2009 November « Mountain Skills Climbing Guides and Gunks Rock Climbing Instruction

Mountain Skills Climbing Guides and Gunks Rock Climbing Instruction

Gunks Rock Climbing – 845-853-5450 – www.mountainskills.biz – Guiding the Gunks and Beyond

Archive for November, 2009

It’s November 29th and we are still climbing rock in the Gunks

November 30, 2009 at 10:01 pm · Filed under Rock Climbing and tagged: gunks climbing instruction, Minty 5.3, The Trapps

Lillian and I climbed at the Trapps on Sunday November 29th. It was amazing out with temps close to 50. We started out climbing Minty 5.3 in 3 pitches to the top. 3 Raps brought back to our packs. Rapping off this area is a little more complicated since the tree on top of pitch 2 has died.

Once we got back to our bags we headed down to the Guides Wall and climbed Finger Locks 5.5 with the last pitch of Hyjeck’s Horror 5.4. That last pitch is great face climbing with a thin crux move at a small overlap. 2 Raps back to our bags basically got us to the end of the day. Pretty amazing for the end of November.

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Case Route on Wallface in the Adirondacks

November 30, 2009 at 4:49 pm · Filed under Rock Climbing and tagged: Case Route Wallface

John Mackey and I have been planning on doing the Case Route on Wallface in the Adirondacks in the winter. We decided to do a alpine same day in and out mission. I have climbed a handful of routes on Wallface before so I know what to expect back in that area. The forecast from Weather Channel and also NOAA was for 20% chance of rain, partly cloudy skies and 50 degress. Sounds like good conditions for climbing in the Adirondacks on November 24th.

We arrived at the parking lot late the night before. Got up at 4:00am for a 5:ooam start. It was misting and kind of raining the entire way in. The trail was trashed and totally under water. Both of our shoes were soaked. The same approach shoes we were going to climb in. Thank God for that second pair of socks we both brought.

Once we got to Summit Rock we took a small break. The ceiling was very low and you could not see 50 feet in front of you. Everything was wet. We made our way to the base of the climb and racked up for a small adventure. We managed to climb 4 pitches before we bailed. At that point you could not see more than 20 feet or so. We made our way back to our packs for some more food and a long walk back.

Slightly crushed with our bad luck with the weather we still had a good time. The next time in will be in the winter. I’m sure things will go better for us.

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Rock Climbing Red Rocks, Las Vegas Fall 09

November 17, 2009 at 12:32 pm · Filed under Rock Climbing

: Mike starting pitch 3 of Frogshead 5.8

The rock guiding season is winding down in the Gunks and vacations start coming to mind. Red Rocks is one of our favorite spots for late fall rock climbing. Mark Folsom, Mike Farnsworth and I decided to head out west for some long moderate climbing. Frogshead 5.8 III was our first climb of this trip. Frogshead is a total blast with each pitch being totally different from they other. One of the best things about it was the walk off. No stuck ropes on this gem. The view of the Black Velvet Wall is amazing from the top of Frogshead. The next day we decided to climb Crimson Chrysalis 5.8 III. We got to the gate around 6am to find a couple of cars in front of us. Both groups were going for the same climb so we opted for Birdland 5.7+ II. Birdland was pretty fun with the crux being on the third pitch. Pitch 4 and 5 has really cool face climbing with a beautiful crack to finish pitch 5. We rapped the route before any groups caught up to us. Early starts really help with not having a ton of people stacked on a small belay perch.

The next day we decided to climb Crimson Chrysalis 5.8 III. We got to the gate around 6am to find a couple of cars in front of us. Both groups were going for the same climb so we opted for Birdland 5.7+ II. Birdland was pretty fun with the crux being on the third pitch. Pitch 4 and 5 has really cool face climbing with a beautiful crack to finish pitch 5. We rapped the route before any groups caught up to us. Early starts really help with not having a ton of people stacked on a small belay perch.

We decided since we got bumped on Crimson Chrysalis that day we would give it a try the next day. We got to the gate first this time. Cars started to line up behind us. We thought for sure we would have company on the route. The three of us basically ran up to the base of the climb and racked up for a full day. We ended up being the only team on the route all day. Amazing!

Crimson Chrysalis is 9 pitches and 1000 ft. dead vertical. The anchors are all bolted with poor stances at each belay. Not super comfy for a team of three. Pitches 2 and 3 can be combined as well as pitches 8 and 9. The climbing is steep and exposed with good holds showing up when ever needed. Just like the Gunks only on a larger scale. We finished the route in 6 hours. We rapper the route making sure not to get any ropes stuck. What a fantastic day. We had the route to ourselves with not another sole around.