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losbill
Jul 4, 2011, 12:22 PM
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Jake very envious, what a great weekend! Josh you certainly had a "star-studded" two days!
Tarheel --- Sounds like the perfect aid outing, getting some excitement, other than the occasional terrifying moment when things creak, flex and shift when you weight them, to relieve the drudgery. I have to stop being so lazy and start getting the aiders out on the "less than perfect" weather days.
Bouldered at Crow Hill on Saturday working on crimps and overhangs rather than the usual jamming and open hand stuff. Full time job, yeah I know, we all make choices in life!; really impacting conditioning. Definitely need to get my butt out of work for at least one weekday climbing/bouldering session.
Got rained on yesterday morning at the CTCNBN for about an hour. Hung in under the overhanging stuff bouldering at bit. The rain cleared out and we got rewarded by getting a full day in, albeit in pretty much 100% humidity.
Weather forecast permitting, Gunks next weekend.
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dagibbs
Jul 18, 2011, 12:29 AM
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Yesterday a couple friends and I put up three new routes.
My parents have a cottage on a lake about 70km (45miles) north of Ottawa, and I've been going up to the cottage all my life. The back side of the lake is a pretty steep hill with a bunch of cliffs on it. I've hiked up it a lot of times, including doing some scrambling that I maybe should have been roped up for -- but I was a kid and didn't know better.
So, for the last few years now that I've been climbing, and in the last couple, leading on gear, I've been looking at that rock with different eyes. I've been thinking about lines and routes and stuff like that. So, I posted that picture where a couple of my climbing friends could see it, and of course, they bit. Hard. And we made plans for Saturday.
There's some lower rock, just visible through the trees, right near the center of the image. I figured to aim for the base of that, maybe do a pitch up that, some 4th to easy 5th class above it through the trees, then scale the upper face above. Or traverse left to the larger face to the left and scale a route or two up that.
So, we get up early, drive up to the cottage, and load our gear into a couple canoes to paddle accross the lake. It's about a 10-15 minute paddle accross at that point -- so really quite easy. Then, hike upwards towards the lower face.
We get to the lower face, and find it is actually quite a bit taller than we had expected. So much of the face is completely hidden by the trees -- the lower face ends up being about 25m (80') tall. We wander back and forth along the base, looking at various possible lines, looking for protection possibilities, and climbing that won't be too hard. Eventually I pick a line that wanders up a slightly vegetated section with some obvious placements to a small roof with an obvious crack in it, and aiming for one of a couple dihedrals farther up that look hopeful.
I climb, occasionally stopping to wire-brush moss and lichen off bits of climb, and make good progress. At one point, I've got the rope stuck in a crack causing massing rope drag, so I lower back down, clear a couple lower pieces and clear the path for the rope. (We had a 2nd rope, I probably should have been leading on both for just that reason.) Then head back up to my highest point, a slung juncture on a big tree growing up the cliff. And get stopped just above there. Back down, try another route, back down from that, try again the way I was. Eventually commit to climbing up the dihedral with not as much pro as I would like, come out, find another piece, then finish in the trees above the face. I setup an anchor on a couple solid looking trees and lower off.
We decide to climb this route, another one adjacent to it (first one probably around 5.6, 2nd maybe 5.7) and then a slab a little bit farther right along this wall. We setup a top-rope for the slab, both my friends flail on it, but I climb it clean. They figure it's at least a 5.10a -- maybe, though I figure as it gets more cleaned, a few more holds will probably appear and it will drop to about 5.9(+).
The rock is lovely old weathered granite, generally pretty solid -- though we did throw down a few decent chunks of rock. Some on purpose, a couple unexpectedly. (One fragment embedded itself in a tree. That's kind of scary if you think about it hitting flesh.) It is, of course, covered in moss and lichen -- but underneath is generally lovely texture, with some surprising pockets and features.
We ended the day with a swim in the lake. Not the bottom-to-top climb I had a thought, but a wonderful day on unclimbed before us rock.
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gblauer
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Jul 18, 2011, 2:22 AM
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Sounds like you found yourself a little rock climbing paradise. Are you going to name the climbs, document them and develop the area?
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Gmburns2000
Jul 18, 2011, 2:51 AM
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Spent the week in the 'Gunks with an old friend from Germany. We stayed on easy stuff and climbed only in the morning and evening due to the unbearable heat in the middle of the day. Hit some classics that I hadn't been on and managed to get a hike from Slime to the top of Skytop and back. That hike was pretty amazing. We hit skytop at sunset, got to walk back under a full moon, and the fire flies were so numerous that we felt as if we had each been hit over the head and were seeing stars.
thanks to Happie, too, for saving our dinner when our fuel ran out. two minutes into a 25-min dish and we were dry. she stepped in and saved it with her stove, so thanks!
swimming at split rock was also good. not much else to say except that it was a very enjoyable few days in the 'Gunks.
(oh except for the newbies at camp slime who showed up after quiet hours, talked loudly, actually took a freakin' SHOWER!!! with one of those platapus things (that's gotta be a first at that campsite), then got high (the coughing wasn't subtle), and then proceeded to have fairly unquiet sex. When they were done, my partner and I clapped...at about 130am, and no, I wasn't kind in the morning when I got up).
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dagibbs
Jul 18, 2011, 3:05 AM
Post #655 of 1159
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gblauer wrote: Sounds like you found yourself a little rock climbing paradise. Are you going to name the climbs, document them and develop the area?
Yes. I named the first and third, and one of my friends (first to climb it) named the 2nd.
Dave, Dave, Dave of the Jungle. (5.6?, 25m)
Randy Moss (5.7?, 25m)
Slab o' Doom (5.10a?, 25m)
Probably going to put a bolted anchor in for the slab section, since it doesn't have good trees at the top. Maybe 3 or 4 bolts on the section where it doesn't take gear.
Also, planning to tag a trail in to (at least) the lower cliff, possibly some of the others.
I'm probably going to document them on www.thecrag.com. (Sh! Should I be mentioning that on rc.com?)
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darkgift06
Jul 18, 2011, 5:24 PM
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Went to a late bbq dinner on Friday night & then hiked in to the bluff's around 11:30 under the full moon, there was a party on the Fortress climbing Plumbline & sagging bumline. We hiked past them to Blipvert Tower. we did 2 pitch's up easy 5.9-5.8 climbs, then rapped 30 meters into a cave & climbed the 5.9?? climb back out.. all in all it was a good evening. got home around 4:20 just in time for a night cap ;)
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sethg
Jul 18, 2011, 8:31 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: (oh except for the newbies at camp slime who showed up after quiet hours, talked loudly, actually took a freakin' SHOWER!!! with one of those platapus things (that's gotta be a first at that campsite), then got high (the coughing wasn't subtle), and then proceeded to have fairly unquiet sex. When they were done, my partner and I clapped...at about 130am, and no, I wasn't kind in the morning when I got up).
That sounds pretty awesome, toking up, having sex, getting a standing ovation...
Oh wait, you're saying that happened to someone else, not you, Greg?
Sorry you weren't invited to join in.
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onceahardman
Jul 18, 2011, 9:25 PM
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Looks like ( and probably is) Adirondack rock, aka Canadian shield anorthosite.
I'm jealous. That said, if I was you, I'd do the routes, but keep it private. There are lots of developed places, but precious few places with truly unclimbed rock so close to the road.
Congrats, in all sincerity. The big section off to the left looks sweet.
(This post was edited by onceahardman on Jul 18, 2011, 9:26 PM)
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dagibbs
Jul 18, 2011, 10:05 PM
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onceahardman wrote: Looks like ( and probably is) Adirondack rock, aka Canadian shield anorthosite. I'm jealous. That said, if I was you, I'd do the routes, but keep it private. There are lots of developed places, but precious few places with truly unclimbed rock so close to the road. Congrats, in all sincerity. The big section off to the left looks sweet.
It is Canadian shield, yes. But Canadian shield in Canada -- not in the Adirondacks.
The needing a boat for the approach will reduce the access.
And, yeah, the big section to the left does look really sweet. We hadn't really realized how nice it might be until we found how much of the little stuff was covered by trees.
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Gmburns2000
Jul 19, 2011, 12:57 PM
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sethg wrote: Gmburns2000 wrote: (oh except for the newbies at camp slime who showed up after quiet hours, talked loudly, actually took a freakin' SHOWER!!! with one of those platapus things (that's gotta be a first at that campsite), then got high (the coughing wasn't subtle), and then proceeded to have fairly unquiet sex. When they were done, my partner and I clapped...at about 130am, and no, I wasn't kind in the morning when I got up). That sounds pretty awesome, toking up, having sex, getting a standing ovation... Oh wait, you're saying that happened to someone else, not you, Greg? Sorry you weren't invited to join in.
Ha ha! No, I would not have wanted to join in. I've never smoked so I'm not interested in that, and the only joining in of the other stuff I'd be interested in was if he decided to take a long walk somewhere alone.
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Dip
Jul 21, 2011, 3:09 PM
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Gunks again this past Tuesday. Great day despite some fairly opressive heat. No one around, love the Gunks midweek. Led Son of Easy O, Followed Three Pines, led The Dangler, which i thought was pretty goddamn awesome, and led Strictly From Nowhere, which we were going to link into Shockley's ceiling but decided we'd rather go get beer.
I learned i need to get much better with my rope management/belay set up. I waste a lot of time in those two areas. The belay setup i'm okay with taking a little extra time to do, but the clusterfuck i always seem to create with the rope and the time that wastes drives me flippin crazy. I'm pretty sure it's an easy fix too, i just haven't really got around to researching and applying that fix yet. Never have been what you would call "organized."
Super fun day. Headin back again in three weeks for my last visit of the summer. Two days this time, which will be good because i have a few goals i need to finish up. Cannot wait.
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Gmburns2000
Jul 21, 2011, 3:18 PM
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Rope management just takes a bit of practice and thought. Once you get it figured out then you'll only have a clusterfuck 50% of the time. 
If you're looking to head back mid-week earlier than that and need a partner, then let me know. I'm free mid-week until the week of the 23rd.
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Dip
Jul 21, 2011, 3:30 PM
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As much as i'd love to take you up on that i think i'd need to find a new wife when i got home. When i told her i'm going back up for two days in August we'll just say she was less than enthused...
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Gmburns2000
Jul 21, 2011, 3:39 PM
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heh - been there done that and have sympathy
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rangerrob
Jul 21, 2011, 8:47 PM
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You guys are out of your f***ing minds climbing in the Gunks right now. Just the thought of it sets my stomach retching with hot sickly bile. oh I can't wait until late October when the crowds thin out, and the temps become bearable enough to think about climbing again. Until then....you can have the chiggers and the heat!
I've realized that my threshold for rock maxes out at about 60 when it is sunny out....and maybe 70 if it is cloudy. Prime conditions are 35 and sunny.
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Dip
Jul 21, 2011, 11:18 PM
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rangerrob wrote: You guys are out of your f***ing minds climbing in the Gunks right now. Just the thought of it sets my stomach retching with hot sickly bile. oh I can't wait until late October when the crowds thin out, and the temps become bearable enough to think about climbing again. Until then....you can have the chiggers and the heat! I've realized that my threshold for rock maxes out at about 60 when it is sunny out....and maybe 70 if it is cloudy. Prime conditions are 35 and sunny.
Oh i hear ya buddy, it's hot, damn near unbearable, but if i wanna climb at the gunks at all it's gotta be now. Spending a week in New Hampshire in October. That should be just about perfect.
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gblauer
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Jul 21, 2011, 11:35 PM
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rangerrob wrote: You guys are out of your f***ing minds climbing in the Gunks right now. Prime conditions are 35 and sunny.
Yes, we did enjoy your video of Erect Direction!
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Gmburns2000
Jul 21, 2011, 11:42 PM
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rangerrob wrote: You guys are out of your f***ing minds climbing in the Gunks right now. Just the thought of it sets my stomach retching with hot sickly bile. oh I can't wait until late October when the crowds thin out, and the temps become bearable enough to think about climbing again. Until then....you can have the chiggers and the heat! I've realized that my threshold for rock maxes out at about 60 when it is sunny out....and maybe 70 if it is cloudy. Prime conditions are 35 and sunny.
Climb morning and night, leave the afternoon for split rock.
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TarHeelEMT
Jul 22, 2011, 1:05 AM
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Just did S face of Washington Column. Aside from an epic case of "really gotta take a shit" over the last four pitches, it went quite well.
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rangerrob
Jul 22, 2011, 2:43 AM
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Gail you just sent a chill up my back when you reminded me of that! :) Thank you!
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dagibbs
Aug 2, 2011, 5:11 PM
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Last weekend K8, Jonathan, Celine and I decided to go climbing in the Adirondacks. There is a lot of beautiful climbing in the Keene Valley area. Our plans were to head out early Saturday morning, get down there around mid-day, set up camp at the Alpine Club of Canada camp site at Keene farm, then have a relaxing day afternoon of climbing Saturday. Sunday we would climb Gothic Arch, a 6-pitch, 800' 5.6 slab climb up the south face of The Gothics. Then Monday, we'd break camp, and climb something close to the road with an easy approach and drive home.
Saturday went just as planned -- up early, meet up and load up at Jonathan's and on the road by about 7:15am. Pleasant drive down, amusement at the border guarders (K8 has a "golden ticket" -- that is, a US passsport.) Find the camp site, setup, drive back to the pull out and hike in to the beer walls. We lost the trail and did a bit of bushwhacking -- but not a problem. We even ran into another crowd of Ottawa folks (Glauco, Bertrand, Craig and a 4th who I didn't previously know and whose name I have forgotten.) Then a pleasant dinner, a beer (for the other 3) and to bed.
Sunday was The Gothics. It is a 4800' peak, and the climb on the south face we were doing (Gothic Arch) was a 6-pitch 800' climb, no pitch harder than 5.6. The guide book listed the approach as "3.5 hours, difficult". Jonathan figured they'd given a conservative estimate -- and that it might only be 3 hours in; I was less optimistic and thought probably 4-4.5 hours. So we got up a little after 7am, made breakfast, packed lunch, chose gear, packed up, etc and were on the road by about 9:45am, found the parking and started hiking by about 10:30am. I figured 4.5 hours in, climbing by 3pm, 5-6 hours climbing the cliff, and we might be hiking out in the dark -- but along a trail with headlamps, not too bad. The hike in goes about 3.5 miles up (continually up, though not steeply, a gain of about 800') a road, then leaves the road and becomes a trail. The trail starts at Lower Ausable Lake (about 2000') and climbs up over Pyramid Peak (4500') and then down into a col. We bushwhacked down a ravine (about 200' vertical), including some 4th class bits (that we rappelled down), then found the base of our climb. That was about 4:30pm. So, it took us about 6 hours to do the 3.5 hour hike in.
At this point, up the cliff really is our way out -- we're in an interior valley, and civilization is back over the ridge and down. So, I start leading up the climb -- and it is gorgeous climbing. A bit run-out in places, but beautiful rock, interesting moves, and just good climbing. I'm about 4 pitches up, and have done about 650' of climbing and the sun has gone down at the start of the 4th pitch and it is starting to get noticeably dark by the end of the 4th pitch, and the other pair is about a pitch behind me. So, we start talking about how to bail. The last 2 pitches are shorter than the others -- only about 150' total, but they're a lot steeper. I consider climbing them, and leaving a top-rope for the others, but as soon as I actually take a look at them, I decide no way do I want to try and climb (and route find) up that section in the dark. So... we can traverse to the side of the cliff, where there are trees, and maybe scramble up that. I lead that traverse (maybe 80') in the fading then dark -- placing gear as much by feel as site. (Celine, my 2nd, forgot to pack her headlamp, and she wanted the headlamp for cleaning.) That was one of the most... interesting leads I have ever done! Once I'm across, K8 and Jonathan have caught up to Celine at the last belay -- though K8 took a lead fall on no gear on the way up; luckily on quite non-steep rock, and she managed to catch herself with a fist-jam under an overlap she was falling beside.
I bring Celine, then K8 across the traverse, them just unclipping, then reclipping the gear, so the next person can just follow easily. Jonathan comes last, cleaning the gear. In the middle of cleaning one of my pieces, he knocks his headlamp off. We watch it skitter down the face a 100' or so. He ends up leaving that piece behind, and finishes the traverse.
So, we're all sitting in some trees, on steep terrain, probably about 200' of bushwhacking through dense, steep, brush from the trail. It is about 10pm, full dark, and we have 2 headlamps for the 4 of us. We're dress for hiking and climbing on a sunny hot mid-summer day. I was wearing the most clothing, with a very light long-sleeved shirt and pants. (I like those for protection from the sun, scrapes on the rock, and from branches when bushwhacking.) Everyone else was in longish shorts and tank tops. We had no food by this point, little water, and no preparation for spending the night. But, the idea of bushwhacking up this very steep terrain, possibly with sections of open rock, with enough light was even worse. So, we decided to bivouac (bivy) for the night.
We found the largest open space we could, tied in to the trees and started huddling together. After a bit, and getting colder, especially as the wind blew, Jonathan figured that covering us with cut pine boughs would help. So, he cut a bunch of them, and threw them over us. This did help, but of course the terrain was steep enough that every time we shifted they would slide off us and often out of reach, so the layer slowly diminished over the night. And the ground was both steep and uneven, so there was no such thing as a comfortable position. We huddle closer and closer as the night wore on, shivering more when the wind blew, as it did more and more towards the end of the night. About the most reassuring thing was that every time we looked up, we could still clearly see stars in the night sky. (This meant it wouldn't cloud over and rain on us.)
It finally got light, so we started packing up -- coiling rope, collecting gear, etc. Then we had to get out. The only food we had left was a large chocolate bar, which we split before heading out. I led the way most of the way through the bushwhack, pushing through generally dense scrub, and accross a couple bits of slab, until we found the trail. We were almost at Gothics peak (our original goal) so all of us but Celine dumped our packs, and did finish the summit. Then we had to hike back out -- down into the col, up to Pyramid peak, then all the way back down again. We were exhausted, both from lack of sleep and lack of food. So, we moved slowly and carefully the whole way. Jonathan had a pumped water-filter with him, so we were able to replenish water a couple times along the way, else it would have been far worse. We finally made it back to the car around 1pm.
We grabbed some food in the car, slowly carefully only eating a bit at a time so as to not make ourselves sick, then went to a restaurant for a meal. Back to the camp site, a quick nap (about 45 minutes), then tear down, pack up, and head back to Canada. I was finally home by about 9pm and after a quick shower, fell into bed exhausted.
(This post was edited by dagibbs on Aug 2, 2011, 5:11 PM)
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Gmburns2000
Aug 2, 2011, 5:34 PM
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DAMN!
Glad you guys got out OK. That's a helluvan adventure for sure.
Don't worry about getting lost on the way to Beer Walls. I hear most people do the first time.
Still, hopefully this doesn't deter you from going back. It's great up there for sure (or down there for you).
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sethg
Aug 2, 2011, 6:05 PM
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Wow, that is quite a story!
Congrats on making what sound like good decisions as darkness fell.
It is an adventure you'll always remember though!
Can you tell us: was the routefinding easy on the climb? It sounds really worthwhile.
(This post was edited by sethg on Aug 2, 2011, 6:10 PM)
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dagibbs
Aug 2, 2011, 6:20 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: DAMN! Glad you guys got out OK. That's a helluvan adventure for sure. Don't worry about getting lost on the way to Beer Walls. I hear most people do the first time. Still, hopefully this doesn't deter you from going back. It's great up there for sure (or down there for you).
We'll be back to the 'Dacks, defnitely. We were talking about doing another long weekend there this year -- though not on the Gothics. We do want to get back to and complete the climb, too, but we were talking next year for that. And, next time, though, I think we'll figure on a day to hike in and do a PLANNED bivouac/camp somewhere nearby, then climb and hike out the following day.
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dagibbs
Aug 2, 2011, 6:26 PM
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sethg wrote: Can you tell us: was the routefinding easy on the climb? It sounds really worthwhile.
Mostly the route-finding is not too bad. Also, in a lot of places the exact line really isn't greatly important -- you can wander a fair bit, and the climbing is all pretty good. You just have to look for where there might be pro, and wander towards it.
Where I did find a bit of a problem is that at the end of the 3rd pitch, the description says to find a tree belay on the left side of a tree peninsula, and I had to go about 30' up the peninsula before I spotted a tree bigger than a shrub -- in other words, big enough I would belay on it. Then, the route continues up the right-side of the tree peninsula, with a "step right" as the start. So, the 4th pitch I did wasn't actually on the route - but things looked like they would go fine up the other side of the trees, too. Also, some of the pitches were really quite long -- labelled as 200' and 210'. Both groups were climbing on (nominally) 70m ropes, and I never ran out rope before finding an appropriate belay (about where they seemed to mean the belays) but the other group did a couple times. So, either they wandered more, or his 70m rope was shorter than my 70m rope -- hard to tell.
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