Redeeming the prize

M and I headed up Saturday afternoon to Stone Ridge for a beautiful late summer weekend of quality time with G and Ariane, arriving just in time for some Canadian craft beers and late afternoon sunlight. Started the weekend off with excellent food at the Red Onion in Woodstock - I have the vague memory of multiple calamari dishes and some tasty steak, but mostly recall being stuffed to the gills.

Of course, the primary goal of the weekend was to get some climbing in, with the added responsibility of showing Nikita (and his wife) the beauty of the great outdoors. In a charity auction, Nikita had won the envious opportunity to climb outdoors under the tutelage of none other than G himself, and we wanted it to be worth his money (price unknown, but I'm sure it was worth it).

Nice leisurely start, relaxed enough for a breakfast of coffee and sandwiches from the deli (mmmm. Mountain Man) eaten at the swankest digs around - the bed of G's new old pickup. With Nikita meeting us later, we packed up and headed in to put up a rope on Herdie Gerdie (5.8). G having climbed it before, I took first lead of the day, though I admit thinking that it was a pretty stiff warm-up climb. The crux is low, situated between the ground and a big ledge 20-25ft off the ground, coming after a right leaning crack peters out. Having stuffed the crack with as many tiny nuts as it would take, negotiating the crux involved getting my feet high up on the greasy ramp and working up to the ledge, with a balancey mantle to surmount the lip. The rest of the climb was straightforward, with plenty of pro available.

The only casualty of the day


With a mind on the first day outside for Nikita and Liuba (and one that was prized!), I took my time and set up a careful, redundant anchor: good tree, girth-hitched rock, and solid cam, all (relatively) equalized. Was pretty proud of myself, until I came down to find that I had kicked down a rock that targeted my phone like a homing pigeon with ill intentions. In any case, G made quick work of the climb on TR and we soon had Nikita tied in and on the rock. Tough intro to the great outdoors, as the crux moves were delicate and crimpy, with crappy feet - determined, he eventually figured out the moves. From the same anchor (though we really should have put in a directional), we next TR'ed Dirty Gerdie (5.8+) immediately to the right. Super fun, with balancey moves and a technical mantle on crappy feet down low - not a lot of pro opportunities till halfway up, can't believe G led it in the past.

Nikita below the crux on Herdie Gerdie



Tricky mantle on Dirty Gerdie





To find something a little more enjoyable, we looked at Double Chin - which was taken - and settled on Boston (5.5). Though the moves are fun, the offwidth moves are not straightforward and the climb is difficult to protect without large gear (#5 or #6 BD), which we didn't have. G did an admirable job with the lead, though I was biting my nails the whole time belaying. He managed to fiddle in a decent amount of smaller pro outside the wide crack (including some ballnuts thrown up to him), but would definitely have benefited from some super small gear. Crux move is high off the deck, involving layback moves to get up and over a small roof near the top - excellent heady lead, toughest 5 I've been on for sure. Both Nikita and Liuba took multiple turns on TR - congrats to N for his first day outside, and L to her first day climbing ever, I think I see a future climbing for those two.

G wishing he were in Boston


Looking for small pro at the crux


First time climbing!




Wrapped up at the crag by 2, was back poolside with the ladies and mojitos by 3. Capped off the weekend with tasty burgers fresh off G's backyard grill. We need to do this again soon...

Why, yes, it's a very nice chair...

Some Canadian craftiness

Rock and sea

Just returned from a week in Lisbon, (mostly) working. Took a little time off on Saturday after a week of lectures+labs to see a little of the outdoors, with a plan to pack some bouldering and surfing into a bright sunshine-filled afternoon.

Got a slow start, but by midday Joe, Henrique, and I had crammed the truck full of gear and roused Joe's friend Adam. 4 guys + 4 surfboards + bouldering pad + climbing gear + surfing gear (and no roof rack) pretty much packed the usable space full. We headed to the boulders surrounding Sintra, where Joe and I had climbed a bit last year. 4-wheel drive definitely helpful on the drive in, and the approach though short was uphill through boulders and painful plantlife (reminder to self: shoes not flipflops). Scoped out a bunch of problems, in the V0 to V1/V2 range. Not too high, but most of the landings are pretty sketchy - either with large boulders scattered about or a quickly dropping hillside underneath (or, often, both). Granite-like rock with sharp edges and often good incut jugs on ledges, we even found a short crack that went from offwidth to fist to hand jams - nice fist jam by JP to get up it.

After a few hours of sweating in the sun, we crammed back into the truck and headed for a quick 30 min drive to the beach. Decent size swells but pretty crappy conditions, lots of whitewater and breaks close to the beach made getting out tough. Flailed around for a while as I'm a terrible surfer, but got up a few times; just paddling out and riding the swells and smelling the salt were plenty good for me. Adam and Joe headed out further to hit the waves breaking further out, and I saw a few good short rides.

Closed it out with some ice cold beers and snails at a bar overlooking the beach. Nice way to close out the week. A few pics from the trip:

Finding Joe a board of his own

Setting up by the beach train tracks

Not a bad view

The human habitrail at the CCU

Steak... it's what's for dessert

The Darwin Cafe

Hillside near Sintra

Time for beer

Tejo appreciates the outdoors too

The next level

Approaching Plattekill Falls


Rapidly rising temperatures this past week suggesting that perhaps the groundhogs may be on to something, we decided to get some ice in before spring arrives. Recent (mis)adventures in Colorado notwithstanding, this was going to be our first day swinging axes in the Catskills this season and a long-awaited return to climbing of any kind for Brian. Last night, I packed my gear, set the alarm for 4, and ignoring the cat's befuddlement at the early bed time tried to catch some sleep.

Still way dark out when I left the house, and the Lower East Side was still crowded with the usual late night crowd: smokers, drinkers sobering up after last call, and empty cabs. Much quieter as I headed far uptown to pick up Brian, up in the skinny part of the island. Soon enough we were on our way to a rendezvous at G's house to consolidate in his newly retrofitted winter gladiator minivan. Despite my inability to follow directions, we arrived only 20 minutes late, with the sun barely up and G still in a patient mood (not sure how long that would have lasted, and no real desire to find out).

Best decision of the day was a group one to forgo familiar ground for new terrain. Neither G nor I were particularly raring to lead super steep stuff, but wanted something challenging and interesting. Luckily, Brian convinced us it was time to take it to the next level. So instead of the usual Stoney Clove routes, we headed for Platte Kill Cove, home of a mix of routes from moderate to hardman in the Devil's Kitchen (Hell Hole) area as well as a series of scenic, varied frozen waterfalls (Plattekill, Bridal Veil, and Japanese Falls). Parking was easy, at the turnaround where the road is closed off and unplowed for the winter, and we were early enough to nab one of the last open spots.

Ten minutes of hiking down the road led us to a tracked path down past a red barn; from there, the easy approach heads into the trees and forks at a group of hemlocks, with the right path dropping into the clove and emerging at the kill right below Plattekill Falls. We got there as a local was soloing, halfway up the ice and likely almost done with his morning lap up the series of descending falls. We exchanged pleasantries as we unracked and roped up and he topped out ("Really wet one today", "When the sun comes over, it's going to make some funny sounds" come to mind), and soon enough G was ready to lead.

The formation looked in good enough shape, but the recent warm weather was clearly taking its toll. Running water was easily audible both beneath the snow on the frozen creek and behind the falls, and a fine mist shot over the right side of the falls (getting progressively heavier as the sun came over). Left side was good and relatively dry though, with a short vertical section leading to a slabby ramp and final vertical section. Felt like WI3 to me, at least as a second. G looked great, steady on the warmup, controlled placing screws and comfortable in his swings and kicks. Both B and I TRed up, cleaning screws on the way, and we all came down to TR a steeper line on the left side. Much fun, with a steep overhanging start (with an ice bollard!), a slabby walkup in the middle, and a pumpy and intimidating steep finish. Highlight of the day was Brian knocking off a microwave-sized block and shielding himself his head and neck, reinforcing my conviction of the hardness of his noggin.

G runs up the first climb of the day

A frozen Plattekill Falls (and as it looks in summertime)

Comfy belay at the top of the falls


Brian heads up the left side bouldery start


I'm right below where Brian tried to brain himself

What do you mean a messy coil?


By midday the sun was directly on the falls, and things were considerably wetter and more delicate; we decided to search for more shaded ice and headed for Devil's Kitchen. A bit of a tricky spot to find, being unsure of the specifics of the layout. From the approach trail, we could tell we were in the trees above the cliffline overlooking Devil's Kitchen, but despite some exploratory postholing through deep snow we couldn't find a safe way down. We decided to backtrack to Plattekill Falls and follow the stream downhill into the clove, but found several parties climbing off the top of Bridal Veil Falls. After talking things over with a local climber belaying from the top, we decided the easiest way was to head back to the road, where an easy drop-in to the gully at the stone bridge landed us right at the top of Upper Devil's Kitchen.



A couple of parties were in the upper section, but the west side of the gully was in the sun and many of the columns looked wet and ready to come down. However, in the lower gully, many of the east routes were still shaded, blue and solid. Lots of steep lines to choose from, we settled on a 4ish line near the second of three consecutive corners. The business of the climb comes early, after 8-10 feet to a ledge, with 40 feet of straight on vertical climbing in a shallow runnel between two larger columns to another slopey ledge. Decent stems if you have long legs, more vertical and pumpy if you don't. The last third or so of the climb heads up into the corner forming a little ice chimney, with bolts at the top where the ice peters out into rock. G gave me the first lead, and I felt pretty good at the start, soloing up to the first ledge to place an easy first screw. Good distance to the second screw, but it was a pretty crappy placement, all air, so I leaned out way right to sink another backup in. Didn't get good placements on either, and left both of them only partly in the ice. Could have (and should have) pushed higher, but the pump clock was ticking and I couldn't get over the insecurity of getting too high over my crappy placements, so I lowered to let G have a go. Like a soldier, he charged ahead and led from my highpoint up to the ledge, sinking plenty of good screws on the way. He finished off by scratching his way up the corner ice system to the anchors to set up a TR. We finished up by TRing the middle line, as well as a more consistently vertical line to the left (solid WI 4 or 4+). Great sustained climbing, not super long but no real great rests either.

Second Corner (WI4), line number 8 (via Bigfoot Mountain Guides)

Some climbers on a WI5 to the left

A decent stem to place some gear

G cleans up my mess


The return of Climbin' Brian



Great day all around with a good friendly crew: explored a new area in comfortably warm temps, got G and me back into a leading frame of mind and Brian back into climbing mode. The DK area is much more scenic than Stoney Clove, though I get the feeling it can get pretty crowded. Climbing the falls was a nice change from typical ice cragging, eventually I'd like to link up a few of the falls for some multi-pitch adventure.

Looks almost just like him...

Now that's better


Let's hope the groundhogs were wrong and there's some winter left in this year yet. Thanks to Brian for the great pics (and remembering his camera).

Three days late, several dollars short

Went for a quick day-hike on Saturday with Linnaea and Kiriana (postdoc and grad student, respectively, in the LeDoux lab). After a small set back regarding my ability to read a train schedule, we hopped on to the Hudson Line out of Grand Central up to the Cold Spring stop. After locating a map, some coffee, and a bathroom, we walked to the trailhead at Hudson Highlands (just north of the end of Fair St.). We took the white trail up-up-and-away to the top of the hill. It was a little technical and steep in the first mile (~1500 ft. change in elevation) but that's easily overcome by keeping your head up and moving your feet.



After a brief rest at the summit we headed down the back side of the hill. About half-way down we encountered a herpetologist who works at the Brooklyn Zoo carrying a Black Rat Snake that was about 5 ft. long. Forgot to take a picture though. Once back in town we all enjoyed a frozen dairy treat from a local vendor.