Mainely Rain

Last Tuesday, I drove to Maine. I was having a lot of trouble finding an inexpensive place to camp in the area where I wanted to be, so I spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Bangor. It's not the most scenic, but at least it's free.

Wednesday morning, I got a phone call from a woman named Danielle, who I had been in touch with about climbing in the area. After some discussion, we decided to meet at Acadia National Park and try to get some climbs in. The forecast was indicating afternoon showers, but it looked like they might hold off until late afternoon.

We met up around 10:30 and headed to The Precipice area at Acadia. We started at the right end of the cliff at some short climbs. Danielle led a climb called Wafer Step and then we top-roped Recollections of Pacifica. As we were finishing up the second climb, it started sprinkling. So much for the rain holding off until late afternoon. We stuck around for a while in hopes that it would stop, but it didn't. It was an unfortunately short day, but some climbing is better than none!

Wafer Step, with the rope on it. Recollections of Pacifica follows the crack on the left.

View from the top of the climbs

Before Danielle left, she invited me to "camp" in her warehouse in Morrill, Maine, about 2 hours from Acadia. I was thinking I would just camp in the park, though it is kind of expensive. I spent a little time hanging out in the town of Bar Harbor, and some time driving around the park, then decided that, given that it was supposed to rain for the next couple of days, and, if I climbed, it would probably be with Danielle anyway, there was no point in me staying in the park, so I called Danielle and drove to Morrill.

My home for the last several days

I spent Thursday and Friday hanging out at the warehouse. Thursday, the weather cleared for a little while in the afternoon, and Danielle and I went to Camden Hills, a climbing area about a half hour from Morrill to see if anything looked climbable. Everything was soaking wet. We did get a little hike in, though.

Saturday atarted out rainy, but the forecast was promising more favorable weather in the afternoon, so we were optimistic. We decided we would head to Acadia, because our best chances for quick drying routes seemed to be there. We took our time and got there around noon. We then headed to the local gear shop to inquire about the area with the best chance of dry rock, and kill some time. Around 1:00 or so, we headed to Otter Cliffs, which is an approximately 4o foot cliff right on the sea shore. The routes weren't exactly dry, but the easier stuff at least was climbable, particularly since everything there can be easily top-roped (you have to rappel in to get to the climbs).

Looking up Easy Corner (5.6) at Danielle

View from Otter Cliffs

A sea gull looking for dropped trail mix

We got in 5 top-ropes, then decided to head to the Precipice and see if anything was dry there. It was pretty wet, but we found a couple of routes in the same area we had climbed the other day that were dry-ish. I led Madamoiselle Lebois Troubled Lunge, with a variation finish. I'm not sure what the rating is exactly. I'm calling it 5.7. Everything was a little clammy, and therefore felt a little extra hard. By this time it was about 7:00, but we decided to get one more climb in. I decided to lead a climb called Crack of Senility. It's a 5.7 crack that starts as wide hands, and widens to off-width. It looked like where the crack widened, the climb slabbed out and would get easy. I spent some time comtemplating the wet crack at the bottom, but eventually, with a solid jam and good feet, pulled the move. A couple layback moves above that put me at the start of the wider part of the crack...which I didn't really have gear to protect...and which didn't really get easier like I thought it was going to. I walked up the largest cam I had...which I think probably would have held, though it was really too small for the crack, as high as I could, then started climbing the off-width. I think if the rock was dry, I could have gotten some holds on the face, but it was too wet to trust, so I shoved my calf into the wide crack, stood up on it, and then thrutched up until I could get a heel-toe jam. A bit more thrutching got me to where I could finally get a good hand hold. Phew. That was the hardest 5.7 I've done in a while.

Danielle climbing Mme. Labois

View from the top

We got back to the car about 8:30. On the way home, the engine overheated again. It seems that I have a coolant leak. I'm going to have to keep a close watch on that and get it fixed as soon as I can. Hopefully, I can hold off until I get back to St. Louis. Worse yet, the pizza place where we were going to eat dinner was closed. Oh well, it was a great day of climbing!

Sunday, we awoke to beautiful blue skies, but forecasts threatening of afternoon showers and thunderstorms, so we headed out early to Camden Hills. I led Charlotte's Crack, a cool, 2 pitch 5.7. Then, we top-roped a couple climbs, and finally I led Pandora Freeway, a new 5.7 that's not yet in the guidebook (the guidebook author, however, was at the crag to tell us all about it). After that, it started to sprinkle on us, and we headed out.

On Broadway Ledge

View of Megunticook Lake

Danielle at the top

Danielle coming up Pandora Freeway

Tomorrow, I head out for Quebec City. I'm going to spend the next 2 days doing a warp speed tour of Quebec City, Montreal, and Ottawa, continuing to Toronto on Wednesday to meet up with another Danielle, my very good friend and former roommate for a short backpacking trip before I head home to St. Louis.

Route List for May 27-31:

• Wafer Step (5.5 Trad) (TR clean)
• Recollections of Pacifica (5.9- Trad) (TR clean)
• Easy Corner (5.6) (TR clean)
• Wonderwall Left (5.7) (TR clean)
• In The Groove (5.5) (TR clean)
• Cakewalk (5.7) (TR clean) (I think I did a harder variation on this climb, but whatever)
• Crucifix (5.9) (TR clean)
• Mme. Labois Troubled Lunge Alternate Finish (5.7? Trad) (Onsight)
• Crack of Senility (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Charlotte's Crack (2 pitch, 5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Unknown 5.7 (TR clean)
• Charlotte's Arete (5.6) (TR clean)
• Pandora Freeway (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
  

North Conway - Cathedral And Whitehorse

Thursday afternoon, I arrived in North Conway, New Hampshire. I stopped by International Mountain Equipment, one of the gear shops in town, to ask about free camping, then, after messing around in town a bit, and locating the EMS store where i was to meet Jan on Saturday morning, headed up to the White Mountains National Forest to find a campsite. It ended up being one of the prettier places I've stayed on my trip. It is also the first time I setup a tent. I didn't sleep in it, though. I just wanted to save the spot.

My campsite on the creek.

Friday, I sat in the park and read, hung out at the library mooching internet, did some shopping, and generally bummed around town. Saturday morning, I met up with Jan. If you rappel from routes at Cathedral or Whitehorse, you need two ropes, so Jan, impulsively, ran into EMS and bought a set of double (a.k.a. half) ropes. Half ropes are smaller in diameter, and, hence, lighter than single ropes, and you lead on a pair of them (tied into both), clipping gear alternately with one then the other (more or less). We then headed out to Cathedral Ledge, and climbed Thin Air, an area classic 5.6. I forgot to bring my camera up on this climb, but don't worry, I got plenty of pictures on everything else we did! I was actually a little underwhelmed with Thin Air. It was fun, but didn't really feel like a "classic" to me. After this, and a 5.8 pitch we did from the ledge above (Pine Tree Eliminate), we decided to try a 5.9 called Recompense. The final pitch of this climb is a phenomenal looking dihedral. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the final pitch. I led the first two pitches (5.6 and 5.7) and Jan was going to lead the last 2 (5.8+ and 5.9). When Jan started up the third pitch however, it looked dirty and vegetated and we weren't really sure of the route, and Jan, feeling a little intimidated, decided to back off. I didn't feel up to trying to fight my way up the crux pitches, so we rappelled from the bolted anchors at the top of the second pitch. Honestly, I never really felt 100% sure I was on route on the first two pitches. The climbing didn't seem to have much to do with what was described in the book. Sometimes, though, that's the way it goes. We did end up at a ledge with bolted anchors, as described, and we could see the perfect corner of the last pitch above us, so we assumed we were in the right place. I will have to go back another day to finish this one.

Jan following pitch 1 of Recompense.

Sunday morning, we headed to Whitehorse Ledge, the southern-most of the two large granite knobs above North Conway (the other being Cathedral).

Whitehorse Ledge from the road. I couldn't get a good shot of Cathedral.

Despite being right next to each other, Whitehorse and Cathedral feature climbs of very different character. Whitehorse is primarily long, featureless, friction slab climbing. Protection is...let us say...sparse, and, sometimes, questionable. No matter how bad the pro looks, though, when you get it you place it, because who knows how long it will be until you get another piece?

For our first climb at Whitehorse, we set out to do Sea of Holes (5.7). After 3 of 4 pitches, it started raining, and we had to rappel off. The rain only lasted an hour or so, though, and good sun had the slaps dry in no time, except for the bottom 30 feet or so, where the tree cover blocked the sun, and, in places, that was dry-ish too. We wanted to do 3 pitches of the Stadtmuller-Griffin Route (to the left of Sea of Holes), then finish the pitch we didn't get to do in the morning. The first pitch of S-G was very wet, however, but the SoH start was mostly dry, so Jan climbed the first pitch of SoH, then linked it over to the first belay on S-G, and from there we proceeded as planned.

Looking down the first pitch of Sea Of Holes. Note the lack of protection. The first pitch is a 45 meter, or so, 5.2 solo. There is no opportunity for gear, that I could see.

Looking out from the first or second belay on Sea Of Holes. Cathedral Ledge can be seen on the left.

Me at the first pitch belay.

Looking up at the final pitch of Sea of Holes. The 5.7 crux is pulling over the bulge to the left of the dihedral in the middle of the picture. It really looks impossible until you get up there, but is actually very doable and well-protected with a bolt (one of the few, outside of anchors, that I saw here).

Looking down on Sea of Holes (center) and Stadtmuller-Griffin (right). I just liked the patterns in the rock.

Monday, we got up early (ugh) to get some climbing in, while leaving Jan plenty of time to drive back to New Jersey. We went back to Cathedral Ledge, to climb Funhouse (5.7), and then topped out on Black Lung (5.8) and the second pitch of Upper Refuse (5.5). It was a fun morning and we were done by 1:00PM or so.

Me and Jan at a belay (on Funhouse, I think). You told me to smile. I aim to please. :-)

Me at the top of Upper Refuse. Jan takes nice pictures!

Jan at the top of Cathedral Ledge. In retrospect, I should have had him pose like he was throwing a rock. Alas, for lost opportunities. I wonder how many thousands of climbers have pictures of themselves posed like they are throwing a rock, next to this sign?

Tuesday, I had hoped to climb at Cannon Cliff, but it didn't work out, so, instead, I drove to Bangor, Maine. More on those adventures in the next installment....

Route List for May 23-25

• Thin Air (4 pitches, but we did it in 2, 5.6 Trad, but I may have made it 5.7 :->) (Onsight pitch 1-2, TR clean pitch 3-4)
• Pine Tree Eliminate (5.8 Trad) (TR clean)
• Recompense Pitch 1-2 (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Sea of Holes (4 pitches, 5.7 Trad) (Onsight pitches 1,3, and 4, TR clean pitch 2)
• Stadtmuller-Griffin Route Part of Pitch 1, pitches 2 and 3 (5.5-6 Trad) (Onsight pitch 2, TR clean pitch 1 and 3)
• Funhouse (2 pitches, 5.7 Trad) (Onsight Pitch 1, TR clean pitch 2)
• Black Lung (5.8 Trad) (TR clean)
• Upper Refuse Pitch 2 (5.5 Trad) (Onsight)
  

Car Trouble, Visiting Aunt Jan, and Sporting It Up At Rumney

Tuesday, I left New Paltz, heading for Grantham, New Hampshire, where my Aunt Janet lives with her husband, Dean. I was about 16 miles south of Albany, New York, when steam started billowing out from under my hood. Uh Oh. That can't be good. I popped the hood to have a look, and, naturally, the coolant container was empty. I had a large jug of water with me and thought I could fill it up from that to get me somewhere where I could get more anti-freeze, so I lifted the lid on the coolant container. This lid was connected via a rubber tube to the neck on the top of the radiator. When I lifted the lid, the tube pulled with it the neck of the radiator. It was completely detached. Definitely not good. So, I called my auto club (second time on the trip...) and got a tow truck dispatched. A couple hours later I was sitting at a repair shop in Albany waiting for my radiator to be replaced. Much to my surprise, two hours after that I was pulling out of the repair shop and hitting the road again! Many thanks to Better World Club and the guys at Mig Auto Repair in Albany! You all rock!

About 5:30, I rolled into Grantham and met my Aunt to head back to her house. I got a shower, and we went out for dinner, and generally had a super nice evening. Unfortunately, Dean was out of the country, so I didn't get to see him (I think I've met him once), but Janet is awesome and it was fantastic to get a chance to hang out with her!
Me with Janet behind her and Dean's house.

Wednesday morning, I drove about 40 miles from Janet and Dean's to Rumney for a day of sport climbing. I had made contact with Jason online and arranged to meet him there for the day. We had a great day, getting 9 routes in. Rumney is a fun place to climb. The routes range from short to long and easy to insanely hard. The rock is sheist, and is absolutely fascinating. In many places, it has a "grain" to it and looks almost like wood. In one place, it looked almost as if you were climbign tree bark. I really wish I'd gotten some good close-up pictures of the rock, but I kept getting busy climbing and forgetting about it.... Oh well.

Jason at the base of Scene of the Crime, 5.10a, a short route with a pumpy start to easier climbing above.

The Green Mile, 5.9, and interesting slab route, following the crack system.

Obi-Wan Ryobi, 5.9. This was a committing and pumpy route. Very fun! To the left, you can see the base of Yoda, also 5.9. Both of these routes were pretty awesome.

Jason leading up Lonesome Dove (5.10a). This is a really great, technical, thin, crimpy route following the rounded arete. An awesome way to end the day!

Wednesday night, I drove back to Janet and Dean's to spend the night again. I'm hanging out at there house now, taking adavantage of the wi-fi. :-) When I finish up here, I will head out toward North Conway, where I plan to climb at Cathedral Ledge and Whitehorse Ledge. Jan, who I climbed with last Saturday in the Gunks is driving up Friday night and is going to climb with me over Memorial Day Weekend. So, that should be a good time!

Route List for 5/20/2009

• Anchovy Caper (5.8) (Redpoint)
• Metamorphosis (5.8) (Onsight)
• The Green Mile (5.9) (Led with one take)
• Scene of the Crime (5.10a) (Led with one take)
• Yoda (5.9) (Onsight)
• Obi-Wan Ryobi (Onsight)
• The Beginning of All Things (5.10a) (Redpoint)
• Things I Never Learned (5.9) (Onsight)
• Lonesome Dove (5.10a) (Led with one fall/take)
  

De-Gunked

Monday, I got one last day of climbing in at the Gunks. I met up with Richard again, and a guy named Phil, who Richard was planning to climb with for the week. Richard didn't want to do multi-pitch with three people, for some reason, so we just did single pitch climbs, which was a little disappointing for both Phil and I, as we would really have liked to get on some of the classic multi-pitch lines. Oh well. Phil has the rest of the week, at least, and I had already gotten on several good climbs. I did get 5 climbs in, mostly top-ropes.

Here, Phil is top-roping Ent's Line (5.11-). The dihedral to the right is Ant's Line (5.9), which was by far the best climb we did on Monday. It was a very fun climb.

After Ant's Line, I picked up my pack, reached back with my left hand to grab the strap to put my arm through and somehow managed to jam my thumb on the strap. It wasn't bad, but it hurt enough that I decided to call it a day. All in all, it was a slightly disappointing and frustrating day, but, none-the-less, I got some fun climbing in, so all was not lost. :-)

Route List for 5/18/2009:

• The Brat (5.7 Trad) (TR clean)
• Nice Crack Climb (5.7 Trad) (Onsight)
• Raunchy (5.8- Trad) (TR clean)
• Gory Thumb (5.8+ Trad) (TR clean)
• Ant's Line (5.9 Trad) (TR clean)
  

Historic Huguenot District

This is another non-climbing post. On Sunday, I took the day off from climbing and spent some time in the afternoon exploring the Huguenot Historic District in New Paltz. This area has some fantastic old homes from the 1600's and 1700's. Here are some highlights.....

The Deyo House, built in 1692 by Pierre Deyo, one of 12 original patentees of New Paltz.

Dubois House, built in 1705 by Daniel Dubois. This house served as a fort, inn, restaurant, etc. at different times in it's life (now a souvenir store and museum).

Beehive oven in the Dubois house. They would build a fire in here, to heat up the bricks, then scrape out the coals and use the heat retained by the bricks to bake all day long....

The end of the Dubois house. Note the port holes on either side of the windows....

Hasbrouck House. The sign on the left reads, "Built 1712, by Abraham, the patentee, once soldier in English Army, friend of Gov. Andros. Kitchen scene of cock fights." Yep, that's where they had the cock fights. Great, huh?

Reconstruction of the first stone church in New Paltz. I'm not sure what happened to the original structure. I guess God didn't like it or something.

My next post will resume your regularly scheduled climbing updates. :-)

I think I've got some Gunks in my eye....

So, Monday night I arrived in New Paltz. I found my way to the Department of Environmental Conservation Multi-Use Area (a.k.a. the "Multi-Abuse Area) about 6 miles outside of town, and settled in for the night. Tuesday morning, I drove into town and went to the local gear shop, Rock and Snow, to pick up a guide book, then headed back out toward the crag. On my way out of town, I saw a buy hitch-hiking with a crash pad (actually, 2 crash pads) and stopped to pick him up. His name was Marco, and, after some conversation, he said he would be happy to do some routes with me if he had a harness. Conveniently, I have an extra one with me! So, we climbed a couple fun, easy 2 pitch routes, then a couple of popular single pitch climbs. After that, we top-roped, the Trashcan Overhangs, a short, strenuous 5.11-, then hiked down to a boulder problem Marco has been working. I climbed a few V0's, and spotted Marco as he worked his V8 project. He didn't send it, but made some progress. Unfortunately, I was pretty remiss about taking pictures, but I did get a couple.

Rhododendron, a fun 5.6 crack in the Uberfall area at the Gunks.

Marco sitting below the Trashcan Overhangs. The route traverses left under the roof, then pulls over the lip on the left side. Coming off early on TR makes for a fun swing!

It was nearly dark by the time we finished climbing. When I went to take Marco back to the bus station (he had taken the bus up from New Jersey for the day), we found that the road back to New Paltz was closed because a tree was down on some power lines, and had to detour through Gardiner, another small, nearby town. After, I dropped Marco off, it was about 9:00PM, and I headed back to the Multi-Abuse area. I was driving slow looking for my turn, and a truck was tail-gating me. I missed my turn, and went to turn left into a driveway to turn around. The truck chose this point to try to pass me. He clipped my left front fender and kept going. I stopped to inspect the damage, and it wasn't significant, but it was noticeable, so, knowing that he couldn't go too far, since the road was closed a half mile further down, I took off after him. I honked frantically, but he showed no interest in stopping. I got his license plate number and proceeded to where the firemen had the road closed. They radioed the police, and I sat around waiting for them to come out. By the time they had taken their report and everything, it was about 10:15 and I still hadn't had dinner and was totally famished. They said they would call me if they found the guy who hit me. So far, I haven't heard anything.

The Crunchinator's first scar from the trip.

So, Wednesday, I didn't wake up until 9:00AM, and still felt tired. Despite beautiful weather, I opted not to try to climb. I did drive around a little, and walked down to Split Rock, a.k.a. "the swimming hole". It was a little underwhelming, but would be a decent place to take a dip. Thursday, it rained, so I did more not climbing.

Friday, I had plans to climb with a guy named Richard, who I'd contacted through rockclimbing.com. We met up around 8:30AM, and he had two other guys, Tom and Jonathan meeting him as well. We hiked into the Trapps, and it was wet...very wet. So, we kept walking over to the Near Trapps, a.k.a. The Nears. We eventually found some almost dry rock, and I top-roped several routes, then went off with Tom and led Disneyland, an area classic 5.6. While we were climbing, Richard and Jonathan headed out. It was still early, and we had a little gas left so we went back to the Trapps (it was on the way to our cars anyway), and climbed a link-up of three short pitches that Tom had not done and was interested in trying. It was a fun conclusion to a solid day of climbing. Regrettably, I left my camera in the car both Friday and Saturday, so no pictures. Sorry!

Saturday, I met up with Jan, yet another guy I met through rockclimbing.com. I was supposed to hook up with Jana and Jason, who I met at the Red, as well, but my phone battery died and we failed to connect. Anyway, Jan and I got three good routes in, had a fun day of climbing, and I finished the day feeling nicely worked over. I decided I deserved dinner out, so we went out for Indian food in New Paltz. Yum!

It rained like mad Saturday night. Jan stayed the night, and we were going to climb, but between feeling a little sore from the previous two days, and not really wanting to pay $15 for a day pass to climb wet rock, I was feeling like a rest day was in order. Fortunately, an acquaintance of Jan's happened by, and his partner had opted out on him, so he and Jan were able to hook up to climb. This made me feel much better about bailing on Jan.

So, that's it for my Gunks experience so far. A good deal of the climbing here is steep and quite strenuous, even at the "easy" grades. My shoulders (deltoid muscles, I guess? The muscles in the back of the shoulder?) are getting apretty good workout! I think I'm going to stay here a couple more days. I should be able to climb with Richard again tomorrow and Tuesday. Then I will probably head toward New Hampshire, perhaps with a detour through the Adirondaks. Other than an unfortunate brush with a truck, it's been a good stay so far!

Route List for 5/12-16:

• Dennis (2 pitches, 5.5 Trad) (onsight)
• Jackie (2 pitches, 5.5 Trad) (onsight)
• Rhododendron (5.6 Trad) (onsight)
• Laurel (5.7 Trad) (Led with one fall on a polished hold at the start)
• Trashcan Overhangs (5.11- Trad) (TR, flailed a bit)
• Birdland (5.8+ Trad) (TR)
• A Farewell To Arms (5.8 Trad) (TR clean)
• Bird Cage Traverse Variation (5.9 Trad) (TR)
• Transcontinental Nailway (5.10 Trad) (TR)
• Disneyland (2 pitches, 5.6- Trad) (onsight)
• Oscar's Variation to middle of Strictly From Nowhere to top pitch of Travels With Charley (3 pitches, 5.7+ Trad) (Followed pitches 1 and 3 clean, onsight pitch 2)
• Son of Easy O (5.8 Trad) (Onsight pitch 1, followed pitch 2)
• Three Doves Pitch 1 (5.7 or 8-ish Trad) (Onsight) to Annie Oh! Pitch 2 (5.8 Trad) (Followed clean)
• Directissima With Leftmost 5.8 crack variation ot last pitch (4 pitches, 5.9 Trad) (Followed pitches 1,2, and 4 with one fall on pitch 2, onsight pitch 3)
  

And Then The Sun Came Out!

Wow, I'm behind on posting! I've been busy since the weather stopped sucking.

So, Thursday, the weather was supposed to be good, but it was a little wet in the morning. Eventually, things started to dry out, but we kept getting passing showers, and Massey didn't feel like walking to the cliff just to get rained on. I got tired of sitting around, and decided to look at doing an easy solo. I hiked out with a rope for rappelling, my harness, and a rack of nuts in case it started raining and I needed to bail, and sized up Old Man's Route (5.3). Most of the route is very easy and you are climbing from one big to another, which gives a pleasant illusion of safety. About the only times I was uncomfortable were when I was climbing a couple of chimneys dragging my pack (with the rope, water, etc.) below me, and then, at a steep inside corner at the top. The corner is only about 20 feet tall above a large ledge, and has huge holds, but it's a little intimidating! I found it exhilirating to reach the summit alone, via a technical (albeit easy) route. It felt very good.

Me at the top with the north summit in the background.

The summit register box.

Looking up the crux corner (taken on rappel).

Thursday night, I hung out with Mike, Justin, and Sarah at Seneca Mountain Guides (across the street from the Gendarme), and Mike invited me to climb with them Friday. We went to a crag south of Seneca Rocks, above the town of Riverton, where Mike wanted to put up a new route. We hiked up and checked out a few existing lines. Sarah led a 5.10b/c sport route which Justin had recently put up, and then Mike top-roped the climb he wanted to put up (a thin seam to the left of Justin's route), and installed a bolted anchor for it. I got to do the 2nd top-rope ascent of the route, and the first ascent of the direct start, which was kind of cool. It was pretty fun climbing. Mike ended up installing 3 bolts to protect the direct start and a section of the seam that was not protectable on gear, and making the first lead ascent later in the day. I think the concensus rating was 5.10a. I also top-roped Justin's route, and a cool 5.9 dihedral called Cornerstone.

Friday night, I hung out at Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides again, ate some awesome pasta and salad that Mike made, and met a fellow named Dan Mitchell, who I ended up climbing with on Saturday. I think Dan was the perfect partner for me to hook up with. I was looking to do a couple of the moderate classics in the area, Ecstasy (5.7) and Triple S (5.8). Dan had done Ecstasy once and had never been on Triple S. We got both routes in and had a great day. Triple S was a good challenge for Dan, and a lot of fun for me.

Dan coming up the last pitch of Ecstasy.

Looking down the beautiful corner of Triple S.


Dan at the top of Triple S.

Sunday proved to be a bit of an adventure. I initially planned to climb with a guy named Adam who I met at the Mountain Guides. Then, a guy named Daniel showed up looking for a partner, and I told him he could climb with us as a threesome. It was bound to happen eventually: I ended up climbing with someone I didn't really like. The three of us hiked up to the south end and we decided to climb The Burn (5.8) to get to the West Face (you can hike up a set of switchbacks and stairs, but there are also a number of technical routes you can climb to get to the same point). Daniel took the first lead, and then Adam went to follow, and struggled pulling a bulge below the crux. He took a couple of top-rope falls and ended up twisting his ankle, and calling it a day. I felt really bad for him. If I hadn't invited Daniel along, we probably would have done something easier and he wouldn't have gotten hurt. Still, there was nothing I could do, so I went ahead clibed with Daniel. It's not that Daniel is a bad guy. He's just irritating. He kept spraying about the 5.12 he had done the first ascent of, and such, then crying and whining on 5.9. Oh well. I was climbing, so I could put up with him.

So, I finished the first pitch of The Burn (I fell at the crux which I blame entirely on the pack I was carrying since we were using this as an approach to do other West Face routes and weren't immediately coming back to the base), and went to lead the second pitch, which, according to the guidebook, is seldom done. So, I started up the crack above the belay ledge. I got a good piece in low, then climbed to an awkward stance and threw in another piece...which was clearly not secure. I tried to look around for another placement, but was pumping out on bad holds and decided to pull a couple moves up to a better stance, then get a better placement. So, I good a high foot, stood up above the questionable piece...and fell. Visions of the piece popping and me decking flitted through my head, but, miraculously, the piece held. I climbed back up to the piece and saw just what a miracle it was. The cam (#1 Camalot) had pulled out of the crack, but caught, statically, in a constriction, completely tipped out. That's what held my fall. Yikes. I got a better piece below that one, cleaned the bad one, considered bailing, then found a good hold and cruised the rest of the pitch.

So, we finally made it to the West Face. Daniel wanted to try Crack of Dawn (5.10a) on the Face of a Thousand Pitons. It looked like fun, and I was happy to get to top-rope it, so we went for it. To get top CoD, you climb a 5.9 called Marshal's Madness, through an optional belay 40' up, then step right to a small roof with a perfect hand crack above it. Daniel, despite the whining, did fine through the roof (he did stop at the belay...he was sewing it up and wanted his gear back), then the crack gets thin (the crux) and he took a hang. After working through the crux, he decided he didn't have the gear to finish the pitch, so he set a belay and brought me up and I led the rest of the pitch.

Despite the less than ideal climbing partner, the brush with potential ledge fall, and losing a partner to injury to start the day, I had a fun day of climbing. As the say, a bad day climbing beats a good day at the office. :-)

Route List for May 7-10:

• Old Man's Route (5.3 trad) (on-sight solo)
• Unknown 5.10b/c (TR)
• Unknown 5.10a mixed (TR clean)
• Cornerstone (5.9 trad) (TR)
• Ecstasy (3 pitches, ~200', 5.7 trad) (onsight)
• Triple S (5.8 trad) (onsight)
• The Burn (2 pitches, 5.8 trad) (TR first pitch, led second pitch)
• Crack of Dawn (2 pitches, ~160', 5.10a trad) (TR clean)
  

Next Stop The Gunks

Well, I've been too busy climbing the last few days to post, so suffice it to say, it finally stopped raining! I've got pics to post and adventures to share, but right now I want to get on the road. I've got a long drive to New York ahead of me today. I just wanted to post this to let everyone know I am leaving Seneca Rocks to head to the Shawangunk Ridge, a.k.a. The Gunks, near New Paltz, New York. I will get another post up when I can...maybe this evening or tomorrow.

Hmmmm... Forgot to post this before I left. :-) I've been on the road for a couple hours now. Just found a free wi-fi hotspot and thought I'd post up while I could.

Yep, Still Raining

Well, I've been at Seneca Rocks for a week now, and have spent the majority of that time sitting in the rain. Despite that, though, I'm enjoying myself. I've managed to get a little climbing in, score some free beer and food, win some stuff in a raffle, and hang out with some great people. A little more climbing would be nice, but, all in good time, right?

So, Saturday morning, it rained again, but, in the afternoon, it cleared up and I went out with Ak (the owner of the Gendarme), Alan, Massey, and Elena. We went to the South Pillar again, which was a little disappointing since I was there the day before, but beggars can't be choosers. :-) Anyway, I redpointed Block Party, top-roped Disco Death March again, and got it clean this time, and onsighted Climbin' Punishment, which is a really cool, long climb with sustained moderate climbing to a crux move pulling around a roof. I was climbing on Massey's rack, which was a lot lighter than I'm used to, and was really running out of gear at the top. I ran completely out of draws and had to get a bit creative. I used a nut to extend a piece, and was scavenging every spare biner on my harness. I placed every cam I had on me. It was great! :-)


Ak belays Alan on Ambush (5.11a).

Block Party (5.8) goes up the corner system in the center. The business is the steep stuff at the beginning. Ambush is the line to the left.

Climbin' Punishment follows the dihedral, then steps left into the higher dihedral, continuing through small roofs and a larger roof out of sight (crux). It is sometimes done in multiple pitches, but I did it in one long pitch (probably 50-55m).

Saturday night, there was a Cinco De Mayo party at the Gendarme (3 days early, but who's counting). There was beer from a couple of area breweries, all kinds of great food, and a raffle. I decided to splurge and by $10 worth of raffle tickets. I ended up winning twice! Winners got to draw for a random prize. My first prize was an ATC-guide...nice, except I already have one. They generously allowed me to swap it for something else from the shop so I picked up a black tri-cam (one of the new ones...the size smaller than pink). My second prize was a Gendarme shot glass. All in all, a fun evening.....

Sunday, it rained. And rained. And rained. I read and napped and read.... Sunday evening, I hang out with Alex, Dan, and Dan, three Canadians in town from Kingston, Ontario. We had a few beers, they fed me, and we played Scrabble and nerded out. It was good, clean fun.

Monday and Tuesday, there was more rain. Alex and the Dans left town on Monday. I bummed around, read, slept, messed about on the internet....

But, Wednesday, there was sun! Around noon, Massey (who works at the Gendarme) and I headed out to the East Face to get some climbing in. We intended to climb a route called Soler, but there were people on the first pitch of Conn's East, which we were going to do to get to Soler, so I ended up leading the first pitch of Conn's East Direct, from which Massey led Alcoa Persents. Conn's East Direct has a low crux that it took me a couple tries to work out. I got it, though, and from there, it was cake.

When we got down from Alcoa, Conn's East was open, so I led that, taking the 5.7 variation (the main route goes at 5.6, but there is a great 5.7 corner you can take instead), then led Soler, which finishes at the top of the South Peak of Seneca Rocks. Both were fantastic climbs. Soler has some really committing moves and great exposure, and it's fantastic when you pop up over the summit and look out across the other side. The ridge is probably only 6 or 8 feet across here, so it's pretty crazy!

Just as I was topping out, it started to sprinkle, and it rained on us all the way back to the shop, and most of the rest of the evening. At least we caught enough of a window to climb!

Me at the top of the south peak. This self-photo thing worked out better last time.... Oh well.

View of the north peak, from the top of the south peak....


Looking down into the valley at the town of Seneca Rocks, through the rain.

Route List for 5/2-5/6:

• Block Party (5.8 trad) (redpoint)
• Disco Death March (5.10b trad) (TR clean)
• Climbin' Punishment (5.8 trad) (onsight)
• Conn's East Direct Pitch 1 (5.8 trad) (redpoint)
• Alcoa Presents (5.8+ trad) (TR clean)
• Conn's East Pitch 1 5.7 variation (5.7 trad) (onsight)
• Soler Pitch 2 (5.7 trad) (onsight)