Gunks Trip Report 9/25 - 9/29 1998

We left PA at 7:00 on Friday night; Ron Edwards, Scott Richards, Tom and Kim Kopler and myself. We made plans 2 months prior to this night. None of us had ever been to the Gunks. I had heard rumors that the climbing there was difficult, traditional lead climbing. Right up our alley after climbing at Seneca Rocks for the last 4 years. Tom, Kim and myself rode in their van. Scott and Ron rode in his BMW. After a quick stop at the Donegal Mini Mart, we were on the road to New Paltz, NY. 7 hours later we were there. It was 2:00 a.m. and according to the guidebook, there was to be camping at camp slime, etc… Being that it was Friday night, it was full and after driving around for what seemed like eternity, we decided to camp across from EMS and the Mountain Store. It was a weeded lot with some heavy machinery parked on it. Scott, Ron, and myself crashed outside on the ground in our sleeping bags. Tom and Kim opted to sleep in the van (Somehow they forgot their sleeping bags). At 6:00am just before sunrise, I awoke lying on my side. As my eyelids opened, I was amazed to see a huge wall of rock (Near Trapps). I mumbled a holy shit to myself and proceeded to sit/lay there and stare at the rock for an hour. Finally I couldn't take it any longer, I woke up Ron and Scott. Ron didn't seem too impressed, but Scott found the view to be as amazing as I did. After a short discussion of rock quality and routes to do we tapped on the window of the van to wake up Tom and Kim. After several minutes of wake up time, it was time to head into New Paltz to get breakfast. Passing through New Paltz, we notice the local gear shop, Rock and Snow. It was open and when theres an open gear store, we MUST stop. We spent 20min. checking out the selection of gear. Finally the hunger pains really set in. Time to eat. We hit the road again in search of an open restrauant. We were directed to check out College Diner, but on the way we noticed another that was open. We stopped there for some grub. Amazed by the selection of food, we knew we were in the right place. I tried the Swiss and spinach omlette, only I decided to add ham to it. MMMMM how good it was. Ron had the Mexican omlette, Tom had the feta cheese and spinach omlette, I don't recall exactly what Kim and Scott had, but we all decided it was a very good breakfast. After breakfast we went back to near where we camped. EMS and the Mountain Store were open. We needed a place to call home for 3 nights. The only safe option was Yogi Bears Jellystone Park. The price was steep, but we wanted to leave our tents up and gear in a safe place. The people at the Mountain Store told us that theft has been a problem in the free camping areas. We packed into the cars and headed for Jellystone Park. Upon arrival at Jellystone, we picked our sites and setup camp for our trip. After leaving Jellystone, we went straight to the rocks, although by this time the main parking/camping areas were full. We had to drive past the bridge to the next parking area on the right. We pulled up to the shack/entrance area where we were greeted by a park ranger. She informed us that climbing is $7.00 per person on the weekend, and $5.00 per person weekdays. We paid for our day of climbing and parked the van. We put our packs on and headed out the trail towards the bridge. At the bridge we past an area where Mohonk Preserve rangers sit checking climbing passes. We decided to head to the Near Trapps, since its not as crowded on weekends as the Trapps. They pointed us in the right direction and we set off down the road towards the trail at the guardrail. Down the trail we quickly found ourselves looking at our first Gunks climbs. Several people were climbing near the entrance to the Nears so we decided to hike further in (not knowing that most of the climbing takes place in the first 100yards or so). We hiked for about 10 minutes where in the process I was stung by a ground hornet. We found the guidebook very hard to follow at first. We couldn't figure out where were at according to the pictures and route descriptions. Finally we figured we were at the white pillar. We were looking for some easy routes to try. We had heard that the ratings were stiff, and didn't want to get in over our heads. There were two routes in the area that were rated 5.5 and seemed to be what we were looking for. Scott and Ron got onto (Just allow me one more chance 5.5) and Tom, Kim and I got onto (Giddah 5.6). I geared up and began climbing. Several good holds on vertical rock soon gave way to a flake/overhang area that I had to high step to surmount. I pulled over and placed my first piece of gear. I realized that the rock was of good quality and needed some getting used to. I continued up on good holds about 75' to a good belay ledge. I setup an anchor and yelled to Tom that I was off belay. Kim tied into the middle of the rope and was next to climb the route. She made her way up, back clipping to provide protection for Tom since there was some traversing involved. She pulled up onto the belay ledge and anchored in. Tom was last. He tied into the rope and began climbing. Steadily he progressed up to the first belay. Once there, I had realized that we truly needed two ropes to finish the route with three people. Scott and I didn't put much thought to the number of people we had climbing and only brought two ropes. We sat on the ledge and watched Scott and Ron on their route. It was a spectacular view of them climbing 50' to our left. After watching them pass by, we decided to rappel back to the ground. The three of us were soon at the ground. We watched Ron and Scott for several more minutes and began looking at the guidebook for another shorter route to try. On the front of the White Pillar, there was what appeared to be a short 5.10 classic route, (Hang Ten). It appeared to offer very little protection up an overhanging tiered roof for the first 35'. Tom was nagging "try it, try it. You can do it Tim". He was excited, but he was the one tying into the sharp end. After blocking his comments out, I concentrated on studying the route, looking at where I may be able to get a microbrassie. The route in front of me suddenly intrigued me. I figured what the hell I'll try it. I roped up and put on a limited rack - being that the guidebook only showed it going over the roof several feet and ending. I started up several moves and found a small horizontal crack that took a #1 HB brassie. I clipped it and continued up. It continued to get steeper. Feeling my body weight on my arms, I knew I had to keep climbing. Stopping would only increase my fatigue. I was now in the steepest part of the roof and about 12' above my last and only piece. I saw a nut placement. I place a #7 stopper and clipped feeling a moment of relief. I shook out the lactic acid and prepared to pull the lip of the roof. I pulled into the moves popping my eyes over the lip to get a better view of what lay ahead. I found a small hold for my right and pulled up a little further, and another for my left. I locked off and saw a small horizontal for a #1TCU. I popped it in and clipped. Feeling fatigued, I made an attempt at pulling over and realized I stopped for too long. Wasted I told Tom to "take" I was coming off. As I weighted the TCU, I heard a "POP". The TCU was a hair from coming dislodged, but it held. I shook out and reached up high finding a nice jug for my right hand and realized I was using the wrong holds before. I got into position and pulled up smearing my right foot in front of me. I quickly mantled and put my left foot out wide over the lip of the roof. What a relief to be in a resting position above the questionable TCU. I found another placement for a cam and was looking for the end. Climbing higher I soon realized that the route didn't end the way the book described. It continued up 80' to a ledge. Near the end I was clipping directly into nuts creating a lot of rope drag. I reached the belay and setup the anchor to belay Tom up. Tom came up the route with some assistance and cleaned the pieces for me. We rapped back down to the ground and met up with Scott and Ron who had just hiked down from their climb. We decided that our first day of climbing was at an end and it was time for some cold beers. Down to the Mountain Store we drove. We each had serveral beers and drove back to camp to shower and go out to dinner. Restaurant of choice for the evening was the Brauhaus located across from the Mountain Store. Authentic German cuisine is their specialty. We each had several beers and a hearty dinner and went back to camp for some needed sleep.

Day 2
We awoke at 6:00 a.m. and drove into town for breakfast. This morning we ate at College Dinner. I decided to have the same breakfast as the morning before (for comparison). The first place won hands down. After breakfast, we drove to the mountain Store for drinks. I picked up a bottle of Gatorade, the others bought their drinks of choice. We drove up the mountain, paid our entrance fee and hiked into the Near Trapps. Upon hiking in, I noticed a blue TCU in a crack on a route about 40' up. With the thrill of "Booty on my mind" I opted to pass it by in favor of getting our route of choice. We continued down the trail about 25 yards looking for the start of Gelsa (which we unknowingly had already passed by). We realized our mistake and turned around and hiked back to the start of Gelsa 5.4, but by the time we got there it was already taken. Tom, Kim and Ron decided to wait their turn to do this highly recommended classic. I realized that the booty was only several routes over and was actually Roseland 5.9. I figured while they were waiting for Gelsa, I would scoot up and retrieve a free TCU. I geared up and Scott belayed as I started up. I climbed the crack and corner up to the TCU. Upon inspection, I found the cam unretrievable. The thing was SUNK. Others had attempted to free it with no luck. The trigger wires were busted off and useless. I was planning on down climbing after freeing the piece, but after getting "into" the route, I decided to contiunue up to the anchors. After clipping into the stuck piece, I moved right across the hand traverse to a flake/roof. I set a tricam in the roof and pulled up through and into the corner above. 25' of climbing the flake, put me into a tight overhead corner and the crux. Looking out right the route I made an extended reach right to a finger traverse with poor feet. I got my right fingers into the crack and started to move my left and realized I was in the wrong position to successfully complete the traverse. I told Scott to watch me as I moved back left to the corner and hung on the rope in frustration. I thought through the sequence in my mind and began again this time starting differently and making my way across the traverse without as much difficulty. After the traverse there were several moves through an overhanging section to the belay ledge and rest. I put Scott on belay and bourght him up the route. He had to leave behing the tricam I had placed in the small roof - I had placed it in a little too well. (It was older and needed replaced anyhow). He made it to the belay and we rapped to the ground to meet the others. I left the rope hanging over a difficult looking toprope route that I climbed after reaching the ground. The party ahead of the others, were beginning the 2nd pitch and were out of the way of Tom, Ron, and Kim. Tom was going to lead the route. Ron and Kim were to clean and follow. The route was in Tom's ability level at 5.4. He started up the first pitch through the large holds to the first big ledge. Tom stopped at this ledge which was about 1/3 of the first pitch and refused to go to the belay proper. He brought Ron and Kim up to the ledge with him, and after they were up, they decided to come down to the ground. Scott and I paired up with Tom and Ron. Scott taking Tom and Ron climbing with me. Kim decided to sit this one out. Ron and I were first. I took off on lead cruising the 1st pitch to the nice shady belay ledge about 120' up. Ron came up cleaning. I brought Ron up to the belay, clipped him into the belay anchor I had setup with a cordlette, 2 nuts, and a camming unit. I put my climbing shoes back on and took off on the 2nd pitch. The 2nd pitch was a nice exposed pitch up through a slightly overhanging face. I made my way to the top and setup an anchor to bring Ron up. He tied in and climbed the pitch up to the 2nd belay. He'd left the anchor in place for Scott and Tom coming up behind us. After Scott and Tom were up at the top, we packed up our ropes and hiked to the base where Kim was waiting for us. We all agreed that the route was very "magnificent" and one we would remember for years to come. Tired and dehydrated, I was ready to call it a day. We hiked back to the van and drove down to the Mountain Store for some cold beers. We each had 2 and went back to Jellystone to shower for dinner. Tonight it was Foley's Pub, which was recommended by another climbing friend prior to our trip. Foley's was an obvious college bar, with my favorite "Gunniess" on tap. I tried their ruben sandwich with fries and slaw - it was good, possibly the best I've ever had. After eating, we made our way to the pool table for some after dinner billiards and additional beers. We discussed having some "Yard sales" a unique Guinness drink we discovered on an ice climbing trip in New Hampshire. A yard sale for those of you that don't know is a half pint of Guinness and a shot of Bailey's Irish Crème. You take the shot of Bailey's and drop it into the 1/2 pint of Gunniess (shot glass and all) and chug away. You half to do it quick so the Bailey's won't curdle. We each did one and continued to play pool for a while. Around 9:00 we decided to call it a night and drove back to the Mountain Store for some Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Ron and I each had a pint and Scott and Kim split one. Tom "anti-sweets boy" didn't induldge with the rest of us. After icecream it was bedtime. We all crashed hard for the long day ahead of us.

Day 3 - Monday September 28, 1998
We awoke early and slightly hung over, but we wanted to eat an early breakfast and get onto the rocks at a reasonably early time. It was breakfast as usual ham, spinach and cheese omlette for breakfast with coffee of course. Then it was off to the rocks. Today was our first day at the Trapps. The longest cliff band at the Gunks. Our first choice was to let Tom lead something easy. We went straight to 3 pines rated 5.3, but there were already people in line to climb it. We decided to head further down the cliff to Beginners Delight rated 5.3. Tom looked at it and thought it was one he would like to try. The plan was that Scott, Tom and Ron would climb that, while Kim and I were climbing Blueberry Ledges 5.5 about 40' left of Beginners Delight. From there I figured that I could get some good pictures of Tom and Scott climbing. Tom and I racked up to begin our climbs. I began climbing. I found the first 35' of Blueberry ledges to be of poor quality. Green growth made the rock seem slippery. The loose gritty texture didn't help either. I could feel several of the flakes flexing as I pulled on them. I placed one poor nut in the first 35' until I reached the first good horizontal where I could get a solid cam in. From there it was harder climbing on better rock. The route went up into a left facing corner and roof. There was a piton placed in just above the lip of the roof, which I clipped and continued up through some solid holds to the large belay/traverse ledge. I setup an anchor to bring Kim up, but soon found out that she wasn't going to second the pitch, but Ron was. I put him on belay and brought him up to the ledge. It was a nice large ledge that you could walk around on. I took the camera out and started shooting shots of Tom and Scott. Scott was chosen to lead the second pitch and as he passed by I took pictures. After he passed Ron and I climbed the second pitch of Blueberry Ledges to the GT ledge. We walked over to talk to Scott while he was belaying Tom up. After Tom was up, we decided to double rope rap back down to the ground. Our next route was going to be Madame G''s, but there were people on it already, so we hiked back to Asphodel 5.5 and Credibility Gap 5.6. Again Ron and I climbed together taking on Credibility Gap. The first pitch was the most fun. It followed a finger crack up the face to a low angle slab that went left around a corner and up through large flakes to a belay station up in the corner under the roof. I belayed Ron up to me and anchored him in. From there the route was a little difficult to figure out. I realized that I had to down climb out of the corner to a horizontal crack that had to be hand traversed right around the corner and up the face to the ledges. I met Scott belaying Tom up to the first belay of their route as I climbed the face above the traverse. I was belaying Ron up to our 2nd belay when Scott came around the corner to the same ledge and prepared to bring Tom up. It came down to everyone topping out on the same ledge with a nice rap station at the far end. We rapped down and met Kim on the ground. We packed our gear and headed out to the Uberfall area to do some shorter routes to end the day. Scott and Tom did the route Bunny 5.4 while Ron and Kim climbed with a passerby on Fancy Idiot. I hiked down to near the rangers area and bouldered around the spring. I found several problems in the V3, V4 range, which were some of the hardest things I climbed all trip. They were fun overhanging problems of 5-9 moves that got the blood pumpin' in my arms. It felt good to climb hard. I went back up and met up with the others who were finishing up with the stranger. I was nominated to clean a route he had led (Double Chin 5.5). At this point it was around 6:00 and I was getting hungry. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and food was well overdue. There was a #11 nut that someone had left behind on the route that the stranger wanted me to retrieve. I poked at it for a while with no luck with the stranger taunting and harassing me about how easy it should come out. Finally I said "Fuck it" I would never spend this much time on a $10.00 nut normally, so what the hell am I doing hanging here listening to this shit head below pissing me off for? I took off climbing, finishing cleaning his route. To make matter worse, he was directing me through each move on the route explaining it to me as if I started climbing yesterday. After I reached the ground in lets just say a perturbed mood, he wanted a belay up to try and retrieve the nut himself. Knowing how stuck it was I said sure, with a grin as I put him on belay. He went up to the nut and started working at it. After 10minutes went by of him tapping and poking, I had a smile on my face knowing the nut wasn't coming out. I told him I was leaving. He put himself on rappel to continue his project. As I packed my gear he continued to work on the nut. It was just about dark as we started the hike to the van. Dingleberry was still working on the nut and I was still grinning. What a strange end to our climbing day. I had beer and food on my mind as we drove down to the Mountain Store. We each had a quick one and decided to go to dinner without showering. Baccus was the place to eat and what a beer selection, 200 beers at our disposal.

To be continued…soon!