Category Archives: Climbing

Shawangunks and Quarry follow-up

With my summer classes over, it was time for some R&R. I was invited down to New Paltz, NY by my friend Matt to visit family and friends–and climb. We embarked on our journey on the 19th, for three days in the Shawangunks, which are in the Mohonk preserve and Minnewaska state park.

I’d heard of the Gunks before, as a NE climbing mecca somewhat like Rumney, but I definitely wasn’t prepared for how epic it was. The rock is Quartz conglomerate, as opposed to MA and NH’s mainly granite. The place is huge–there is somewhere in the range of 1000 routes. There were endless routes upwards of 110ft of climbing.

We met up with Alyssa and Bob who lived in the area, and knew the Gunks well. Bob used to guide, and was brimming with know-how. Both were extremely gracious hosts.

Saturday

We made breakfast and headed out for a full day of climbing at Peter’s Kill. We set up on some nice 5.6’s near the parking lot, and I immediately realized I’d forgotten my camera at the house. Luckily Matt’s phone sufficed. Bob soloed up an easier face and dropped ropes down.

The two routes, both easy face climbs. Saturday photos courtesy of Matt.

It was a good warm up, during which I came to realize almost all climbing in the Gunks was done Traditionally, with a leader placing gear (protection) and then having a second following, cleaning it.

I expressed interest in placing gear and leading to Bob, since in my mind that’s what true climbing is–doing multiple pitches and placing your own protection. I wanted to start down that road, and so I belayed him up an easier 5.3 that both Alyssa and I pinkpointed. From what I’ve gathered, pinkpointing isn’t a term used too much anymore, with the advent of bolts and pre-placing gear, but in this case it was the right definition. Bob placed the gear, and then we pulled the rope and each lead it again, in some cases pulling and re placing gear to test out using cams.

Alyssa leading the 5.3

Another view of the face

It was a great introduction, getting the feeling of being of “on the sharp end of the rope”, and using trad gear, without very much danger. Matt gave the climbs a good try, this being only his 2nd or 3rd time on a rope.

I got a little bored after climbing the routes, so Bob directed me to check out some bouldering down the path. This lead to an over zealous attempt of an inverted V0 problem, which I clearly couldn’t figure out the last move of. After trying to muscle my way up, I was left with a bunch of scratches for the rest of the weekend. …A problem for another time I guess. Eventually it was getting towards the afternoon and we broke for lunch.

But the climbing wasn’t over! We headed back and set two more routes. These were harder. Bob lead a 5.7-5.8 crack with a blocky roof, and then set a toprope on that as well as a similarly difficult face climb with a flake move crux.

Rope set up on the face, with the crack to the right.

The 5.8 face, up to the crux. There was a tricky reach move above.

Both routes were maybe 50-60ft. And after ascending them, and then climbing the crack again, to clean the gear, I was getting pretty wiped. Alyssa sended them as well, and Matt got pretty far. We pulled the ropes and headed back for dinner and beers, a great end to an awesome introduction to the Gunks.

Sunday

…Was mostly rain showers. I don’t have any photos, since we didn’t climb all that long. I heard Saturday was just the beginning–there was tons more rock to be climbed. We hiked a few miles in New Paltz to a more “locals only” spot and did a bit of bouldering, but as Bob got ready to lead a route, the skies opened up. We called it a day and hit the rock store for some gear purchasing. Bob helped me pick out a starter rack, after kindly donating a bunch of nuts. I bought 2 tri-cams and 2 more nuts, as well as 6 runners with ‘biners for quick draws. Despite the rain we took advantage of Bob’s hot tub–an actual wooden tub, which you don’t see much. The last one I was in was up in Bethel, ME, at the Sunday River Inn.

Monday

You guessed it, more climbing! I was psyched, I’ve never climbed three days in a row. We headed to the Trapps, where the cliff ran alongside the carriage roads in Mohonk preserve. We set up some easier warm up routes, two 5.6’s, with a larger group. They were a blast. One was a 90ft pitch with 2 small roofs, and a ton of good holds. The other was a face climb into a big roof .

The view from the carriage road. Left to right: Bob, Alyssa, Matt.

Me belaying Matt as he gets started

Me most of the way up the 90 ft pitch.

The big roof, with Alyssa on the route.

Once we’d tackled this area Matt, Alyssa, Bob and I walked further down to some more nice routes. Bob lead a nice 5.7 crack climb for Alyssa and Matt.

Matt getting some pump.

Bob then told me he’d take me up a 2 pitch 5.5 climb called Horseman, one of the classics in the area. The easier grade made sure there’d be no incidents while I was wrapping my head around all the pieces involved in multi-pitch climbing.

When climbing a multi-pitch the climb goes as follows: The leader leads the first pitch, placing protection as they go, with the second (me), belaying them up the pitch. When the leader reaches the top, they have to clip into, or create an anchor. Then the leader pulls up and stacks the remaining rope, and sets up a belay off the anchor. Then the second follows on top-rope, cleaning (pulling) the gear as they go, with the leader belaying from above. Once the second reaches the anchor, they clip in, and in most cases, would prepare to lead the next pitch. Otherwise they need to pass the gear they cleaned back to the leader who organizes it on his rack, and then switch the belay to the second. The leader then unclips and leads the next next pitch, and the process begins again until they reach the top.

From what I understand, when you reach the top, you have a few options. You can hike off, back down an easier way. You can, if there are rappel stations, go to the station and rappel down, which might mean rappeling to an intermediary station first if your rope isn’t long enough. I guess you could also BASE jump off if you brought the gear and have the space. This part has always confused me most about Trad climbing.

Here’s what that might look like:

Bob leading the first pitch

Me on the carriage path, belaying him

Me, on top rope, seconding.

Me at the hanging belay station (uncomfortable), with Bob leading the next pitch in the top right.

Rapelling down. The rope was just long enough to do it in one go, 110ft.

The climb went pretty smoothly, mostly due to Bob taking care of the hard stuff, and there being a permanent anchor at the belay station. Still, it was awesome. To me, this is what climbing is about. I’m really glad that we were able to do it, while Alyssa and Matt were hanging out on the 5.7 crack nearby.

Unfortunately, Matt and I had planned to leave the next morning. But I swear, we will be back! Bob and Alyssa couldn’t take work off forever earlier, so we said our good byes and hopped in Matt’s car for the 4 hour cruise back.

Quincy Quarries, 2 days later

But wait, there’s more! Clearly we hadn’t had enough climbing for the week. Matt had a new harness and we both had some free time to head to Quincy Quarries Thursday morning. Despite having worn myself out at the gym the night before, I was pretty gung-ho.

Matt had never been, so we headed to the back and set up a warm-up on the Pink Face, a nice slabby 5.3/5.4. We both sent it without issue, and moved on to an interesting 5.6 crack at the front of the Quarry. I’d climbed it a few weeks back when introducing Sweeney to climbing, and I was pretty sure Matt could get up it. I climbed it first, and decided to try my hand at placing some gear on top rope. I got 3 pieces that were fairly solid, and then lowered to let Matt try his hand. He sent it, with a little beta, which was sick. I then asked him if he felt alright belaying me as I led, and pulled the rope. Since it was my 4th ascent of the route, and I hadn’t once slipped or fallen on it, I felt pretty good leading it pinkpoint, and clipping my gear. Everything went without issue, and we both went home satisfied with making the most of the day.

The first route. It was a very blue day in Quincy I guess.

Quarry photos by Matt again. Forgot my camera.

The second route, with my gear, before we pulled the rope. The second piece is right in the middle, though its hard to see.

For larger photos, and some other pictures, click here.

College Rock and more Jeep work

On the 8th Sukes and I decided to check out a new climbing location–College Rock over near Hopkinton, MA. We’d heard we would need a lot of webbing, so Sukes picked up two 50 ft sections for anchors, which turned out be be enough.

When we got there we were the only ones at the wall, which we thought was a bit odd at around noon, but soon some other climbers showed up, and we watched a few mountain bikers go by.

The wall was a little bigger than I expected, 30-40ft in most sections with something close to 30 distinct routes. There was a bit of a topo in the form of a diagram labeling which features were routes, but not the difficulty. Unfortunately, we were too busy climbing to snap any photos, but I’ll be sure to post some next time we head down there. I also thought I’d be a terrible belay partner if I tried to get any photos of Sukes while on belay.

The area was a lot of fun, and we spent the entire afternoon trying out various moves. Neither of us topped out on any routes, but that was fine. The wall itself is shaded, while on top there was some exposure to sunlight.

We chatted a bit with a very experienced climber who informed us we’d set on approximately a 5.10 and a 5.9, depending on how true to stayed to the classic routes. Sukes belayed him a bit while I messed around on another route–many of them have tricky starts. We then watched him climb, and downclimb a 5.11. It was some of the best climbing I’ve seen in person, ever.

Eventually, with sore fingers, we called it a day and declared it’d be a sweet spot to come back to.

The Jeep

I’ll keep this short, but I’m sure you’ll love to hear my continuing adventure of fixing the Jeep (the beast). Upon return from Acadia, I began to realize that the overheating could’ve caused other issues in the engine, especially since its over 15 years old.

Since then, I’ve diagnosed a bad thermostat, mechanical fan clutch, as well as a possible head gasket leak. After a successful repair and replacement of both parts, I also was going to give some liquid head gasket sealant a shot, but it looks like there are other issues. The heater air isn’t getting warm, and the car is still overheating, which leads me to believe coolant isn’t circulating due to either airlock in the engine, or more likely, a failing water pump. The impeller on the water pump is press fit onto the pump body, which, when it gets too hot, could loosen up and cause the impeller to fail.

Luckily water pumps aren’t very expensive, however, it should be a bit of a repair, since I need to remove the fan and fan clutch (again), power steering pump, loosen the serpentine belt, and potentially loosen one of the tensioner pulleys. Fun stuff.

Update: I replaced the water pump and in this case it seemed to fix the overheating/coolant circulation.

Acadia Part Two

Since Jon (Sukes), Mike and I had such a great time last fall up in Acadia National Park, we were eager to get up there again this season. The opportunity came sooner than we expected, since my family and some friends rented sites at MDI campground for 5 days. My family has made it up to Acadia almost every year I’ve lived in Mass., so meeting them up there for the weekend seemed like a great way to continue that tradition.

Acadia National Park takes up most of Mount Desert Island in the northern corner of Maine. It’s a beautiful place for all sorts of outdoors activity, from hiking, to running, biking, kayaking, canoeing–and it’s all in one spot.

This time it was Jon, Julian and I who made the trip. We hopped in my recently fixed Jeep and started eating up miles. Everything was going smoothly until this happened:

My Jeep, broken down (again?) on 95.

Just our luck, right? The Jeep made it 240 miles without any issue, then failed us only ~40 miles from Acadia. My only solace was that it wasn’t the Crankshaft sensor.

Luckily Jon had AAA and we broke down under 3 miles from Bangor, ME. We could’ve instead ended up miles from any repair shop. We grabbed a hotel for the night and barely made last call at a random bar nearby, which gave us a chance to experience Bangor nightlife (there wasn’t much).

Stretching our legs

The mechanics at ViP opened at 7 and made quick work on the repair. A tensioner pulley had sheared clean off and gotten my serpentine belt all tangled up inside. Not cool, Jeep.

We got on the road again by about noon, made it to the island, got our park pass, put together a hike, and were on the trail near the Jordan Pond House by 3ish.

The weather had been a bit wet the night before, so we figured Sunday would be the better day to climb.

In fact, things were just clearing up, and as we began our hike on the Jordan Cliffs Trail, the fog lifted and the sky began to clear. It was turning into a great afternoon!

Looking down at the fog on Jordan Pond. All photos credit Jon, since his camera is way better than mine.

I asked Jon to get a photo of me and the cliffside. I think the pond was more interesting.

Sukes on the trail.

From my experience, the Jordan Cliffs Trail is one of the more strenuous hikes in the park. I’d kind of forgotten that the trail actually was directly on the cliff-side–one of the reasons I love Acadia hikes. In some places, one misstep could send you off the edge.

Julian taking in the view

As we neared the summit of Penobscot, at 1194′, the last of the clouds were lifting.

The top of Penobscot, lots of granite and wisps of clouds

We ran around on top of the peak for awhile, and then Sargent Mountain emerged to the north. I convinced my friends to do a link-up over to Sargent, and we set off.

Approach of Sargent, which was much greener.

On top of Sargent at 1373′

From Sargent we made a quick descent via another cliff trail, which put us at the opposite edge of Jordan Pond. We walked back right along the pond’s edge. All told we had a nice jaunt, I put our mileage at about 6.3 miles in just under 2.5 hours.

At this point we were starving, and the Jordan Pond House wouldn’t seat some sweaty hikers just for pop-overs so close to dinner time. We made our way back to the campground, hitting the grocery store for steak and some delicious local brews on the way.

The evening view from our campsite. It was low tide, and my families kayaks are tied up at the dock.

Time to climb

Despite the car trouble, with a few minor issues driving on the island, I found it hard not to have a great time on the island. Literally everywhere you look are great views and exciting things to do.

Sunday we got up early and hopped in the car to head to Otter Cliffs. There is tons of traditional climbing in Acadia, along with some spots to set up top rope anchors, but since neither Jon or I have the right anchoring gear yet, we were limited to the routes we had been at last year. Not that this was really a problem, since climbing over the ocean at Otter Cliffs is so cool.

Sukes hanging out down by the water.

We were the first ones there, so we had our choice of routes. It had been awhile since we’d used a top managed belay, so we set on a 5.7 to make sure we had everything in order. Pretty much everyone belays from the top of the cliff, because it is safer, uses less rope, and to keep the ropes dry.

Me on belay

Eventually some guided groups showed up to climb the 5.4/5.5’s as we alternated climbing the route.

Julian making quick work of the cliff

It truly was a beautiful clear day, just like the last time we’d climbed the cliffs. The only thing was the wind was pretty strong. Eventually we moved our anchor over, letting Sukes have a go at a tricky 5.10d.

Jon, part way up the 5.10d

He gave it a great shot, but eventually I let him down and we moved over to “The Flake” a 5.7/5.10.

Me taking my time on the Flake

Julian, nearing the crux

I took my time–too much time–getting up to the roof, the crux of the route. I again pumped out, and went around it to the left, my only real disappointment. Julian and Jon climbed quickly and with a bit of searching, found the holds to get over the left side of the roof.

Sukes belaying next to a guided group of climbers.

We were worried about the Jeep still, so we headed out around noon to grab lunch, pack up and head back to Boston. Luckily the Jeep pulled through and we made good time getting back. All in all, it was a great weekend, and we’re already planning our next trip up there.

Quincy Quarries Morning Climb

This Sunday around 7 am I drove down to the Quarries with my friend Sukes, only our second time climbing outdoors this year. My friend Dwight biked down to meet us, and after our usual stop at Dunkin’ we were on the wall with our anchor set up by 8. It was Dwights first time climbing outdoors, luckily he had a decent camera on his phone, since I’d forgotten mine.

We were top roping, basically the only type of climbing I’ve experienced so far. This winter I got some quick draws, a rope and a helmet to use at Rumney later this season, but we’re still getting warmed up right now.

But first, a little history

One of the interesting things about Quincy Quarries is how much it’s changed in the past 10 or so years. As with any area, the rock itself has changed, but the Quarry today looks much different than how it is described in a guidebook I picked up in Acadia, called Rock Climbing New England. Before the big dig, the Quarry was about 20 feet deeper, some of it was on private land and fenced off, and a much greater portion was filled with water.

The frontside of the Quarry. Credit: Dwight's phone.

Today the once 70 foot walls have been filled in with dirt from the big dig to reduce the cliffs to 50 foot climbs, and the private land has been opened up allowing access to a few more walls. Almost all the routes in my guidebook look radically different. Since I’m new to climbing, I only know the Quarries in the state they are today. There are some convenient anchor bolts on top of cliffs you can scramble up in sections. A good portion of the Quarry is covered in graffiti as well which can make starting holds slippery.

First pitch of the day

Since we haven’t looked into the new route descriptions much, we don’t always know what a routes agreed rating is, which can be fun, and sometimes frustrating. A few weeks ago Sukes and I were climbing with our friend Mike on some new routes for us, and I hadn’t made it up the harder one, so that’s what Sukes and I set on first.

Sukes at the crux. All photos credit Dwight and his phone.

Me repositioning.

I climb in the gym with Dwight, but he hadn’t made it outdoors yet, and was a little challenged by the granite, and small, questionable footholds. Sukes and I sent the first pitch, which I felt pretty good about after floundering at the crux on my previous attempt. Dwight gave it a good effort, but decided to call it so we would have time to set a different route.

I was interested in which route we’d been on, so I did a little searching this afternoon and found a great site with details on the various quarry walls. They also had a great diagram of the routes on K wall, one of the highest and probably most popular. Oddly, we were the only group there until about 10 and then by 11 one or two other groups were trickling in.

The route we hit first was described as “Pins”, a 5.9 that mostly goes straight up a small crack system. The crux is right in the middle of the wall where there is a large pocket. It’s labeled in green in the diagram of K wall.

Dwight gets on the wall.

Resetting and bouldering

While Sukes pulled the anchor I coiled up my rope and we headed over to the shorter M wall to set on a route Mike, Sukes and I had a good time on, figuring it would be easier and give our fingers a rest. While Dwight was climbing with me on belay, Sukes, who apparently has balls of steel, solo’d the ~5.5-5.6 to our right and topped out at about 25-30 feet.

Dwight eventually had to head out, so Sukes belayed me up the pitch, which I couldn’t find a description of, but maybe varied between a 5.5 – 5.7. It has an interesting start, with a big slab and juggy holds in the middle and a couple fun moves near the top. After a clean climb, Sukes and I were feeling good but not particularly interested in setting up another anchor, so we started bouldering.

To our right on the M face, there were some nice undercling moves and a crack system leading up to a big jug ledge that we attempted a few different ways. As it was getting towards noon we headed out and avoided getting burned from the peak sun of the day.

We’ll probably be hitting the Quarries again next weekend in preparation for some picturesque climbing in a few weeks up in Acadia, which we made a trip to late last fall.

I can’t wait for some views like this: