Climbing in the Gunks

The couple in front of us on High ExposureThis weekend Tim and I braved the unsettled weather forecast, took Monday off and drove the eight hours to the Gunks for a long weekend of climbing. We drove through driving rain to get to New Paltz, got lost searching for a local climbing camping area called the Grist Mill at two in the morning until we finally gave up and drove to the parking lot by the cliff to spend the few remaining hours of night sleeping in the Van.

We woke to a sunny Saturday morning, grabbed our gear and headed straight for High Exposure, the most popular and classic route at the Gunks. We were lucky, there was only one party ahead of us when we arrived. The first pitch was streaming with water from the rain the night before, but I managed to get through it and up onto the beautiful face of the second pitch and then to the High E ledge without a problem. When Tim arrived at the ledge, he looked like a kid at Christmas, but I’m not sure what the look on his face was when he looked up at the huge overhang of the last pitch.

The last pitch was as amazing as I remembered it and when Tim topped out he was wittering away with excitement. We rappelled down the route beside High E and I got a few more pictures on the way down. At the base of the cliff, we found a couple dozen climbers gathered around the base, waiting for the route or climbing one of the many direct variations on it. I had forgotten just how busy the Gunks got!

We headed back along the cliff looking for another classic route to do. Tim wanted to lead, so we were looking for a good route for him, but everything had queues of climbers waiting for them. We kept walking South until we finally came to a free climb, Easy Overhang and started up it. It shared the first belay with the route Baby which two other climbers were doing, so we got to chatting with them a bit.

After finishing Easy Overhang, we decided to call it a day and headed into New Paltz for dinner. We ate until we were stuffed, had a couple of blueberry beers, then headed back out to the Gristmill for the night. Tim and I were hanging out in the van having a few more beer when Rene and Eva (the climbers we met earlier on the belay ledge) showed up. We talked about climbing and US politics over a couple more beer then decided to climb together on Sunday at the Near Trapps in hope that it would be less crowded.

Sunday morning we stopped off for breakfast and a coffee before heading up to the Near Trapps. We ran into Danielle and Mike from Deep River as we walked in. They were one pitch up Gelsa. We continued down the cliff looking for an open route until we finally came to Up Yours and Loose Goose. The pro on Up Yours looked a bit sketchy, so we decided to head up Loose Goose. Eva led up first, then after she brought Rene up, Tim led the first Pitch. Eva set off up the overhanging 5.8 variation above the belay in a great lead and I headed off across the wandering 5.5 pitch.

We all ended up shivering at the same belay high on the cliff. We couldn’t pick out a decent route through the wet and overgrown upper face despite Eva’s foraging half way up through trees, dirt and water, so we set up a rappel and headed down.

We walked back along the base of the cliff looking for a free route, but nothing was open and none of us felt like a hard lead, so we decided to call it a day. Rene and Eva started their drive home. Tim and I headed back into New Paltz for dinner.

During the night, the wind came up and the temperature dropped. We headed for breakfast and a coffee and hoped that it would warm up enough to climb, but by the time we got to the cliff the wind was howling and cutting right through us. So we decided to cut our losses and start the long drive home. Just then, Kit Moore showed up and not being put off by the cold headed up to the cliff leaving both of us feeling a bit guilty. Not guilty enough to get us on the cliff though, so we started driving.

As we headed home, the weather got progressively worse, so I think we made the right decision. I have put the photos up, so make sure you check them out. I got some great shots this weekend.

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