Mountain Skills Climbing Guides and Gunks Rock Climbing Instruction
Gunks Rock Climbing – 845-853-5450 – www.mountainskills.biz – Guiding the Gunks and BeyondArchive for May, 2009
Mountain Skills Climbing Guides Adopt A Highway clean up in Minnewaska and the Peterskill
Ralph picking up garbage for the Adopt A Highway program along 44/55
Stacking up the bags along 44/55
On Wednesday Ralph and I cleaned up a substantial part of 44/55 going though Minnewaska State Park Preserve and the Peterskill rock climbing area. We picked up about 7 bags of trash from along 44/55 as well as a large bag of returnables. Thursday Mark Folsom and I went back out to clean up some more of 44/55. This time we clean up another four bags of garbage. Mountain Skills Climbing Guides has two Adopt A Highway sections in our area. Our other area is 214 in the Catskills close to the ice climbing area Deep Notch. I am leaving for Mt. Rainier to climb the Liberty Ridge this week. I should have a nice report with a ton of photos around June 8th or so.
Gunks Memorial Day Rock Climbing Weekend
Buildins g three point anchors on the top of the Peterskill
Belaying the second from a re-directed belay at the Peterskill
Mountain Skills Climbing Guides had a great time on Memorial Day weekend guiding rock climbing trips all over the Gunks. The weather held off all weekend leading me to believe once again that the weatherman is just about always wrong. The weekend started on Friday with Brendan climbing with client Blaise on the Arrow Wall at the Trapps all day and Doug doing a half day at the Peterskill going over Top Rope Anchors and route selection for children just learning to climb. Saturday we had people climbing at the Trapps and Peterskill for full and half days. Sunday I did another half day Top Rope Anchor Building Course at the Peterskill. For some reason the black flies were really bad on Sunday. I had on long pants and they still seemed to bite me. Monday I headed out to Bonticou with Azel and Adam for a change scenery. We climbed the Pin Line 5.5 2 pitches and than headed over to the top rope routes on the north end of the crag. With the clear skies the view of the Catskill’s was amazing to see. I am headed to Mt. Rainier to climb the Liberty Ridge next week with guide John Mackey and friend Bob G. It should be a pretty amazing experience.
Guided Rock Climbing at the Trapps and Near Trapps
Tim following No Picnic 5.5 at the Trapps
Tim and Bill and Maryann of the Boston AMC Chapter hanging out on Yab Yum belay ledge 5.3
I took Tim from Mass. climbing Friday and Saturday to the Trapps and Near Trapps. Friday we hit up the Trapps. I started by leading No Picnic 5.5 in the Uberfall area to get a feel for Tim’s climbing ability and knowledge. After a quick climb up and rappel down we headed down the Undercliff road to climb Middle Earth 5.5. The last pitch was still a little wet so we climbed the first two pitches and rapped back to our packs. I thought the Arrow Wall would be fun and dry but everyone else at the Trapps had the same idea I guess. We headed over to Silhouette 5.7+R to try our hand at some steep face and crack climbing. This is a run out pitch at the bottom which can be kind of interesting at times. It is a long 160 ft. pitch with a ton of different climbing styles on it. We climbed The Last Will Be First 5.6 to wrap the day up. This pitch is pretty long as well to the GT Ledge. Bolt anchors at the top bring you back to the ground in two rappels. Saturday we got a early start at 8:00am meeting at the West Trapps parking lot. The Boston AMC Chapter was climbing at the Gunks this weekend so the parking lot was pretty festive in the morning. Tim and I decided to climb at the Near Trapps starting with The Layback 5.5. I love the last pitch of this climb with it’s airy step out into nowhere. It started to sprinkle a little so staying close to the ground to check the weather was the next move. We climbed Grease Gun Groove 5.6 and waited to see what the weather would do. Tim crushed Grease Gun with no hangs on the rope or help from the belayer. With the weather looking like it would be alright we took a stab at Yab Yum 5.3. I linked the first two pitches together to make a nice long pitch to the ledge with the pine tree belay. We caught up to 3 people from the Boston AMC Chapter and climbed behind them for the last two pitches. I had actually meet Akiko who was leading Bill and Maryann a couple of nights before while taking the AMGA Climbing Wall Instructor Providers Course in Boston. We all had a good time talking with each other while finishing the exciting and exposed last pitch. A easy walk down the Millbrook Ridge Trail brought us back to our packs and eventually back to our cars for the day.
AMGA Climbing Wall Instructors Course at Boston Rock Gym
Jim doing the rescue scenario
Sara passing the lead climbing portion of the AMGA CWI Course
Chuck Boyd and I recently went back to the Boston Rock Gym to co-teach the AMGA Climbing Wall Instructors Course with AMGA instructor Joe Lentini. Chuck and I needed to help co-teach the course to fulfill our obligations for being able to teach the course on our own. We had both previously taken the AMGA Providers Course back in December last year with Joe. The course is two and one half days in length, a minimum of 20 hours of instruction, skills demonstration, and evaluation. The course addresses the basic technical skills necessary to manage an instructional program at a climbing facility, and will address the following general topic areas: Client orientation and instruction, teaching general climbing skills including movement, teaching top-rope and lead belaying techniques, equipment and facility use and rescue and emergency procedures. Jim and Sara who both work at the Boston Rock Gym took the course from us. They both did a great job during the course and Chuck and I would like to congratulatethem for passing the course. Joe Lentini is a fantastic instructor and a pleasure to work with. If you are ever in the Boston or New Hampshire area and need a guide I would certainly give him a call. At the same time the Boston Rock Gym is absolutely a amazing gym with a great staff to learn from.
Guided Rock Climbing Weekend at the Gunks 05-10-09
Bonticou talus field
Christie climbing Dennis 5.5 at the Trapps
Saturday we managed to beat the rain and wet rock by heading up to Bonticou Crag. It had rained pretty hard from 3:00am to 6:00am. The fog had rolled in and it certainly didn’t seem like we would be climbing at the Gunks. The decision was made to take our group to climb at Bonticou Crag. The great thing about Bonticou is it has no tree canopy to keep the moisture in. The cliff dries off very fast even with 100% humidity. At the same time it’s not the best place to climb at in 90 degree days. Before we knew it the fog started to lift and we had partly sunny skies. Therock was dry as a bone and everyone was really enjoying themselves. Sunday rolled around and we had small climbing parties going to the Trapps and the Peterskill. I climbed with my wifeChristie for Mother’s Day at the Trapps. Christie has a job with the NY/NJ Trail Conference which takes up a lot of her time so climbing isn’t really in the plan much these days. She climbed Dennis 5.5, The Blackout 5.9, and Raubenheimer Special 5.7 with no problems at all.
