Oscar and Charie on a horse

To take advantage of the warm weather predicted for Saturday, G and I stayed at his house by the Gunks on Friday night and got up before the crack of dawn, at 5 AM. We didn't quite beat the sunrise to the Trapps, but did beat pretty much all the climbers, arriving at an empty carriage road.

Friday night entertainment

Alpine start on the carriage road

G was generous enough to give me first lead of the day on Horseman (5.5), a climb I've been eyeing for a while and one that G led the last time he was here. Extremely fun lead and a good start to the day, Horseman goes up a huge right-facing corner to a small roof where you can exit out via a solid traverse to the left. There's an optional belay there of two old pitons, but I strung it out through the face above into one long pitch. The first part in the corner is solid and thoughtful, requiring some stemming on imperfect footholds to the right. Good place for a big cam on the way up (BD #4). Leaving the optional belay requires a few funky moves including a highstep, but once you're on the face above it's easy cruising on good holds up to the ledge.

Laid back start

In the initial Horseman corner

Jedi belay

Midpoint, at the optional belay

We headed over with the aim of doing Shockley's Ceiling next, but as expected the crowds were queued up - two parties headed up via Shockley's proper and another party of 2 headed up the start of Oscar and Charlie to cross over to the ledge below Shockley's roof. We decided to wait it out and do Oscar and Charlie (5.7) in its entirety instead, which is a fantastic link up of the best parts of three climbs: p1 starts out with a left-facing corner (Oscar variation), p2 rejoins Strictly From Nowhere and to go through the pumpy Strictly roof, and p3 joins Travels With Charlie on the face above.

G led up the first pitch, which is a tricky left-facing corner with small gear close to the ground and a bulge crux. Nice work on delicate protection and funky moves, requiring insecure stemming and finger-locks in the corner seam. G even got his #2 ballnut slotted solidly on the way, and set up his gear belay past the pine tree rap station at the top of the corner, up and right on the large Strictly ledge. I geared up for the short but adrenaline-inducing second pitch, which goes up and a little left from the belay towards the overhanging left-facing corner of the Strictly roof. I found the pro a little sparse, and ended up fiddling in two cams into a downward-facing horizontal crack at a steep section right below the corner. Probably could have gotten another piece in once I was up and stemmed across the corner, but I could feel the pump clock ticking so I climbed through up and right to the hanging belay chains. Good solid jugs at the crux, but I wish I were more level-headed about the protection.

G leads up the p1 corner of Oscar and Charlie

You talking to me?

G follows p2, Oscar and Charlie

In the crux

Showing off the guns

G was nice enough to take the last pitch, where the route-finding was the hardest part. Williams says to head up the face and traverse 12-15 feet left to join the end of Travels With Charlie, but I think we ended up exiting the overhang a little to the right, which might be the end of Strictly From Nowhere. G did an admirable job of sussing out the different possibilities, which were not clear at all. Either way, good climbing and we made good use of the double ropes (which also got us back down to the ground in one rap from the GT). Nice climb, I think we might go back and swap leads on the pitches - you can also link up the first two pitches up to the hanging belay, as long as you have the juice and mental focus for the pumpy moves at the end.

Wandering on p3

We took off a little before 2, as the crowds were starting to fill the popular routes and we had to get back to the city. I loved the early start, it was great to get some climbing in before things heated up (temperature- and crowd-wise).

Full set of pics here.

Ticklist:
Horseman (5.5)
Oscar and Charlie (5.7)

Horseman, Double clutch, and Ballnut #2

While Dr. Louie is instructing the next generation of neuroscientists; Jess, her cousin Greg, myself, and about half of New York city headed to the Gunks. The West Trapps parking was full so we stopped by the visitor center and parked in the parking lot right passed it.

Going up the stairmaster made me painfully aware of how out of shape I am. Once we reached the top it was clear getting on a free route would be hard. We made our way to Horseman which K and I had taken a look at when we last were there (http://www.themonkeyclub.org/2012/02/snow-days-pro-days.html). The party on it was almost done, and there was a party of two waiting. We decided to wait our turn. We weer surrounded by really good climbers (with lots of kids of all ages it seemed) climbing Apoplexy and the other climbs to the left and right of Horseman. I started getting nervous while waiting (especially with the crowds around), but I used my time to pay attention to how the leader before me went around and up the corner.

The start went fine, but going up in the corner I was too nervous and kept my body too much in the corner, making it more difficult than it needs to. Going around the corner was fine, but then I ran into the party coming down from the top. I had to wait a good 10 minutes for them to start down again. Luckily I had good feet and a good cam right at my foot. The rest went down well, the double ropes working well to get an acceptable amount of drag. I belayed Greg and Jess each on a separate rope. We walked down because we were one belay device short and I didn't feel like trying the double biner setup K had showed me last week without practicing it before.

We then went to Double Clutch which K and I had tried on our previous visit. I used my brand new Ballnut #2 as the first piece of pro, then a blue Cam, the piton, and a green cam before the crux (I tried a bigger one since last time we thought it might work better but it actually doesn't fit as well). Couldn't do it: yet again. Instead, I lead the start of the 6 just to the left of it and setup a TR. Jess followed the line I had used to clean it. Greg went back onto Double Clutch and did it first, getting over the crux with a heel hook far left. I did it next (clean), but with a slightly higher and closer hook. One thing that helped is that I really used my feet well before the crux not losing any energy. That climb was lots of fun, but just at my limit. Jess tried it but she got pumped from the traverse. Greg did it again with a modified start (from a boulder problem below). I went up again to clean t, but did not have enough juice to pull the crux and needed some help from the belayer.

All and all a great a beautiful day. It was the first time I felt like my head was back into it since the end of last year's ice season. Horseman actually felt better than the first time I climbed it as a second (http://www.themonkeyclub.org/2009/04/let-it-snow-let-it-snow-let-it-snow.html). Next time, to do Double Clutch, I think we should use a single rope and I would put only one piece before the piton to waste less energy.