Snow days, pro days

Yep - snow on the approach


With G's family away for the week, we headed up Friday night for a weekend of climbing in the Gunks. Our initial plans had involved an ice climbing adventure out in the wilds, perhaps up in the Daks or over in New Hampshire, but a check of the recent warm temps quickly waylaid those plans. Despite the lack of ice, a layer of snow covering the ground in the Catskills on Friday night suggested that the weather was going to make our weekend adventurous nonetheless.

Professor of fix-it-up-nomics

Woke up relatively late on Saturday, and took a little time to do some redneck auto repair on the ailing Frechette-mobile and fuel up at Dunkin Donuts (steak and egg and cheese, mmmm). Still, we rolled in to the Trapps at 8:30 to find an empty lot save one car, and not a climber in sight. Our initial plans were to warm up on 69 (5.3), a single pitch line somewhere to left of No Picnic (which we had climbed before). Unfortunately, with my poor guidebook reading and lack of caffeine, he ended up leading something that looked a lot like 69 - slabby start up to an overhang, traverse right to exit over onto the face, up to a tree belay - but with a much stouter and less protected crux move at the roof. Not in my copy of Williams, but I think it probably goes at something like 5.6 or 5.7 PG with fiddly and sparse pro down low. Rough climb to start off the season, especially thinking it was a 3, but G toughed through the start and endured the fight through the moss-covered footholds and tree branches to the anchor.

Gotta warm up the shoes

I'm pretty sure G was making fun of my outfit

Desolate carriage road!

By then, it was starting to snow and temps were hovering near 30 F with a chilly wind, so we decided to find short climbs near the carriage road. A big problem was that it was cold enough to make it difficult to feel the holds, leading to overgripping. We roped up on Double Clutch (5.9+), a well protected boulder problem that involves a low traverse under an overhang on crappy feet to a giant throw crux move, followed by what looks like easy climbing to a tree. The crux itself is well protected with a piton to your left and a good cam or two in the notch where you exit (I had a .75 BD low in the notch, but a big cam would have slotted in a bit higher had I not used it at the start). Despite working it for a long time, neither of us could hit the move though I felt the edge of the horizontal once or twice. I downcleaned the gear from the crux and we headed off to find something else.

We proceeded to throw a toprope over the nearby Low Exposure (5.10d), an excellent looking roof crack (between Walter Mitty and Squiggles). Worked this one for quite a while too, which was necessary to hone our very rudimentary crack skills. The climb involves fun easy moves up to a roof, then hard jamming through the rook crack to get situated up in a little squeeze, followed by a move over to the top. I managed to figure out a fist jam to get up to some small holds on the left, followed by a foot jam to stay elevated, but couldn't tough out the finish. G, buoyed by a group of interested spectators, powered his way to the top. Nice send, not sure I'd want to lead it but the pro is there.

G ropes up below Low Exposure

Jammy goodness (yes, that's snow)

After a quiet night of beers and Ax Men on the History channel (crazy, right?), we woke on Sunday to find sunny skies, less wind, and marginally warmer weather. We started on the actual 69 (5.3), which G floated up with ease. Kind of a short climb, but a good warm-up. Given the relative lack of climbers, we decided to hit up some of the classics that always seem crowded. Next up was Rhododendron (5.6-), a vertical crack climb right on the carriage road (right of Laurel). I found it to be good moves on extremely protectable terrain, with face holds for feet and hands if you want to avoid crack technique, though the occasional handjam and finger lock makes it much less strenuous. Next up was Squiggles (5.4), a short but interesting face climb similar in nature to 69: balancey moves up to an overhang, traverse right to exit up to a face, vertical climbing to the top. G led up and found it relatively easy, but I thought the traverse right kind of odd, necessitating an offbalance shoulder scum to reach out for the face holds.

G racks up for 69

 G at the Rhododendron chains

We finished up on a mega-classic I've never been on: Ken's Crack (5.7), a right leaning finger crack. Really loved this climb, thoughtful jamming with good gear all the way and just strenuous enough to keep you on your toes. Protecting the bottom is important since it starts over a giant boulder, extending the groundfall possibilities. I placed my first piece of pro (small nut) from the boulder, not sure if it's the correct start but felt much better with good gear in before I headed up. We cleaned it and descended via the Uberfall just to the left, which I thought was the sketchiest part of the day.

New army green helmet... nice!

 Fancy gear shelf

 Jerky power

Ken's Crack (5.7)

Ballnut!

Kaila says yes

Great weekend, good to knock off some classics and get out in less-than-ideal weather. Some more pics here. Plan to head back up soon to get on some of the other nearby climbs in the area before the summer crowds (Horseman, Laurel, etc.).

Ticklist:
un-named 5.7(?) left of No Picnic
Double Clutch (5.9+)
Low Exposure (5.10d) - TR
69 (5.3)
Rhododendron (5.6-)
Squiggles (5.4)
Ken's Crack (5.7)