A Day in the 'Gunks

Saturday Yilin and I went up to the Shawangunks (aka the 'Gunks) with Rob and Claire, where we met up with Scott. We broke into two teams: Rob, Claire, and Scott went off in search of some fun, while Yilin and I went to the Uberfall.

I wanted to take her up a very short, very easy climb as her first foray into climbing. In the guidebook I saw "The Flake 5.1 G". Excellent. It doesn't get much easier than a 5.1 only 25 feet tall. The description is a single straightforward sentence along the lines of 'climb the flake.'

For you non-climbers, a flake is what it sounds like: a big thin slab of rock that does not make continuous contact with the main rock face. You normally climb flakes by holding onto the back side (where the flake and the main face oppose each other) and walking your feet up, then readjusting your hands higher. Obviously it is easier if there are big footholds.

Well, I want someone to show me the 5.1 way to climb this thing. This flake is about 3-4 inches thick at the 'knife edge' and is very large for the Gunks, at about 20 feet tall. At one point the eponymous flake is slightly overhanging and has one very small foothold, while the other foot must smear. 5.1? Hmmm... Perhaps I am not supposed to climb the knife edge of the flake, but rather the face?

Of course, there is NO gear if you climb the face, which IS easier than climbing up the edge. I ended up doing mostly a lieback the whole way up so that I could place gear on the main rock wall. Climbing the face of the flake means no gear. G rated? Hmmm...


After reaching the top and setting up a top rope anchor, I rappelled down and put Yilin on belay. I am sure she was nervous as I took my time reaching the top, hesitating several times to find the '5.1 way' up. She got up about 10 feet and decided she had enough. She doesn't like heights. Actually, she is afraid of them, and I am surprised that she was willing to try a climb that was not straightforward and much harder than 'first-timer'. I was impressed at her attempt. I also felt very bad that I took her to such a difficult climb right off the bat; but I didn't know it would be like that.

She down-climbed, I ran up and took everything apart, walking off from the top of the cliff. We packed up and made a brief effort to find Rob, Claire, and Scott. After having been unsuccessful in locating them, I took her on a hike along the Overcliff Trail, all the way to the far end of the Trapps where it meets up with the Carriage Road/Undercliff Trail, and hiked back to the Uberfall. Rob, Claire, and Scott showed up, and we traded stories about our day.

Rob and Scott were willing to follow me up a short easy climb (the sun was about to set) as I didn't get much climbing done. So I ran up the first pitch of Betty (5.3), which was so much easier than The Flake that I can't describe it. Ridiculously easier. Claire and Scott both took rides on Betty before we headed out and had dinner at Anatoli in New Paltz.


I think for Yilin's next foray (she said she was willing to try again, and i did not ask her to), we will try the indoor gym. There are guaranteed easy short climbs that are the equivalent of ladders. Plus, she will be able to watch people fall and see that it is safe. Regardless, I am glad that she was willing to at least watch and see what climbing is about, as well as give it a shot.

Photo slide show here.

Off-route climbing

Yesterday MIke and I went climbing in the 'Gunks. We jumped on 'High Exposure' (5.6 and 3 stars). How hard can 5.6 be? After I start off on pitch 2, traversing along a ledge, I reach the edge of the arete and look around the corner. Small feet and hands on a near-vertical face. Deep breath and go. I get in gear as soon as I can and traverse to some chalked holds that head upwards back towards the arete. Following them becomes difficult as the rope drag increases as I have put 2 less-than-90 degree turns in the rope. The moves on the face kept getting harder, so I tried traversing back around the arete to the side I started on. Easy ground. Full body climbing got my up the last few 5.easy moves to the huge ledge from where I would belay Mike.

I had to pull up the slack with all my might. The guidebook said something about rope drag on pitch 2, but no 5.6 leader could handle that. Was I off-route? I could've swore the guidebook said to traverse around the arete, and MIke didn't think I was off-route.

The third pitch I nailed properly, and it was the kind of climbing I wished would never end. We rappell down and go on our way, me scratching my head about the rope drag. (I discovered this morning that I had indeed gone way off-route. The climb stays on the same side of the arete until pitch 3. That explains a lot.)

So then we decide to tackle 'Easy Overhang' (5.2 and 3 stars as well). Pfft, 5.2. I easily send the first pitch and offer to let Mike lead the 5.2 second pitch, which the guide book says starts in a left-facing corner to the right of where pitch one ends. Mike looks up, sees the thin crack too small for any of our protection and says, "No." Ok, so I rack up and run up the corner. (The gear ended up being pretty good.)

The moves kept getting progressively harder. I pulled through an overhang and thought, "That must've been the eponymous 5.2 crux overhang. A bit stiff for 5.2, but I have trouble differentiating these low grades." Continuing up 20 feet I come upon another overhang. "What the... ?!" So I pull through the hardest 5.2 overhang I have ever encountered; practically the hardest overhang I have ever lead through, continue to the top and build an anchor.

As Mike approaches the second overhang I hear him saying "There is no way this is 5.2, maybe 5.6." We laugh about it when he gets to the top because we know we were off-route. Upon rappell to the belay ledge we see what must clearly be pitch 2: a veritable staircase of a left-facing corner about 20 further to the right. We clearly didn't walk far right enough. On the drive home I flipped through the guidebook to discover that I had lead 'Easy Baby' (5.6, 1st pitch of Easy O then 2nd pitch of Baby). Well, I hadn't lead the 2nd pitch of Baby yet (did the 1st with Scott), so now I have lead the whole thing.

Someday I will lead 'High Exposure' and 'Easy Overhang' properly. Someday...