Mountain Skills Climbing Guides Weblog

Hit the cliff with Debby and the 3 H’s.  Hot, hazy, and humid was the call for the day.  We decided to climb some multi-pitch routes in the Near Trapps during the morning and stay close to the ground and in the shade later in the day.  I did the Layback 5.5 as a warm up and to get the coffee shakes out of me.  Next was Yellow Ridge 5.7.  Pitch 3’s exposure is amazing, nothing but air in all directions.  Debby had no problem at all with either route and easily cruised each crux.  We finished the day with Frog’s Head 5.6- and Grease Gun Groove 5.6.  The Near Trapps is a nice way to escape the crowds on a busy weekend.  Hike all the way to the end and enjoy the day climbing alone.

Temps and humidity really dictate my off day climbing in the Gunks.  On super hot and humid days it’s nice to hit up the higher elevation cliffs and climb in the chasms of Lost City.  If it gets really hot you can always take a dip before, during, or after climbing at Split Rock swimming hole.  I got spanked pretty good on this stepped off-width crack.  Wes Converse and Mark Folsom are some where in the background doing their version of cheering(laughing) for me.

We’ve been doin all sorts of fun stuff with fun people lately.  Roger, Brendin, Wes and I had time to do Adopt-A-Highway for Mountain Skills Climbing Guides in the Minnewaska State Park Preserve.  We managed to pick up a good amount of garbage on our first try.  It’s amazing how many returnables we picked up.  That’s 5 cents people!!!  Recycle it!!!  We are also sponsoring an area up in the Catskill Mountains for a clean up as well.  Everyone has been taking trips out and group trips like Outdoor Bound have been a real blast lately.  If you have not heard of Outdoor Bound and live in the city or surrounding areas check them out for hiking, mountain biking, sailing, hang gliding, and just about any other cool thing you could think of.  We thought the rock climbing, mani-pedi, wine tasting combo would be a real hit.   My wife Christie and I also took a hike up to Castle Point and Hamilton Point the other day.  Wow what a lot of rock just waiting to be had.

  Noah is a long time climber with Mountain Skills Climbing Guides.  Recently we went out so he could figure out the gear on Stickley’s From Nowhere 5.7 at the crux roof.  Noah had stated he wanted to lead it this coming July the 4th.  Noah if you are out there we are rooting for you and we know that once you get the red  alien in at the roof you are gonna make it.  Go Noah Go!!!!

This has been a interesting month for Mountain Skills Climbing Guides.  We have been doing self rescue courses at MPHC down in the city on Monday evenings and just this past Monday I did a power point presentation about the Gunk’s featuring photographer and long time guide of Mountain Skills Matt Calardo.  Matt’s photos are amazing and if you would like to check them out just visit his site at www.mattcalardo.com  Matt is also doing the photo shoot for Shape Magazine for the guide service this week.  Besides working with the great groups we have climb with us we also get great characters.  Roy is by far the most interesting character around.  With his many stories about Peter Croft, his Karate Dojo, and his travels, Roy is a real treat to climb with.  He wanted to climb High Exposure 5.6+ the other day to remember how crazy he was back when he used to lead it.  We had a great time with no people around and finishing up and down in under 2 hours.

 

 

I got this call last month from a guy in the city who wanted to climb.  No problem.  Domenic wanted to start training for a climb in the Tetons and had some ice climbing and mountaineering experience under his belt already.  No problem.  Domenic is also totally 100% blind.  Hummm.  No problem.  I picked Domenic up at the Poughkeepsie Train Station around 8:33 am and headed to Rock and Snow to get some gear before blasting up to the Trapps.  Domenic really wanted to get in some multi-pitch action to start getting accustomed to the systems of lead belaying, cleaning gear, transitions at belay stations and rappelling with a friction hitch backup while simu-rappelling.  Actually those last four things are systems I wanted to teach him so when he gets to his destination he makes it up and down efficiently and safely.  We started the day on Black Fly 5.5 and Bunny 5.4.  Domenic had no problems with either climb and we both started to get used to the way we communicate with each other about movement and body position.  Note: If you ever want to learn how to get better at describing exactly what you see and how to get to it, hang out with someone who has little to no sight.  By the end of the day you will reevaluate the way you describe directions to people.  We headed over to do Betty 5.3 and get Domenic’s multi-pitch fix in.  I broke the pitches up so I could watch every move Domenic had to do during the climb.  Never once did he have a problem with gear removal or breaking down 3 point anchors at belay stations.  Once we made it to the top of Betty it was time to Simu-rap two times back to the ground.  I told Domenic if he ever got pinned down in bad weather and had to get off the Grand quickly this would be a good skill to learn.  Once again no problem with either rappels.  Domenic and I both learned a lot of skills today.  I am starting to realize it’s the people I meet that makes me have fun during the day.  Yea I love climbing.  Yea I love running around outside, but I also really enjoy the characters I run into while doing these things.  I’m not sure why I didn’t take any pictures.  I guess I didn’t feel like I needed to.  What a day.

I’ve been going out all week with Nick from Harlem to teach him how to build top rope anchors and learning to lead.  With a full week of teaching anchoring skills Nick is going to become the master at anchors and have a really good foundation for leading trad routes here at the Gunks.  I love to teach.  It is so fun to watch someone with little to no skills in the morning bark out master point, BFK, redundancy, and equalization by 12:00pm.  Nick is a quick learner so I decided to climb some multi-pitch routes to cement different anchors a climber would see and rappelling with friction hitch back ups for safety.  Here is Nick on the exsposed Andrew 5.4 pitch 2 belay area.  Hangin it all out in space and trusting the gear.

Climbed with Debbie this weekend and as you can expect it was pretty busy at the cliff.  We managed to climb 3 multi-pitch routes during the day.  Debbie climbed really good and never waivered once.  It was a real pleasure to spend the day with her under blue bird sky’s.  Guide John Mackey climbed Rogers Rock on Lake George and Hesitation on the Washbowl Cliff in the Adirondacks over the weekend.  If you would like to get to these spots just ask about climbing in the Adirondacks.

Climbing the Gunk’s spots tucked away is always a treat.  Quiet, untouched, more of  just a you and your friends feel to it.  We have a few spots with no guide books and plain old word of mouth or just adventure climbing.  I love getting back to these areas and not bumping into anyone or seeing the effects of mass traffic.  It is really the meaning of climbing for me.  Nature, friends, sunshine, relaxation and exploration.  I am amazed to come around a boulder and see something I have never looked at before.  It gives me more of a feeling our past pioneer climbers must have had.  You look at something, size it up, and go for it.  Total on-sight climbing.  Come and get it!