crack Climb (5.7), Jackie (5.5)
