Climbing at Millbrook: Realm of the Fifth Class Climber (5.9) and Old Route (5.7)

(Photo: Gail on the last pitch of Realm of the Fifth Class Climber (5.9).)

I got up on Monday morning, looked in the mirror, and found bits of lichen in my ears.

This could mean only one thing:

I'd been climbing at Millbrook.

Sunday was one of the longest days of the year. It was expected to be a beautiful day in the Gunks. The main cliffs were sure to be overrun. Why not head back out to Millbrook, where we might find solitude? It had been more than a year since my first trip out there. I was overdue for another taste of this most mysterious and daunting of Gunks cliffs.

Last year Gail and I had picked off the two most obvious plums, Westward Ha! (5.7) and Cruise Control (5.9). These two great climbs are centrally located and relatively easy to find. They sit pretty much directly beneath the spot where the Millbrook Mountain Trail reaches the cliff.

This time around I suggested we venture a bit further afield, towards the southern end of the cliff. I was eager to check out Realm of the Fifth Class Climber (5.9). There were a few other routes nearby that I thought we also could do.

Realm of the Fifth Class Climber has a reputation for being on the easy side of 5.9, and also for being well-protected. It seemed like a good candidate for Gail and me. I also thought that since it ascends a prominent corner system we could be fairly sure we were in the right place when we started climbing, which is important at Millbrook! I didn't want to mistakenly stumble into 5.11 X territory.

Chris Fracchia (a fount of knowledge about Millbrook) had given me some advice about approaching Realm. He said we should rap in from directly above the climb rather than traversing over to it on the shelf popularly known as the "Death Ledge." The Death Ledge traverses the whole of Millbrook about one third of the way up the cliff, and all of the climbs start from this ledge rather than from the ground because the rock beneath the ledge is crumbly choss. The Death Ledge itself is pretty crumbly in spots, too, hence Chris' suggestion that we avoid it as much as possible by approaching our chosen climb from directly above.

We followed Chris' instructions and it seemed like we were in the right spot. We were able to find a good tree to rappel in from without too much trouble. By a stroke of dumb luck we stumbled upon another experienced Millbrook climber who confirmed we were in the right location, which gave us the confidence we needed to back our butts off of the cliff and into the unknown.

Even though I knew we'd found the right spot, I was nervous, just like the last time, as I stepped into the void and rappelled down the steep white cliff. Millbrook is a little bit spooky, there's just no getting around it.

(Photo: Rappelling down to the Death Ledge. The triangular roof visible up at the top of the photo is pretty much directly above the start of Realm of the Fifth Class Climber (5.9.).)

Once we got down to the Death Ledge, Realm of the Fifth Class Climber was easy to locate, just to the left of our landing point. The guidebook splits the climb into three pitches, but they are pretty short. I thought maybe I'd combine the first two into one 100 foot pitch.

I led the first 5.7 pitch up a right-facing corner without any trouble. The rock was pretty good and the climbing was mellow. I didn't place very much gear, hoping to reduce drag and save my favorite pieces for the crux climbing above. I finished the first pitch in no time and with plenty of gear left. But as I looked up at the intimidating crux of pitch two right above me, I worried that if I continued without stopping I might create some bad drag going in and out of the overhanging corner. And let's face it, I was still feeling some Millbrook jitters. I decided to bring Gail up and to do the route the traditional way, in three pitches.

(Photo: Gail climbing the last bits of pitch one of Realm of the Fifth Class Climber.)

Pitch two of Realm is a great pitch. It climbs another, larger right-facing corner. The crux comes near the start of the pitch as you escape a ceiling, climbing up to and around it and continuing up the corner system. There is a committing move out right from under the ceiling and then a challenging move up on the face with poor footholds, which leads to more good climbing up the corner with better holds. The pro is outstanding. You can place gear pretty much whenever you like in the crack at the back of the corner.

(Photo: Making it look easy, as always! Here I'm working up the corner to the crux roof on pitch two of Realm of the Fifth Class Climber (5.9).)

Full disclosure: I went back and forth several times before I finally did the crux move out and around the roof. It is a committing sequence. But once I put myself out there it went okay. I didn't find it soft for 5.9. Seemed like solid 5.9 to me. I was glad that I had Gail nearby for moral support.

(Photo: Gail reaching the end of pitch two of Realm of the Fifth Class Climber.)

After two very good pitches, I thought the third pitch was kind of a letdown. There is a hard, awkward move up onto a shelf, right off the belay. After that the pitch is pretty easy and not that much fun. You climb up and left to easily skirt two different roofs and then the climb is over. Watch out for some very loose plates on the wall beneath the first roof. 

I wasn't sure where the 5.9 is on this pitch. Maybe it is just that first awkward move.

(Photo: Heading up pitch three of Realm of the Fifth Class Climber.)

After Gail joined me atop the cliff we rapped in again from the same tree as before. I was hoping we could take a short walk to the north on the Death Ledge to do Again and Again (5.7). I was intrigued by this climb's long traverse under a roof on pitch two. Though the climbing isn't supposed to be hard I thought the position under the roof might be very exciting. Also, after the roof traverse this climb meets Cuckoo Man (5.10) and I was considering checking out that climb's final roof problem.

But when we got back down I couldn't find a secure way to cross the ledge from Realm to Again and Again. The Death Ledge just north of Realm is so much worse than it is over by Westward Ha!. It is very steeply sloped and loose. I couldn't see a safe path across, and I wasn't eager to try to make it, even roped up. I pictured myself sliding right off into oblivion.

So we decided not to do Again and Again.

But the only way out was up. We had to climb something.

(Photo: Hanging out on the sloping, loose Death Ledge near Realm of the Fifth Class Climber.)

I had another moderate climb in mind, Old Route (5.5 or 5.7, depending on who you believe). This was the very first climb ever done in the Gunks. It was put up by the great Fritz Wiessner in 1935. Wearing sneakers (!!) and using just a couple of soft iron pitons for protection, he made history, establishing with this climb what would become THE eastern center of American rock climbing for the next half a century.

Gail and I crossed the Death Ledge over to Old Route without a problem. It is south of Realm, in the opposite direction from Again and Again. We pitched it out, staying roped up while we moved on the ledge. I slung some trees along the way. The ledge wasn't as terrible to the south of Realm, but it was still pretty junky and loose. It is just a touch more than 60 meters from Realm to Old Route. I stopped at a tree when I was just about out of rope, and then after Gail came over we scrambled up to the right-facing corner where the climb begins.

Everyone agrees on where this climb starts, at an obvious right-facing corner. But different guidebooks disagree about where the route goes from there. Dick Williams has the climb going straight up the corner until it ends and then veering left up a woodsy dihedral to the top, while Todd Swain sends the climber on a long horizontal traverse after the corner ends, finishing the climb in a totally different place. Chris Fracchia identifies on his website yet another possibility, this one based on Fritz's own recollections as published in Appalachia magazine in 1960. We did the climb this last way, going up the corner just until we reached a bush and ledge, then stepping left to a v-notch and, at the top of the notch, moving back right to the belay at the top of the corner. And then moving left as the Williams guide has it for the second pitch up the large vegetated right-facing corner to the top.

Standing beneath Old Route, we both had to wonder why Fritz picked this line out of all the thousands available in the Gunks. It doesn't look so great. My guess is that he chose it because it looked like it could be climbed. The initial corner has lots of features to grab on to and the part towards the top of the cliff goes up a gully/notch, so Fritz figured he wouldn't get shut down at some massive overhang.

(Photo: Pitch one of Old Route (5.7).)

The first pitch, it turns out, is well worth doing. The initial corner is easy and pretty dirty, nothing to write home about. But the move into the v-slot is a toughie (easily 5.7 or harder) and then the climbing up this slot is clean and interesting. Once you reach a roof and start to traverse right to the belay ledge the moves are easier again and the exposure is really nice. I would think that anyone following Fritz on this traverse in 1935 would have been terrified! If this pitch were in the Trapps, it would have been cleaned up by the passage of human traffic long ago and it would by now be a popular trade route.

But since this climb is at Millbrook it hasn't been cleared of its considerable debris. Every ledge is full of loose rocks-- some small, some the size of cinder blocks. I couldn't get through the pitch without knocking a couple of the small ones off, and I narrowly avoided sending down some of the big ones. The belay ledge, too, is a mess, covered in loose crap. And the trees there are not very useful for the belay. One tree is dead and the other is very small. I chose not to use them. Instead I moved up and left to the next ledge and built a gear belay in some cracks that seemed solid.

(Photo: Finishing the clean climbing at the beginning of pitch two of Old Route (5.7). It is pretty densely wooded the rest of the way.)

The second pitch begins with enjoyable moves up the wall to the left of the belay, and then you chimney/grovel your way to the top up the big dihedral with a wide crack at the back, past bushes, trees and lichen-- lots of lichen. It is all 5.easy climbing. I found it fun up to a point. By the time I got to fighting my way past the final tree I'd had about enough.

I doubt I'll ever do Old Route again but I'm glad we did it once, partly for the connection to Fritz Wiessner and also because the first pitch has some very nice moments.

Realm of the Fifth Class Climber, by contrast, was pretty high quality for most of its length and I would be happy to do that one again.

It was great to be out at Millbrook, no matter what we were climbing. The place has a special atmosphere and it is very enjoyable just to hang out at the belays and up atop the cliff. You feel removed from it all up there, much more so than at the Trapps or the Nears. The ground, the buildings, other climbers... all of them are much further away. The cliff demands caution and respect, but it also offers genuine adventure and some very good climbing. I hope not to wait another year to go back. I'd like to jump on Rib Cracker (5.9), The High Traverse (5.8 by one of the variation finishes), Again and Again/Cuckoo Man (5.7/5.10), maybe even The Time Eraser (5.10-), some time soon.

If we have some agreeable weather this summer (not too hot) I might be able to make it happen in the near future.

Chapel Pond Blahs

(Photo: Climber on Drop, Fly or Die (5.11a).)

I knew it would be wet.

It had been a rainy week, with heavy thunderstorms on Friday, continuing into the evening. I almost called the whole thing off.

But it was supposed to be a beautiful day on Saturday in the Adirondacks and I really wanted to go. Maybe in the afternoon Chapel Pond Slab would be dry? Maybe we'd find some dry lines between the streaks of wetness on some south-facing cliffs in the morning?

I missed climbing in the Adirondacks. I wanted to work on my crack and slab skills. I had dreams, my friends. Dreams bigger than any thunderstorm.

And the Dacks was very convenient for my partner Adrian, who was driving down from Montreal. He'd made the five hour trip from Montreal to the Gunks twice recently. It was only fair to give him a break this time around. I could make the long drive from NYC up to the Keene Valley area.

Unfortunately, I only had Saturday available. My daughter and I both had a piano recital on Sunday so I had to be back. This meant nine hours of driving just on Saturday, and my wife Robin wasn't exactly thrilled about it. It seemed a little bit insane to her. (Just between you and me, I think she worries too much.)

"If it's going to be wet, why don't you just go to the Gunks?" she said. "The rock there dries really fast, that's what you always say."

She was right, but she didn't understand. I needed some Dacks action.

I'll cut to the chase: it turned out to be a shitty day for us on Saturday. We should have gone to the Gunks. The irony was that the weather in the Keene Valley area was absolutely gorgeous. But there had been far too much rain earlier during the week.

I got up at 5:00 a.m. and drove out of Brooklyn. The roads were wet but the sky was clear the whole way up.

As I drove in to the Chapel Pond area I was amazed. Not only was the Chapel Pond Slab soaking wet-- which was to be expected-- it was worse than wet. It had a running waterfall right down the middle. Mostly, it seemed, on the route Empress (5.5. X) but also on parts of the Regular Route (5.5), which I had hoped maybe we could do.

In truth, I knew before I drove up that the Slab wouldn't work out. This was no big deal. We could check out some other options. We walked in to the Beer Walls. These cliffs are low and tucked in the woods, so I had no illusions that they'd be much drier than the Chapel Pond Slab. I thought maybe, just maybe, there'd be some dry sections. But no such luck, the entire Upper and Lower walls were absolutely soaked, not just wet but actively running with water in most places.

We walked back out. The Spider's Web looked pretty dry from the road. So we negotiated the talus field all the way up there to find that it wasn't really very dry. It was okay on some parts of the upper portions of the wall but mostly wet on the bottom. All the climbs I'd previously done there were wet, and all the tens I'd hoped to try were also wet.  There was a party there starting one of the 5.11's (Drop, Fly or Die) which was dry except for the very bottom. But I would need good conditions to be brave enough to lead the tens. There was no way I was hopping on a 5.11.

Having struck out three times, we decided to walk over to some of the Lower Washbowl cliffs. These cliffs are not very popular due to the steep, thickly wooded approaches and chossy rock. But you can get there from the Spider's Web without going all the way down to the road, so we decided to try to cross over to a wall called Lost Arrow Face which wasn't too far away. 

After a filthy, slippery bushwhack we found the wall and it actually seemed to have some dry routes. We found two women from Montreal climbing there.

It was, by this time, after noon and we hadn't climbed anything. We'd been trooping around looking for dry rock for more than two hours. It was about time to do some climbing! We did Excalibur (5.8) after the ladies told us it was dry enough. This is kind of dirty but it is an interesting route up the left side of a pillar which forms a corner, with some really tricky climbing in the corner. Both Adrian and I thought it was harder than 5.8. Maybe we did it wrong?

(Photo: Adrian heading into the tricky bit on Excalibur (5.8).)

Next I started to lead the 5.9 on the wall (Virgin Sturgeon), which the guidebook authors highly recommend. But I got kind of spooked because I couldn't see the bolt above on a blank face and the route ends at some corners that can't be seen from the base of the cliff. I kept worrying the corners at the top would be soaking wet. I aborted and headed over to check out Sergeant Pepper (5.8), which goes up another big corner to the left. But when I got beneath the corner I could see it was very dirty/licheny and the roof exit at the top was dripping water down on me. Yuck. No thanks.

So then I moved left again and did Chunga's Revenge (5.6+). The two women had done Chunga's while Adrian and I did Excalibur and both of them had sent down some sizable rocks as they climbed! So I tried to be careful. This route has a really interesting move left across an orange face to a tree and a ledge with an optional belay. The holds are there but it is a committing step over. And then it goes up a corner to a roof.

(That's me heading up to the crux move on Chunga's Revenge (5.6+).)

In retrospect, I realize that most people end this climb at the optional belay. But I did not. The corner above was full of junky rock and loose flakes. I passed up many opportunities for gear in the bad rock. The roof too had some loose crap and when I got over it and reached the top I built a belay in a crack because the belay tree (which had ancient crusty slings on it) did not appear to me to be stable. I could see it totally falling down if it were weighted. The rock it is attached to up there is all chossy and crumbly.

I brought Adrian up and he found a bolted rap station about ten feet to the right of the tree so I came over to join him. But I thought it was really bad, with just one ancient button-head bolt and a piton, connected by stiff old webbing in an American Death Triangle. Someone had added a more recent sling to the bolt. This sling was still identifiable as blue and it wasn't stiff but it was quite faded, clearly at least a few years old.

Adrian thought the bolt was fine but the whole arrangement gave me the chills. We decided to add a tricam to the anchor with one of our prussik cords and left this gear behind. We both rapped off and, thankfully, nobody died.

Then we hiked down the loose, annoying talus field to the road. I was glad to put the Lost Arrow Face behind me. What a pile.

(Photo: The Lost Arrow Face as seen from the road, with one of the Montreal women we met visible (in a white shirt) low in the center of the wall, leading Virgin Sturgeon (5.9).)

I suggested we go next to Jewels and Gem, a small wall with moderate routes one minute from the road. If it was dry, well then we could lead some routes. If not, we could top rope. We went there and almost all the leadable routes (the ones that go up cracks) were wet. We spotted a dry one, In the Rough (5.7+). This ascends an off-width crack in a corner, and then goes through a good roof problem. Adrian led it. We both enjoyed it. Hallelujah! A good, dry route. So nice. 

(Photo: Adrian on In the Rough (5.7+).)

It appeared a couple of the other routes on this wall were really good-- if only they were dry. The two 5.6 routes appeared to be great natural lines up easy cracks, but they were both dripping with runoff. The dry routes all seemed to have no gear. I thought maybe I could lead the 5.9 variant just to the left of In the Rough, so I started it... and then I backed off when it appeared there were no placements for a long stretch above the initial crack. 

We considered top roping some other climbs but I checked the time and it was already 5:30. We decided to leave. I had lost the mojo and I had a long drive ahead. 

I would definitely come back to Jewels and Gem some time when it is dry for some fun moderates. It seems like a nice little wall.

We both walked out pretty disappointed with our day. We did a lot of trudging for three mediocre pitches.

And the worst was yet to come. I'll spare you the details, but some car trouble kept us from leaving for another three hours. 

Once that was resolved and I finally got out of there I drove home in an over-caffeinated haze, wishing I'd listened to my wife and gone to the Gunks. The day was largely a waste of time and money. But you know, sometimes taking a chance really pays off and sometimes it doesn't. You gotta play to win and all that garbage.

And even if the day basically sucked we still got a little taste of some adventure. 

Don't worry, Dacks. I still love you and I'll be back. 

Gunks Routes: Lost and Found (5.6), Unholy Wick (5.8), Diana (5.8) and More!

(Photo: Doing the fun traverse above a roof on Lost and Found (5.6).)

Another sunny Sunday in May, sure to be a crowded disaster in the Trapps. But I had a plan.

I've been repeating myself a lot lately. I wanted to try some different routes. I proposed to Adrian that we could get ourselves up to the GT Ledge in the area between CCK and High Exposure, where there were several quality climbs I'd never tried. I was thinking in particular of climbs like Diana (5.8), Unholy Wick (5.8), Jim's Gem (5.8 and new for me by the higher traverse), Exit Stage Left (5.9), and Psychedelic (5.9+). We could kill most of our day on these climbs, most of which no one seems to do.

At the last minute Gail decided to join us for a few hours before her husband Mitch arrived at the cliff, but this did not alter our plan. She could rap off whenever she needed to go.

I got to the parking lot in high spirits, ready to hit it hard. Gail and Adrian, on the other hand, seemed a little droopy. They had both been climbing for the full day on Saturday and they were feeling tired. They were happy to follow my lead, but it looked like I was going to be calling most of the shots.

We headed on down to the area just left of High E and looked for a warm-up climb to take us to the GT Ledge. No one was on Lost and Found (5.6) and I had never done it so I decided to embrace new routes and lead it. Gail warned me that she thought the bottom bits were run out but I wasn't worried. The guidebook calls it PG and I figured a little bit of run out climbing in 5.6 territory would be no big deal.

The opening moves go up and right over a little bulge to the right edge of a roof. The climb traverses back left over the lip of the roof then heads straight up from there to the GT Ledge.

I placed a piece quickly and then started to move through the bulge. As Gail had predicted, I found a lack of options for my second gear placement. I ended up getting an Alien I wasn't thrilled about in a shallow pocket. But I figured after a move or two I'd be over the bulgy bit and it would be smooth sailing. I had each hand on a good crimper as I moved to the right, so I thought everything was fine. Suddenly my right handhold snapped right off. The hold went flying (hitting no one, luckily) but I didn't. Somehow I managed to stay on the rock. It could have been a little bit ugly if I'd fallen and the iffy Alien had popped. I would have decked.

I tried to just laugh it off.

Gail said, "I can't believe you didn't fall!"

"Well, the reason I didn't is that I'm really kind of awesome," I blustered. "I don't like to talk about it, but it's true..."

Meanwhile, I tried to stop shaking so I could get back to leading the pitch.

It went fine from there. After the slightly sketchy early bit, the traverse left over the lip of the roof is fun and well-protected. Then the climbing from that point to the GT Ledge is easy and kind of undistinguished and dirty.

I wouldn't do Lost and Found again. It isn't that nice. The Last Will Be First (5.6) is just to the right and it is so much better.

When Gail and Adrian joined me on the GT Ledge we took a look at Unholy Wick, which was right in front of us. This climb goes straight up a 5.6 face to a little roof. There is no gear on this face and Dick Williams suggests that you can avoid the runout to the left by following Ken's Blind Hole (5.6) to the little roof. I haven't done Ken's Blind Hole but it goes pretty far to the left and if you go just a step or two to the right instead as you start Unholy Wick off the ledge you can get some gear in the left-facing corner over there. After just a few moves you get to the ceiling where there is ample gear.

(Photo: Climbing up to the initial roof on Unholy Wick (5.8).)

I enjoyed climbing up to the small roof, and the rest of Unholy Wick as well. The climb isn't a great classic and it is kind of broken up into sections but there are a bunch of good moves on it. The guidebook advises you to do it in two pitches from the GT Ledge to the top but I took it all the way in one pitch and it worked out fine. The little rooflet is the first challenge, and then you have to get in and out of a small alcove, moving left along a horizontal and then making steep moves up to a large flake and a small tree. (This is where Dick would have you belay.) All of the climbing to this point is allegedly 5.6, but I thought the moves in and out of the alcove were a little harder than that.

(Photo: Gail has almost reached the flake and tree where there is an optional belay on Unholy Wick (5.8). Despite appearances the route isn't choked with lichen-- it traverses behind the lichen-covered flake and climbs the clean corner barely visible at the bottom of the photo.)

Once you reach the flake and tree the regular route moves left to a right-facing corner, where a single 5.8 move gets you to jugs and then the finish. I thought about doing a 5.9 variation to finish called Bow Tie Ceiling, but it looked very dirty/licheny and difficult, so I just did it the 5.8 way.

(Photo: Getting set to rappel from the top of the cliff.)

After we rapped down to the GT Ledge, Gail checked in with her husband Mitch and found out he was on his way, so she left us and Adrian and I continued climbing from the GT Ledge.

We decided to look into the top pitch of Diana (5.8) next. This pitch starts at a distinctive multi-forked tree that is easy to find on the GT ledge. The line Diana follows isn't that obvious from below but it makes sense when you do it. After some face climbing and an easy 5.6 roof, the climb heads up a little right and then left to the right edge of a larger ceiling. You move up diagonally onto the face above the ceiling, which ends up feeling like a roof problem. It is a really good roof problem and I thought it was a little stiff for 5.8. Then the pitch heads up and left again to another crux on sloping holds up into a notch, where you meet CCK for the final couple of moves.

(Photo: Adrian pulling into the final notch on Diana (5.8).)

I really enjoyed Diana. It has two nice cruxes and good protection (though I did not see the piton mentioned in the guidebook). If you are stacked up on the GT Ledge waiting to do CCK I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't do Diana instead. The top pitch is very good.

Adrian and I rapped back down to the GT Ledge and now I was ready for a challenge. My eye was on Psychedelic (5.9+). I was totally psyched to climb into the dirty chimney at the back of the High E buttress. I was ready to fight past a tree to get to the tough roof problem. After that the wild 40-foot 5.6+ traverse would be a fun payoff.

But Adrian had a request:

"Can we do something facey/slabby instead of another roof?"

He was a little tired and a little bored.

(Photo: Unknown climber on Modern Times (5.8+). "I hate you a little bit right now," she said to her belayer.)

I had to admit that all of the climbs I'd planned at this one location above the GT Ledge were of the roofy variety. If we were going to do something different we'd have to look elsewhere. Reluctantly I acquiesced and we descended to the ground to find another climb.

This turned out to be a mistake. It was a nightmare down there.

Everything was occupied. We started out looking for a good climb that wasn't a roof problem-- something like Airy Aria or the first pitch of Carbs and Caffeine-- but when that didn't pan out we just started looking for something, anything that was open. We kept wandering around, always coming up empty. Doubleissima? Forget it. Insuhlation had a group of climbers plus some wailing babies. Another group of adults and children had a top rope on Double Crack and Lito and the Swan! I'd never seen anyone at all on Lito and the Swan before, and I never thought I'd see some pre-teens top-roping it.

We headed back towards CCK and Erect Direction, but no dice.

Finally we arrived beneath Proctoscope and it was open. I needed to get the redpoint on Proctoscope so I volunteered to lead it.

(Photo: In the middle of the crux face on Proctoscope (5.9+).)

It went really well. I think this first pitch could become a climb I come back to again and again. I like the easy off-width that starts it off and the crux thin face is beautiful. The fixed nut at the crux I mentioned last year in my first post on Proctoscope is long gone but I think I was actually hindered by that nut the first time I led the pitch. This time I placed the good cam a few feet below and just climbed right through the crux sequence. My footwork was solid and I felt like I used the handholds just right. It was a nice feeling.

(Photo: Adrian on Proctoscope (5.9+).)

Adrian really liked it too. It was more the sort of thing he was hungry for, something technical and not so thuggish.

By now it was getting late and Adrian had a long drive back to Montreal ahead of him. We could see that the pleasant, casual first pitch of Arrow was open so Adrian suggested he could lead that one and then I could lead something from the ledge to the top of the cliff. I hoped that pitch two of Limelight would be open and it was.

(Photo: Adrian climbing the beautiful flake feature on pitch two of Limelight (5.7).)

If there is a better 5.7 pitch than the second pitch of Limelight I want to know about it! The moves on Limelight are just exquisite and the white sickle-shaped flake that the second pitch ascends is very unusual. It looks as though it will be very difficult to climb but then the holds present themselves, as if by magic. The final traverse is delicate and satisfying.

It was a fitting end to our day. Though we wasted some time searching for open routes we still got on several climbs that were new to me and one that I was familiar with but that I felt proud to send. I plan to make a point of working more of these unpopular climbs into every climbing day. I really enjoy on-sighting and I like the feeling of exploring the more obscure parts of the cliff. And sometimes, as I learned by doing Diana, a less-popular route can become a new favorite.

Memorial Day Weekend in the Trapps: Thin Slabs (5.7 Start), Deep Lichen (P3 5.8) & City Streets (5.10b)

(Photo: Mitch starting up City Streets (5.10b).)

Memorial Day Monday was a hot one this year. We awoke to find sunny skies and temperatures expected to reach the mid-eighties.

If only the New Paltz pool were open. Then my wife and kids would have gone there and I'd have been able to climb all day.

But since it wasn't open we planned to drive back to NYC in the early afternoon and Gail and I had just a few hours in which to climb.

As Gail and I walked into the Trapps I could already feel it getting hot. The conditions weren't ideal but I was still determined to try a new 5.10.

First we needed a warm-up. Some friends of Gail's had done Thin Slabs Direct (5.7+) the day before and their discussion of the wild traversing finish, past three old pins, put the climb back in my mind. I suggested we start there. I had led the Direct finish twice before but I'd never led the 5.7 start to Thin Slabs at the bottom of the cliff. I remembered that the one time I followed it I had thought it was tough to get off the ground and that several moves seemed hard to me for 5.7.

Leading the route on Monday did not change my opinion. I easily made the first move up but for several moves in a row I felt the climbing was steep and thin, with gear available everywhere but fiddly to place in the often flaring diagonal crack. It didn't ease off for about twenty feet. Along the way, as I tried to stay calm and shake off the Elvis leg, I decided that this supposed 5.7 start is very much like a slightly longer version of the challenging start of the first pitch of Son of Easy O, which is a hard 5.8. Gail disagrees with me, but I just don't see this right-hand start of Thin Slabs as a 5.7. Sorry.

Some warm up!

At any rate it is good climbing, and I continued all the way to the GT Ledge in one pitch. After the tough beginning the rest of the climbing to the GT Ledge is easy and a little bit dirty at times.

Once I got to the ledge I was disappointed to see that the start of the Thin Slabs Direct pitch was wet. It was yucky just at the opening moves, and not for any of the exciting traverse. We could have gotten through the seepy bits if we were really determined to do Thin Slabs Direct. But I'd done it before so it didn't seem worth it.

We moved to the right to check out the climbs at the left end of the Arrow wall. I'd been interested for years in trying the upper pitches of two different obscure climbs, Deep Lichen and Steep Hikin', but I'd never gotten around to doing either one. These pitches go at 5.8 and 5.6, respectively, and they sit on a wall book ended by the large, dirty Snake corner on the left and the shallower Red Pillar corner on the right. Dick Williams recommends them in his guidebook as nice pitches to throw in after Three Doves (5.8+) or Annie Oh! (5.8).

When we arrived at this wall on Monday, we saw only one clean path up the middle of the wall. We couldn't spot another route between this one strip of clear rock and Red Pillar. We didn't have the book with us and we had no way to tell whether the path we were looking at was the 5.6 or the 5.8. It looked like decent climbing. I saw a few horizontals that looked like they would take gear. I also thought I could spot the crux, a blank headwall about two thirds of the way up, right above a little pod.

It looked like fun climbing on good white rock. We decided to do it.

Later on I looked at the book and figured out that this was Deep Lichen, the 5.8 pitch.

Dick Williams calls it PG but it is actually quite run out. After the initial moves and a few placements, there is a somewhat cruxy thin move up on some small crimps to a better hand rail. This move isn't ridiculously far from the gear but you are a ways above your last piece. You don't want to fall here. Then the climbing continues without any placements for several more moves. This portion of the pitch may be easier than 5.8 (which is probably why Dick gave the route a PG rating) but it isn't much easier. It is still thoughtful climbing and by the time you finally get pro at a bomber horizontal you are likely far enough out that a fall would take you all the way back to the GT Ledge. I felt like I was really out there.

When I arrived intact at the bomber horizontal I threw in two pieces. The gear improved thereafter. The crux did indeed come a bit higher, at the blank headwall above the pod, and I was able to get a good nut right at the top of the pod so I felt well protected for the interesting, delicate and reachy crux sequence.

I liked the climbing on Deep Lichen, though I don't know that I would do it again, now that I know how run out it is. I later checked the Swain guide and found that he describes the pitch as 5.8+ R. I felt satisfied with how I handled the pitch, and I think I have to admit I enjoy the head space that I get into on leads like this (Turdland is another example), where the climbing is less than vertical and you can carefully analyze each move without fear of pumping out. When falling is not an option, the climb becomes a series of puzzles and each critical move, each individual hand and toe placement, gets serious consideration and focus.

I can't say why I felt so shaky on Thin Slabs, where the pro was great, yet so calm on the supposedly harder and definitely far more dangerous Deep Lichen.

Maybe we rise to the occasion when it really counts.

From the top of Deep Lichen we rapped down the Arrow bolts and found that we were already running out of time. Gail knew I wanted to try a 5.10 and she suggested the nearby City Streets (5.10b). Several weeks ago, while we were doing V-3, right next door, we'd both become intrigued when we watched a climber working hard on this route, trying some pretty weird hand matching and swinging to get through the roof problem. He took a number of short falls on the crux piton, and this guy was substantially bigger than me, so I felt pretty assured about the pin's integrity.

Dick Williams gives City Streets no stars and dismisses it as a one-move wonder. But the fact that it has just one hard move makes it a good entry-level ten and the pin right below the roof makes the climb feel like a very approachable lead.

(Photo: Gail getting set to try the roof on City Streets (5.10b).)

My only concern about the climb was that, in my experience, Gunks climbs that have just one crux move usually have one hell of a crux move. I worried that I wouldn't be able to figure out the sequence and that I'd fail.

But you'll never know unless you try, right?

So I racked up and tried it.

It went well! The initial moves up a shallow corner are moderate and interesting. Then you reach a little shelf beneath the overhang. I could see an obvious, chalky horn up to the right of the fixed pin. But I couldn't tell where I was going over the big roof. I wasted some time going up and down and trying to get a piece into the irregular space behind the good horn. But it wasn't working out and eventually I just stepped up to the horn and clipped the pin, calling it good. I probably should have tried harder to back up the pin.

(Photo: Going for it on City Streets.)

And then I started to work at the crux move. A few missions up and down, testing various potential holds, told me that all of the intermediate holds were crap. I could see the good hold, but it was very far to the left. I thought I might be able to reach it if I set my feet just right.

One good thing about this route is that you can get fully into the crux and if it isn't working out you can climb down out of it and reset. I did this several times, testing various ways to reach over to the left. And when I got my feet up just right and grabbed the jug it was a great feeling.

(Photo: Relieved to have on-sighted City Streets (5.10b)!)

After you get over the roof you still have to make a few moves up a corner and then escape right to the anchor tree. The moves are easy and there is good gear at the top of the corner but be careful because a fall as you move up the corner would not be good. I stuck a nut in a v-slot that was about knee level after I was standing above the roof but I thought this nut was not likely to stay put if it were actually tested.

City Streets may not be the easiest 5.10. The one move is hard. But it might well be the easiest 5.10 to lead. The crux is short, the gear is good, and you can climb up and down to your heart's content.

That was it for me. Gail's husband Mitch came out and met us right as I was finishing the crux of City Streets. After Gail and Mitch had a go at the route, I took off and they kept climbing. It was a short day for me but pretty productive, with two new routes and one 5.10 tick off of my list.

Memorial Day Weekend in the Nears: Yellow Ridge (5.7), Outer Space (5.8), Grand Central (5.9) & More!

(Photo: Gail entering the crux of Outer Space (5.8).)

My wife and I planned for a nice Memorial Day weekend in the New Paltz area with the kids. Our friends Gail and Mitch were kind enough to host us at their place in Gardiner. I expected to climb a bit with Gail, maybe just during the mornings, while the kids hung out at the pool.

One slight problem: it turned out that this year the community pool in New Paltz wasn't open for Memorial Day weekend.

Another problem: the forecast called for a lot of rain.

Oops. We'd have to find something else to do.

Saturday turned into a nice family day. We took the kids to the Walkway Over the Hudson and then went into town for ice cream. The expected rain held off until the late afternoon.

On Sunday, Gail and I got out for a full day in the Nears. There was no rain at all. It was a beautiful day but the iffy forecast kept the hordes away. We knocked off several great climbs in the near Nears, one right after the other. Many of these we have discussed in this space before.

Alphonse (5.8) in one pitch is always a great time, casual and fun. I have led this several times and I realize that I make the same choices every time. I always do the low traverse. Next time, for some variety, I think I need to do the high traverse and maybe try the 5.10 finish. There was a little black snake hanging out in the crack at the back of the dihedral about halfway up, which provided some excitement. Gail misunderstood me when I told her where it was, so as the follower she got to be just as surprised as I was on the lead!

We did Yellow Ridge (5.7) in two pitches, with Gail taking the crux first pitch and part of the second in one lead. She stopped (unintentionally) at a good ledge that was maybe thirty feet short of the usual second belay, and I took it to the top from there. We didn't plan to do it this way but it worked out very well. We basically split the climb exactly in half.

(Photo: Gail through the opening traverse around a roof on Yellow Ridge (5.7).)

As the second I got to try two different starts to Yellow Ridge: the usual right-hand start, which traverses under a low roof to an off-width crack, and also the direct start, which goes up a nose of rock straight from the ground to the off-width. Gail led up the right-hand start (which has good gear), and after she put me on belay I climbed up and cleaned the pieces under the roof and had her lower me so I could try going direct up the nose. On the direct there is basically one good move with no pro before you reach the stance beneath the off-width. It was nice, I guess, but I doubt I'll ever bother leading this version since the right-hand start is also nice and it has good protection.

(Photo: Chillin' at our unconventional belay ledge on Yellow Ridge (5.7).)

As I led the upper pitch, doing the beautiful, exposed, thin moves up the edge of the yellow face past the pins, and then moving into the great juggy overhangs at the finish, I thought to myself that it just doesn't get any better than this. So much fun. When our zombie overlords discover how much fun rock climbing can be, they will surely make it illegal. So you'd best get out there and enjoy it while you can.

After we finished with Yellow Ridge I wanted to do something more ambitious. So we got set up beneath Criss Cross Direct (5.10a). This is an early 5.10 lead for many people because the crux comes right off the deck and it is very well protected. The climbing involves a steep vertical layback crack in a slimy corner. I've been meaning to try it for a long time, but I confess that I've never done it because the crack looks difficult and very unappealing to me. Every time I walk up to it I think about how greasy it looks, and I end up moving on to something else.

On Sunday I thought I was determined to finally give it a whirl. I reached up and placed a piece, then explored stepping up into the crack, several times. But I wasn't feeling it. I never really committed. Eventually I decided I still wasn't into Criss Cross Direct and we walked away.

We moved on to the very start of the Nears. I was interested in Outer Space (5.8), which I never see anyone doing. This climb traverses a long distance to the left under the huge roofs at the beginning of the cliff.

I really liked Outer Space. It is very interesting and it has some great climbing on it. But it is a somewhat serious lead, despite its PG rating.

The initial move over a bulge is not easy. It has poor hands and tiny footholds and if you blow this move there is no way to stop yourself from going splat on the slab just below. Then after you move up again to clip an angle piton, the crux moves go diagonally up and left using a series of small miracle crimps. The climbing here is very very good but there is no gear and with each move the potential pendulum fall gets bigger and bigger.

(Photo: Gail almost finished with the crux sequence on Outer Space (5.8).)

By the time I hit the jug after the crimps I was pretty far from that angle piton. I really wanted to get a piece in so I hung out to place a nut in a little vertical seam behind the jug. I couldn't get anything great, though, and the nut I placed later popped out. It might have been worthless. I probably shouldn't have bothered but it was still another two moves up to a ceiling where good protection would become available and I was getting a little freaked out.

(Photo: Having moved up into the notch, Gail is making the final traverse to the anchor on Outer Space (5.8).)

The rest of the climb is very well protected, and it has good climbing, traversing under the big ceilings and moving up into a notch along the way. Outer Space is full of good moves, but keep a cool head! It is mentally challenging.

We rapped from the pitch one anchor, electing to skip the second 5.4 pitch to the top.

As Gail followed my lead of Outer Space I kept looking over at Topeka (5.10a), another climb at the beginning of the cliff that no one seems to do. It ascends a big corner just to the right of the popular 5.12 Kansas City and traverses under a ceiling to a nose. It appears to involve several very thin moves out under the roof. It looked hard to me. I was thinking about trying it but after Outer Space I had had enough traversing under roofs for the moment so we decided to look for something else to do.

Gail knew I had been looking to lead the crux pitches of Grand Central (5.9) so she suggested we do that. She would lead the short 5.6 pitch one, and then I'd take it the rest of the way to the top.

(Photo: Pitch one of Grand Central.)

Grand Central is a varied climb and a masterpiece of route finding. It weaves its way left around a roof, then slides back right around the point of an arete to find a crack system that goes at a reasonable grade to the top of the cliff.

All three pitches have their high points. The first pitch is only 5.6 but it has some challenging moves up the twin vertical cracks. The second pitch features an airy traverse with good gear and then steep crux 5.9 moves up, with the hardest moves above some small nut placements. And then the route finishes with a good roof problem.

(Photo: Topping out on Grand Central.)

I felt good leading the second and third pitches together. I had led the final roof problem a few years ago but not the 5.9 face below. It all went well. I placed two good nuts and then fired through the crux face climbing with no worries. I found the climb very enjoyable.

It was getting toward the end of our day so we decided to do one last easy climb, Layback (5.5). I hadn't been on this one since the very early days of my leading, probably back in 2008. I had led it cleanly back then. I assumed that it would be very easy for me now, and that I would just scamper up the 5.5 pitch one. 

(Photo: Looking down pitch one of Layback (5.5) from just past the chimney and chockstone.)

It turned out to be a little bit challenging. I thought the chimney was kind of a grunt. There's no gear (unless you are carrying some really big cams) until you reach the big chockstone. There was no way I was ever going to fall out with my back against a wall and a foot cammed in the crack, so I wasn't worried. I also don't remember being worried in 2008 when 5.5 was my leading limit, which I find surprising. I was similarly befuddled at the namesake layback flake, which goes on for fifteen feet or so. I think I actually did this as a layback in 2008, and it has no gear for its entire length unless you are carrying some really big gear. Maybe I did some research and brought up a big gray or purple Camalot back then, who knows? This time I had nothing I could place behind the flake, so I ran it out. And I didn't lay it back. Why would you do a layback when the flake provides perfect foot jams the whole way up? I was able to thread a runner at the top of the "layback" but it was my first gear in quite a while.

Pitch two is a joy, with 5.easy exposed climbing of a kind that seems to occur only in the Gunks.

(Photo: Gail leading pitch two of Layback.)

Layback is a wonderful old-school kind of climb. I wish we had more chimneys like this in the Gunks. It would be good practice for other climbing areas. Layback was the perfect warm-down for us, just interesting enough and lots of fun.

I felt great about the day we had in the Nears, doing classic after classic, and getting a little taste of something new and sketchy in Outer Space. I was a bit let down that I didn't try anything harder, but I was happy with how I handled the runouts on Outer Space and Grand Central, and I felt like my climbing was solid. I was determined to hop on a 5.10 the next morning, when Gail and I planned to get in a little more climbing before the end of the holiday.

Coming soon: Memorial Day in the Trapps, with Thin Slabs (5.7 direct start), Deep Lichen (P3 5.8), and City Streets (5.10b)!

Favorites in the Trapps: Ants' Line (5.9), Obstacle Delusion (5.9), CCK Direct (5.9) & More!

(Photo: Adrian leading Ants Line (5.9).)

Here in the USA, May 17-18 was just another weekend. But in Canada it was part of a three-day holiday. Good weather plus the extra day off brought a Canadian invasion to the Gunks unlike any I'd ever seen before.

It also brought back to the area a specific Canadian: my longtime partner Adrian, who has been away from the Gunks for two years. He recently moved back east, from Vancouver to Montreal, and though the move is temporary, for the next year or so we should be able to get together to climb frequently, just like old times.

Adrian was in the Gunks for the whole weekend but I was only able to meet up with him on Sunday. I hooked him up with my frequent partner Gail for some climbing on the other days without me. I was jealous of them both but it was nice finally to be able to introduce two of my favorite people to each other. 

I wasn't sure what I could handle on my day with Adrian. Ever since my trip to California I hadn't felt quite right. I'd ended my trip to Yosemite feeling exhausted, and then I got sick with a cold that lingered on and on. After I seemingly got better I went out climbing with Maryana but felt a bit weak. I wanted to go right back to working on some tens but with Maryana I found the eights challenging enough.

On Sunday the 18th, Adrian and I were thinking about going to the Nears, but by 9:30 in the morning the West Trapps lot was already completely full. To my shock, the Stairmaster lot was also nearly full. We had to park all the way back at the Visitor Center. Did I mention that this was at 9:30 a.m.?

We knew the Trapps would be a zoo but we didn't feel like walking the extra distance back to the Nears so we decided to just live with whatever climbs we could find in the Trapps.

As we walked down the cliff we looked for any reasonable warm-up climb that was open. We got all the way down to the Bonnie's Roof area before we spotted something suitable. Sleepwalk (5.7) was open, so we jumped on that. I've done it several times. It remains a pleasant pitch, a little bit steep right at the start, as you move diagonally up some flakes and turn the corner to your left. After you move around the corner the climb features clean low-angled face climbing with several interesting moves, all the way to the chain anchor.

(Photo: Adrian following the steep and sometimes creaky flakes at the start of Sleepwalk (5.7).)

We finished Sleepwalk with great timing. Ants' Line, a three-star classic 5.9, had just become free and it was right next door, so we did it. Adrian led up it with efficiency and when my turn came to follow, I was so relieved. I felt like my normal self and cruised up to the anchor. Such a nice pitch and the vertical nature of the crack (unusual for the Gunks) is right up the alley of a western climber like Adrian.

(Photo: Following Ants' Line.)

Looking around after we finished Ants' Line, we found climbers everywhere, most of them speaking French. Some friends of mine from Brooklyn Boulders were just to the right of us, having a mini-epic on Bonnie's Roof Direct (5.9). The leader had taken it all the way to the top of the cliff in one pitch and his double ropes had become caught in the Direct crack. He could move one of the ropes but it was a struggle. They were obviously going to be there a while. I once had a similar problem there, several years ago, on rappel. I started my rap from the Bonnie's tree and after I stepped out over the edge I found that the end of one of my ropes was caught in the crack. I had a devil of a time getting it out while dangling there in the air! (It is a free hanging two-rope rap, all air until you reach the ground.) At the time I dismissed it as a freak occurrence but after seeing another party having trouble with the rope-eating crack I'll be more careful.

Once I felt satisfied they didn't need our help we moved on.

We soon found that Obstacle Delusion (5.9), just a few climbs to the left, was available, so I decided to do that one. It is a great climb so why not? I had to beat back a little anxiety before getting started. I had led this before, just last year, but it is a hard 5.9. It would be a real test of how strong I was feeling.

(Photo: Leading the upper bits of Obstacle Delusion (5.9).)

It turned out to be a test of my memory more than anything else. It can be hard to find the correct path on Obstacle Delusion. The business begins with a tough roof problem, which becomes easier when you know where the good hold is. And then the route negotiates around a couple of bulges, through several small overhangs, to the top.

(Photo: Adrian near the top of Obstacle Delusion (5.9).)

I thought I knew exactly where to reach over the initial roof from my prior experience, but I was mistaken. I struggled when I reached up and found the hold over the roof to be not nearly as positive as I thought it would be. After a few errant reaches and a brief hang (grrrrrrrrrr) I found the sweet spot again, as if for the first time. And then as I got higher on the climb I found myself puzzling over where to go-- to the left around this bulge, or to the right? There was chalk everywhere, in all directions. I was pleased to get through the upper challenges without any problems. Even though I messed up the first roof "obstacle" I felt physically strong and happy with how I handled most of the climb.

We next continued wandering back up the cliff towards the parking lot and found available another old favorite of mine, The Last Will Be First (5.6). It has numerous good moves between horizontals, a rooflet problem and a nice bulge at the finish. Adrian had never done it so I sent him on up. 

(Photo: Adrian leading The last Will Be First (5.6), camouflaged by the bright green young leaves.)

After the great first pitch we abandoned the thought of doing the second, as it was soaking wet. Looking to the right, I entertained the hope that maybe we could sneak onto the crux pitch of Modern Times (5.8+), but there were several parties stacked up waiting. We reluctantly rapped down and kept on walking.

We lucked out again with another three-star classic. We arrived at the base of CCK to find a party just packing up to leave. I was itching to do CCK Direct (5.9) again. It was one of my favorite 5.9's and I had only done it once, two years ago.

(Photo: The 5.5 first pitch of CCK.)

Adrian led the 5.5 first pitch. It was a little bit wet at the bottom but the best part, as you approach the GT Ledge, was dry. This last portion of the first pitch has some good moves on it. It pales in comparison with what comes above and I would certainly never seek out this pitch as a destination in its own right but it isn't bad.

Oh but the crux pitch. So great.

What can I say about CCK Direct that I haven't said before? It remains one of my absolute favorite pitches. My second time leading it felt a lot like the first, but this time I tried to manage the gear a little better to avoid the horrible drag I created the first time around.

(Photo: Eyeing the opening 5.8 PG/R bits of CCK Direct (5.9).)

The juggy, overhanging climbing off the ledge is good. Then the climbing up the white CCK billboard is fantastic. And finally the move out, down and left, to the finishing notch/roof problem is insanely exposed and thrilling.

(Photo: Working through the overhangs on CCK Direct (5.9).)

Adrian had never been on CCK Direct before and he was pretty impressed with the finishing roof. He wasn't used to these Gunks overhangs any more, but he got through it just fine (just as he did on Obstacle Delusion). He remarked that he wasn't sure how he would have felt leading CCK Direct, but I'm sure he would have calmly dealt with it as he always does.

(Photo: Approaching the final roof problem/notch on CCK Direct (5.9).)

Having done what might be my choice for top pitch in the Gunks, we decided to walk all the way back to the Uberfall to see if we could do Adrian's favorite: Horseman (5.5). I'm very fond of this one too. It gives the fledgling leader an introduction to so many Gunks skills: thin face climbing, corners, traverses, roof escapes, and finally steep climbing on jugs.

(Photo: Adrian leading Horseman (5.5).)

It was a fitting ending to a beautiful day in the Gunks. Although it was as crowded as I've ever seen it at the cliff, we never waited for anything and got on three different three-star routes and two two-stars. Not too shabby.

More importantly, from my perspective, I felt like I was back to my normal strength. The day gave me hope that in the coming weeks I could return to trying some new, harder objectives.