that's a good starter list. well done.

next time head further in, and buy the near trapps book, too. so many classics further down. the uberfall area is a nightmare when it's busy.

still, well done. when's the next trip?

We didn't hit much crowding -- occasionally 2nd choice of climb, then come back to something we wanted, but that was about it. Probably still early enough in the season to avoid the overcrowding.

We'll definitely head farther in another time. I don't know when that might be, though. The Gunks is a longish haul from Ottawa, and there are other choices that I want to hit, too. I'm thinking maybe Canadian Thanksgiving (latish October), or Easter next year might be possible return dates.

But there's the 'Dacks, Rumney, lots in New Hampshire, etc, to distract me. Not to mention the New, the Red, and more...

After following that, I took a shot at Boston (5.5) on Trevor's rack (rather than my own -- Phil had my rack with the other two climbers), but after finding that I was lacking either the larger or smaller pieces I wanted for protecting the climb, I down-climbed, removing the two pieces I had placed.

all worthy destinations, except I'd make Rumney a part of NH as a whole. It's not worth a long weekend in of itself.

I know Rumney is in New Hampshire -- but I mostly think of New Hampshire as granite trad, with Rumney being the sport-bolted schist exception, which is why I kind of think of it as a separate destination. And, I think many might disagree as to whether it is worth a long weekend itself. As a trad destination -- no, but as a sport destination, I'd definitely say there's at least a long weekend's worth of climbing there.

DA - Thanks for sharing. Seems like the group had a pretty good time.


Good job. Very smart.

Bill

Geez! I don't want DA to be the only one posting up. Good job on the self administered acupuncture! I'm going to have to try it on some of my swollen knuckles.

Drove up to Cathedral Friday night. Beers and burgers at the bar at the Moat. Guy sitting next to us was Craig Taylor an IMCS guide. Super nice guy, Mass native and Crow Hill climber. Small world. Up early next morning to the Bagels Plus for breakfast. Turns out a Connecticut rock climbing couple, Frank and Carol-Ann Dahlmeyer, had just purchased the shop and relocated permanently to North Conway. Frank's brother Joe is a climber acquaintance of mine. They are climbers so let's make sure they get our business. Gee, it is a small world.

Off to the North End. It was an incredibly beautiful day without a cloud in the sky with T-shirt temperatures and absolutely not bugs. The rock was as dry as I have ever seen it in the spring. No drippage, no moss. Conditions on the climbs were more like October after a dry summer and a lot of traffic. Unlike you DA we have had a dry and warm conditions for more than two weeks. Tom and I both led They Died Laughing (5.9) and both felt good on the lead. Tom felt good enough that he roped up for The Slot (5.10b). It is a tough finger crack. Tom did great on it for early season, getting all the moves but taking a couple of hangs. He is psyched to send it on the next trip. He set up a TR above the business and I gave it a go with a fall at the crux. Tom then went up and finished it with me following. On the rap we ran into a Crow Hill climber doing TR solo laps on Bird's Nest and Recluse. That small world thing again.

We had planned on Diedre but two parties were on it and not progressing very quickly. We were pretty worked from The Slot and Tom wanted to do something long and easy so we headed over to the Fun House area. While at the car grabbing a sandwich Steve Arsenault comes by and we had a nice chat. There's that small world thing again.

Tom decides he want to do Pooh. I'm not sure it fits the "easy" criterion but what the heck. I suggest doing a Pooh-Rollin' & Tumblin'-Orc link up The first pitch of Pooh is rated 5.7+ or something like that but looking up I'm not seeing anything 5.7 about it. While we are roping up Steve walks by below and shouts up "That's the biggest sandbag on the cliff!. It's at least a 5.9!" Thus reassured Tom heads up and does a great job with a real awkward and tricky crux. While I'm belaying Tom someone scrambles up to retrieve a pack they left on the belay ledge. Yes, you guessed it, another small world incident. It was Ben a Western Mass climber who frequently climbs at Crow Hill.

I get up to the belay ledge and Tom points and says here's your lead. It is the 2nd pitch of Rollin' & Tumblin'. It is rated at 5.8+. I followed it once several years ago and had forgotten how hard it is. It is 5.8+ except for the first 10 feet to get up to get a decent jam in the overhanging hand crack above. To get there you have to negotiate thin fingers/steep face straight up or tricky bouldery approach from slightly to the left. Either way was as hard as anything we did on The Slot. After mucking about trying both ways with a spot from Tom I decided it wasn't worth ankle sprain or worse if I blew it and smacked the ledge before I could get gear in above. Aided up to the hand crack and got it done. I bring Tom up and he has had enough. He didn't even look at the Orc's 3rd pitch. Grabbed the rope and headed left and up the 2nd pitch of Pooh. Too bad. Despite looking a bit dirty and loose it is actually a pretty good pitch and legitimately 5.8.

So we were done for the day. Back to the Moat, food and beer and then home. A great day at Cathedral.

Lots of good routes you can climb in the rain at Rumney. Head to the overhanging stuff. If you have a stick clip, you can always bail by using the clip to unclip the next-highest draw.

I don't climb strong enough to climb most of the overhanging (therefor dry) stuff at Rumney.

I'll have to figure out how to unclip a draw with a stick clip -- I've never tried that. I'll bet it is a bit tricky, though, without practice. And, yes, I did have a stick-clip with me. I consider Mr. Stick-Clip to be my good, good friend. :)

I can't remember how to do it either, but I was with someone once who could do it. I think he had a cord of some sort that he could use to pull the clip open with.

Sunday was better; partly sunny and a slight breeze. The rock was much dryer, but, still very wet in places. We stuck to the moderates and enjoyed our day. My honey (Mitchal) tried climbing for the first time in almost 2 years. His wrist was pretty good; no pain just minor twinges. He did three pitches and called it a day. No sense in pushing until he builds back his strength.

This weekend looks like it's going to be spectacular.

I don't think I would like suspect rock either.

It rained for three days straight at the Gunks. Saturday was gray. We hit the cliff at 3PM and the rock (at least P1) was soaking.