I'm procrastinating about writing a paper so I thought I'd post something that's been on my mind lately.
Where would you rather climb? Dacks or Gunks?
Whenever I mention I live in New York (Not NYC!) people always say "Oh, you must climb at the Gunks a lot!". Actually, no..not really. I feel the best climbing in New York is in the Adirondacks..hands down. In a nutshell, the climbing is much more diverse, the setting is beautiful and there's no crowds for the most part.
Let's ruffle some feathers here.. Top 10 Reasons NOT to climb at the Gunks!
1) You have to pay! I'm a student and poor.
2) It's crowded. Who the hell wants to wait in line to get on a climb? Is this an amusement park or a crag? The parking is horrible too.
3) It's climbed out. New route possibilities are limited to link ups and squeeze jobs.
4) The climbing is redundant. Exclusively 1-3 pitch trad on a single ridge with many roofs. Standard Gunks beta - grab pebbly horizontal, match, reach up to next pebbly horizontal. Step up. Repeat.
5) n00bs! "Wow, that guy on the G-rated route next to us just pulled 5 pieces and decked"
6) Camping sucks. "Camp Slime"..self explanatory
7) The bouldering sucks. The carriage road scene is pretty pathetic. Beware of beta wolves and cheater stones.
8) The traffic is horrible. Good luck driving around New Paltz on a weekend.
9) The cracks go the wrong way. Traverse, traverse, traverse.
10) You could contract hepatitis just from touching any hold on High Exposure.
I'd like to see a list of reasons NOT to climb in the Dacks.
I'm procrastinating about writing a paper so I thought I'd post something that's been on my mind lately.
Where would you rather climb? Dacks or Gunks?
Whenever I mention I live in New York (Not NYC!) people always say "Oh, you must climb at the Gunks a lot!". Actually, no..not really. I feel the best climbing in New York is in the Adirondacks..hands down. In a nutshell, the climbing is much more diverse, the setting is beautiful and there's no crowds for the most part.
Let's ruffle some feathers here.. Top 10 Reasons NOT to climb at the Gunks!
1) You have to pay! I'm a student and poor.
2) It's crowded. Who the hell wants to wait in line to get on a climb? Is this an amusement park or a crag? The parking is horrible too.
3) It's climbed out. New route possibilities are limited to link ups and squeeze jobs.
4) The climbing is redundant. Exclusively 1-3 pitch trad on a single ridge with many roofs. Standard Gunks beta - grab pebbly horizontal, match, reach up to next pebbly horizontal. Step up. Repeat.
5) n00bs! "Wow, that guy on the G-rated route next to us just pulled 5 pieces and decked"
6) Camping sucks. "Camp Slime"..self explanatory
7) The bouldering sucks. The carriage road scene is pretty pathetic. Beware of beta wolves and cheater stones.
8) The traffic is horrible. Good luck driving around New Paltz on a weekend.
9) The cracks go the wrong way. Traverse, traverse, traverse.
10) You could contract hepatitis just from touching any hold on High Exposure.
I'd like to see a list of reasons NOT to climb in the Dacks.
If not for the three additional hours of driving, the Daks any day of the week.
2) Not enough options at most crags. If there's a single car in the parking spot, then Murphy's Law says they're on the route you want.
3) Longer drive.
4) Longer approach.
5) No restaurants or bars to enjoy afterwards.
6) Loose holds, dirty rock.
7) BLACK FUKKIN FLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8) Holds aren't ticked mark (for the gymbies)
9) Need to carry big cams.
10) The climbing season is like, what, 6 weeks long?
For the record, none of those "excuses" except the black flies has ever kept me from enjoying the crags up there. I'll take a deserted 4 pitch friction slab on a holiday w/e over the zoo at the Trapps hands down.
Mike, Your lucky you added that bit at the end, I was going to ask where you climbed this past weekend. If I recall 1. the ropes were pretty clean afterwards 2.your car was the only car in the lot 3. not my fault you choose to live so far away 4. 15 min walk 5. could of if we wanted to 6. holds were solid, rock was STICKY and clean mostly 7. Not a black fly in sight 8. you preclimbed it on TR so you wouldn't need the tick marks 9. the biggest cam you carried was that #3 choinard --the rest were mostly aliens 10. The season is year-round.
It's really simple. Climb at the gunks during the week. Most of the issues that you're concerned about are non factors. Also, you can try getting out to millbrook, lost city, and peterskill (or even skytop if you're feeling like a rebel.)
The daks is great on the weekend when you have the time to drive an extra few hours upstate. If i lived upstate, i'd be there much more often.
the gunks deff do have quality routes, but if you dont climb the dacks and just the gunks then you are a weanie climber and need to grow some balls and man up for a realy aproach for a climb.
the gunks deff do have quality routes, but if you dont climb the dacks and just the gunks then you are a weanie climber and need to grow some balls and man up for a realy aproach for a climb.
funny never found the approachs to the daks hard. you should go into the Pickets sometime.
The DAKS are horrible, never climb there, stay at the Gunks where the routes are really good and easy to get to.
I agree, the Daks are horrible. All of you hordes of people should stay in the pretty gunks where there are bars nearby, ample parking, plenty of attractive girls, and an upbeat carnival like atmosphere.
I repeat, don't waste your time by going to the Daks. 10 mile approaches to climb 30 feet of choss??? There are hundreds of beautiful and adventureous 2 pitch climbs in the Gunks. Between the stairmaster and the talus and scree between the Carriage Road and the Undercliff Trail, there is more adventure in the approach there than you'd ever need right in good ole New Paltz, 1 hour and 20 minutes from NYC!
The Daks suck! Stay out of there (especially the Eastern High Peaks Region, that place really sucks!! Don't waste your time!!)
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