Scratching the Surface on New Year's Day

I've mentioned my local crag quite a bit.  A quick refresher is that it's 20 minutes from my house, has a ten minute approach, and is made up to an upper and lower cliff.  The upper cliff is where I do the majority of my climbing.  The upper cliff is roughly 30 feet tall with at least a dozen routes, most harder than 5.9.  The climbing is physical and pumpy.  The face is overhanging and the holds are mostly rounded without a lot of sharp positive features or incuts.  The lower cliff is crumbly, dirty, wet, and mossy.  It's a little taller and a lot longer than the upper cliff.  But unless it's bone dry and in the dead cold of the year, the rock is just way too gnarly to climb.  Even with a good cleaning, it would still be challenging since it always seems to be wet or seeping water.  And besides a handful of splitter cracks that are clogged with debris, most of the rock is featureless.  While there are established routes, none of my partners or any of the very, very few people I've encountered climbing there (access is sensitive, and we mostly climb there when the leaves are thick enough to hide us from view) have expressed any real interest in cleaning up the lower cliff.  However, I've been saying all along that the lower cliff has potential for ice.  Last year, I got to climb Plush, WI3, and did notice several thin lines forming inside of the many splitter cracks throughout the cliff.  This year, I decided I would make an effort to explore other routes, with or without ice, but regardless I'd be wearing crampons and using axes as this cliff is suited to mixed climbing.  The cliff is undoubtedly virgin to mixed climbing and is hardly ever "rock" climbed.  There's not a mark on the rock, be it gouges or chalk.  I felt comfortable that I was one of, if not the first to climb the large flow of Plush last year.  And I'm pretty sure this year I was the first to put tools and crampons into two other mixed routes.

New Years Eve I took a ride up to check conditions and saw that Plush was just a handful of dagger icicles, but a few of the splitter lines (I want to say there's 5 or 6) had ice forming in and around them.  I asked Andrew if he'd be willing to join me early New Year's Day for a few hours and he was game.  The next morning, he showed up looking a little weary and tired from the night's celebratory activities.  He said he probably wouldn't climb much, as he's also brand new to dry-tooling and mixed climbing, but he'd be ok with belaying for an hour or two.

The first line I tried felt like 5.7 climbing, so it was probably an M2 or M3 in "mixed" ratings.  I followed a vertical crack with a 2-3 inch thick smear of ice which ran up until a horizontal crack about 5 feet from the top.  The ice was thin and there was just barely enough purchase for my tools and crampons.  To the left of the crack was a thicker flow of ice, a little over 10 feet tall.  This variation was a lot steeper than the original line, but worth climbing since the ice was good.

View of the route. Notice the ice to the left of the rope for the variation. After the horizontal crack, it's all dry rock.

Taking a quick rest before topping out.

About 30 feet to the right of this line was another splitter.  This crack was a lot wider and the wall was slightly overhanging.  As you can see in the picture below, there's a lot less ice on this route.  Not shown, at the bottom, there was a staircase of thick ice that made for a fun scramble.  But what you see here is the business of the climb.  There were very few options for tool or crampon sticks in the ice, so it was purely dry-tooling as well as turf-shots into the partially frozen moss and mud within the crack.  The climbing on this route felt more like 5.9-5.10, so it might have been an M5.  I had to get very creative on this one, using back-steps and drop-knees to get any sort of footing outside of the crack on very smooth rock with limited features.  Unfortunately, after a few tries I wasn't able to top out.  I did manage to figure out how to execute the crux (back-step and drop knee) but my forearms were in dire need of a rest and I had to lower off the route.  Not wanting to keep Andrew out, I decided to wrap it up and save the finish for next time.     

Almost...



Christmas Gift

Ice Season started early this year.  Around mid-December, a deep chill came over the North East and lines as far south as the Catskills Mountains were thick with ice.  Not quite an anomaly for ice to show up in December, but definitely no longer the norm.  And while climbers were hacking into the ice I was a few thousand miles south in Jamaica enjoying 85 degree sunshine, jerk, and Appleton Rum while attending a family wedding.  Upon returning, I turned on my cellphone as the airplane was taxiing and it came to life with the week's prior texts from Andrew, asking if I had been available to climb.  But within a day of returning, record-breaking temperatures as warm as 70 degrees destroyed the ice and set us all back to zero.

Christmas Eve I went to bed excited to watch my wife and son open their gifts in the morning while a light dusting of snow fell and temperatures dropped significantly.  On Christmas Day, I opened up a gift that any ice climber would be envious of, Petzl Nomic ice axes!  Eager to put the axes to use as well as climb ice again, I reached out to Alpine Endeavors to see if there was any ice to climb in the Catskills.  I was told no, but about an hour later decided I wanted to get myself a guide anyway.  Besides ice, the Catskills are exploding with mixed and dry-tool lines and I thought I'd finally get myself acquainted with scraping crampons, turf shots, and hooking.

I was contacted by Alan Kline, who had guided my wife and I last year.  We spoke about mixed climbing and dry-tooling and he was familiar with some lines I could try.  A while later I heard back from him, via text message.  "Was out today, lots of hard ice and good stuff at Stony! Get psyched!" 

Alan and I went to Stony Clove's West Side, one of my favorite places to ice climb.  This area is usually a safe bet for ice and a few hours into the morning we could hear and see other climbers.  The first route I got on was The Entertainer, WI3.  After ten feet of overgripping my tools I stopped at a rest and shook my hands out and stopped to think about ice climbing technique over rock climbing technique in order to reset my body's rhythm.  After that, I had no problems and cruised with ease up to the top.

Warming Up on The Entertainer, WI3



The next route was a dry-tooling/mixed line that Alan put up himself called The Workshop, M3.  The route follows a chimney crack with several laptop sized ledges jutting out of the outside corner.  It took Alan just over forty-five minutes to lead the route, and he felt conditions that day made it more like M3 difficult.  The route is a lot of 1-2-3, then rest.  A short series of hard moves followed by a decent stance to shake out your arms and place pro.  Towards the top, there's a smearing stem (legs opened, pushing out against the wall) underneath a huge roof.  This was the only area I found to be difficult but it was not climbing as much as because of my height and I was not able to reach and clean the cams from the roof.  I consider cleaning gear while seconding a very important responsibility, and I do my best to leave no man behind.  But unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried and stretched I could not reach these pieces and Alan had to retrieve them on rappel.  Otherwise, the climbing itself was a great success.  As hard as it was (and it was definitely the hardest thing I ever climbed) I did not fall and took no hanging rests save for my time spent under the roof. 

Bottom Half of The Workshop, M3-M5.



The final route of the day was the Little Black Dike, WI4.  On New Hampshire's Cannon Cliff is the Black Dike, a North East mega classic.  The Catskill's LBD is very similar in appearance to BD, but nowhere near as long (BD I believe is 4 pitches, and has a long grueling approach as well as descent).  But the LBD is without a doubt a Catskill's classic and I had been wanting this route for some time.  The route's difficulty that day was definitely WI4, maybe even WI4+.  Some sections had been bashed pretty good and had a snow-cone like quality and the sustained vertical crux was dripping heavily.  It was work!  Not so much physically strenuous as much as the sustained climbing was tiring.  But I was able to send with no falls or hanging rests.  This might be the best, and certainly the hardest, ice route I've ever climbed.

Sinking my Nomics into LBD.

In the thick, LBD.



I definitely feel strong on ice, I'd even go as far to say confident.  Most of the routes that day were around 75 feet, give or take, and the height had almost no effect on me.  I guess I'm more in my element doing this cold, icy, mixed, alpine sort of climbs than I am rock cragging?  Whatever the case, I'm happy and motived for this ice season as well as mixed and dry-tooling and am looking forward to staying busy and cold!    

Shoulder Season

This past Veteran’s Day John and I went to Mt. Minsi at the Delaware Water Gap to climb the Teardrop Buttress, 5.3 G.  John has made a few trips to Mt. Minsi this year without me, leading Surprise, 5.4 PG and following on Osprey, 5.6 PG-13.  He’s yet to climb Teardrop Buttress, but has heard me talk about it as well as its neighboring route, Tears Are Falling, 5.5 PG-13.   I lead a short section of Teardrop Buttress, just below the crux bulge, and John lead the rest of the climb. 
 
This was the second time I climbed this route this year, third time overall.  All three times I’ve lead the bottom section, which isn’t long enough to be considered a pitch of climbing.  My goal has been feel confident enough to lead the entire route, since it is right next to a gulley that forms the Minsi Curtain (ice).  Unfortunately, I’m not quite brave enough to get on the sharp end for the entirety of the route just yet.  I’ve been able to climb the route cleanly, including the crux.  But I’m still not mentally ready to commit to be the leader on the entire route.      

 

Semi-Hanging Belay on Teadrop Buttress

Rappel from Teardrop Buttress, looking up Tears Are Falling



 

After finishing up on Teardrop Buttress, John and I walked back to the Practice Wall which is just above the descent trail.  We had about an hour to kill so we top-roped a slabby section of the wall exactly below where I encountered a copperhead and later, a bear with mywife.  This time, the snakes and bears kept away.

Temperatures were pretty mild that day while today it’s in the high 30’s with a bitter wind chill.  Fall is quickly turning into winter and soon it will be too cold to rock climb outside but not yet cold enough to climb ice.  The Shoulder Season of climbing, when the gyms are packed and the ice tools are sharpened.  I’m hopeful that I’ll get one or two climbs in before the end of the season since it’s likely I won’t set foot in a gym…it’s just not my thing. 

Third Wheel

This past Thursday, I joined my friend John and his wife Katie for a day of climbing at The Gunks in upstate New York.  John and I haven’t had the chance to climb together in quite some time, and it’s been a while since I’ve climbed with his wife as well.  It was nice to finally catch up with these two and we couldn’t have picked a better day to go.  The air temperature was a bit chilly when we arrived, especially in the shade.  But in the bright sun we were very comfortable and the sky was a gorgeous shade of blue and the air felt crisp and cool.  Absolutely perfect fall climbing weather. 

 



 

The first route we climbed was Three Pines, 5.3.  John lead pitches one and two.  I decided before we roped up that I would only climb one pitch, since sometimes I need a few burns on the rope in order to get myself warmed up for heights.  I was second to John, cleaning gear he placed, and was able to pull a stuck cam someone left behind (aka “booty”) which I gave to John.  After I climbed, John lowered me off and I passed his gear along to Katie and sat on a boulder watching other climbers and was just basking in the beauty of nature when a dog came over to join me.  It was a beautiful pitbull with an incredibly mellow and sweet demeanor who just wanted to sit beside me and be scratched.  We saw this dog on the under cliff trail with his owner before climbing, and he had assured us the dog was friendly and non-aggressive.  It’s very unfortunate that this breed of dog has a bad reputation, and even more unfortunate that they are often victims of bad owners.  I have two dogs myself and know just how loyal, obedient, and loving these creatures truly are.

 

Looking up P1 of Three Pines, which ends at the large tree.

Coming over to make friends.

 

The next route we climbed was Pitch 1 of Northern Pillar, 5.4, to access a ledge above a 50 foot rock face with several fun top-rope climbs.  John and I climbed Pitches 1 and 2 of Northern Pillar earlier this year and I had been interested in trying out the climbs beneath the ledge.  I followed John up and we set up a top-rope on Finger Locks or Cedar Box, 5.5.  This route follows a fist-sized crack to a small tree and then the crack continues to the top.  I teased Katie as she climbed “TREE IS OFF!” and then had to live-up to my smack talk and try to avoid this tree that sits right smack in the middle of the route.  A few feet over is a route called Hyjecks Horror, 5.8.  We decided to climb this next on top-rope, as it could be set up from the ledge above.  The line (and my interpretation of the guidebook) was off by a few feet and we were actually on a route called Twin Oaks, 5.3.  Despite its grading, it was actually challenging enough with its thin face holds.

 

Finger Locks or Cedar Box, 5.5

Katie, being silly.

 

We decided to end our day here, since we were out of options that didn’t include at least two pitches of John lead climbing, with two partners following, that would take at the very least an hour if not more.  John and I talked about going to Mocanaqua together in the coming weeks.  I’ve already reached out to Kyle about this, so I’m hoping that will be the next climbing trip.
 

Finger Locks or Cedar Box (crack under and above tree to left), Hyjecks Horror (a few feet to right, under small roof), Twin Oaks (face to the far right just before the broken rock at the bottom).

 

Furloughed

Tuesday, October 1^st due to a “lapse in appropriations”, the Government temporarily shut down and I was without a job.  The previously mentioned phrase in quotations was penned by someone a few pay grades above me, and I had been directed to insert that into my email’s out-of-office reply.  I think that a lapse in appropriations hardly describes the fuck up that the shutdown truly was.  I’m not one to discuss or even preach politics, so I’ll leave that to someone more enthusiastic.  But what I am up for is climbing!  And although I couldn’t climb every day of the shutdown, I managed to get in a couple days among other activities like CrossFit, Hiking, Shooting, Cooking, Cleaning, Pumpkin Picking, Wine Tasting, Movie Going, along with straight up chilling and relaxing.  For me, despite financial and employment related stresses, it was like being on summer vacation.  Two weeks of freedom from work and believe me, I took full advantage of the time I was given.

My first day of climbing was at Allamuchy with Andrew and his friend Jake, who happens to be an AMGA Single Pitch Instructor.  Allamuchy is one of the most popular climbing areas in New Jersey, especially for climbing guides who bring first timers to the Practice Wall.  Several years ago, my wife and I went here for our first climbing experience and the rest is history.  We spent a rather warm day climbing the slabby Main Wall, which was unfortunately (or should I say, seasonally) under attack by black wasps.  Despite the buzzing insects threating us, nobody was stung and we had a pretty intense day inching up the rock on its difficult thin holds.  Allamuchy is notorious for burning out calf muscles as climbers dig their toes into the rock on dime-sized smears while finger tips attempt to pull on little bumps and thin edges.  I was very impressed with Jake who made short work of the classic Hourglass, 5.8 and attempted to find purchase on the nearly blank face of A Year in the Life, 5.10. 

 

Jake, looking for somewhere to start on A Year in the Life, 5.10

 

My next day out I decided to meet up with a new climbing partner and visit Mocanaqua, PA.  Mocanaqua is a two and half hour drive, but the area has several climbing walls and pretty impressive bouldering area so I thought it would be worth the ride.  My partner, Kyle, and I had tried for this trip several months back but it ended up raining on our scheduled day so this meet up was long overdue.  I was very impressed with Mocanaqua’s Main Wall, where we spent the day climbing.  The rock is similar to the Gunks, in terms of its quality and has excellent climbing features although some of rock is unfortunately polished and slippery due to overuse.  This is more common on popular routes, especially close to the ground.  Kyle and I set up a random top-rope over an interesting section of rock (no clue as to the route, or grade of climb) climbing a bulging face with sharp crimps and an overhanging inside corner.  Eventually we sought out the wall’s most popular climb, Pizza Crack, 5.6.  Pizza Crack is a fantastic route but it’s one of the hardest 5.6 climbs I’ve ever done.  The climb starts on thin holds with very slippery feet.  As the route climbs it leans right into a crack, which makes it very balancey.  Higher up there’s a flake system and the rock is much more gritty and easier to smear your feet on.  But this is definitely a classic and should be added to any climber’s tick list when visiting the area.  



Kyle, below Pizza Crack. The bright streaks low on the climb are the polished sections of rock.



 

The furlough is over now and I’m back to work, and that’s just life.  Not everyone catches this sort of break and I’m happy to say that I made the most of it.  The weather continues to cool, the leaves and starting to turn and fall, and the climbing season of Autumn in now in full swing.  I still have weekends, along with vacation and sick days that I can use.  I plan on returning to Mocanaqua before winter, possibly for a day of bouldering.  I am also looking forward to finally visiting an area in NJ that my friend Andrew has been not only developing, but working on getting open to the climbing community. 

Until my next climb!

 

 

 

 

Birthday, and The Bear

For my 34^th birthday, I decided I wanted to go climbing.  My wife and I spent the night in Pennsylvania and were going to visit Mount Minsi at The Delaware Water Gap on our way back to Jersey and climb the Practice Face.  The Practice Face is a 40-50ft tall buttress of rock that can be easily accessed by a well-protected traverse across the “Cat Walk” to the large ledge up top.  My wife belayed me as I lead across the Cat Walk (placing two cams) and then I brought her out to the top of the ledge.  I built an anchor off of two trees on the very edge of the ledge, but just beneath was a smaller ledge and on the rock face was a bolt.  My plan was to lower myself to this smaller ledge, clip into the bolt, and then help my wife down to that ledge (while tied-in) where I would lower her off the anchor so she wouldn’t have to rappel.  But as soon as I stepped onto that ledge a large copperhead slithered just inches away from my ankles and buried itself into a crack.  I quickly climbed back up and decided we would not climb that section, for fear of the snake reemerging.  While breaking down the anchor I heard a loud rustle of branches and looked out over the Cat Walk area into the woods where I saw a Black Bear.  This was the first time my wife or I ever saw a bear in the wild.

The first thing I did was make our presence known to the bear by shouting (not screaming, or yelling).  Normally, bears will run away from humans when they see or hear them.  Oddly enough, all the bear did was look at me.  I continued to shout, but the bear didn’t seem interested and was more or less sniffing around the area.  This is where I got worried.  I felt we were somewhat protected on the ledge, but wasn’t one-hundred percent sure whether or not the bear was capable of climbing up the Cat Walk to reach us.  At the same time, descending would put us either right next to or downhill from the bear…so we were essentially stuck up there. 

After what seemed like an eternity, but were only a few minutes, the bear started off in the opposite direction and headed along the cliff.  My wife and I were relieved, and I began formatting how and where we would descend the ledge.  But, just as we started coiling the rope the bear returned, and this time he came much closer to us.  The bear didn’t exhibit any aggressive behavior, but the fact that he came back after all the noise we made had me very concerned.  All I could think of was protecting my wife, who wasn’t quite panicking but was obviously terrified.  I moved us down the opposite end of the ledge and threw the rope around a tree and set my wife up on rappel telling her not to go all the way to the ground.  From the face of the buttress, I could see around the corner where the bear would come from, if he was to come.  By this time, there was no sign or sound of the bear and I felt like we were in the clear.  I had my wife descend slowly, stopping every few feet, and I told her when she was about 15 feet from the ground that when she touched down to immediately unclip herself and head down the trail.  I told her not to run, but to walk quickly and keep looking back.  I was already set up to rappel, so I was never more than a few feet away from her.   

When we reached our car a few minutes later I called the Park Service and asked if they could send a Ranger to accompany me back up to the cliff so I could retrieve my climbing pack (it contained no food, so I was sure the bear would have left it alone).  My wife waited at the car, and the Ranger and I headed up finding no sign of the bear and my pack and its contents still intact.  The Ranger told me that the bear was foraging the acorns that had littered the forest floor.  The bear wasn’t exhibiting any aggressive behavior because he wasn’t interested in us, as much as he was the acorns (which kept him in the area).  He also asked if I saw any tags in the bear’s ears, and I didn’t.  He said the Park Service will tag aggressive bear’s ears; thankfully our bear wasn’t one of them because he told a story of a double-tagged bear’s aggressiveness with two fishermen a few weeks back where the bear had to be shot.  I asked the Ranger if the bear would have been able to climb the rock to the ledge we were on, and he said no.

I’m not sure I would have handled the situation any differently than I did.  My main concern was keeping my wife safe from the bear, as well as getting her down from the cliff safely.  As shook up as we both were, neither one of us feel like this will keep us from the woods, or from climbing.  I suppose this situation was a bit of an oddity in that the bear didn’t leave us.  The bear was busy eating, and since we were up on the ledge he might not have felt any threat where he would have to run or need to pursue us.

Autumn on Deck

It’s been over a month since I last went rock climbing.  As usual, it’s not for lack of interest as much as it has been for lack of time and/or scheduling conflicts with partners.  In May, I had written a post called “Road toThe Cross” about my venture into the world of CrossFit.  And along with my wife, we have devoted a lot of our free time to CrossFit and I decided to pursue it even further by attending a Level 1 Trainer Course the last weekend of August.  I successfully completed the course and passed the test, earning the title of Level 1 Trainer. 

But now that I’m past that, and autumn is approaching, I find myself longing to be outside at the crag climbing the cool rock in the pleasant temperatures.  And this past Sunday, getting a 7am start in 45 degree temps, Andrew and I did some strenuous top-roping at the local crag.  Andrew just came back from a Colorado climbing trip and had amazing stories of 2am starts, two hour approaches, and eight-pitch epics.  We quickly burned out are forearms and grips on slopers, pinches, and crimps and decided to use the time we had left to explore the lower cliff.  As mentioned before, the lower cliff at this crag is of lesser quality and with little features.  Most of the overhanging wall is blank, with the exception of a few thin splitter cracks and a knobby arête.  We did, however, come across this splitter which looks a bit friendlier. 

 

 

 

It stands just less than 30 feet, with the crack expanding to about fist-sized at its widest.  The crack also appears to be just deep enough to take gear, but it remains to be seen if this route is within our leading ability.  It definitely needs a cleaning, so we’re thinking about making this a late fall/early winter climbing project once everything dies out and dries up.