It has been a long cold winter in the great white north. And of course calling it the great white north is only for folks who don’t live here, because we consider the great white north something else entirely.

Just got back from a road trip with my good friend Joe to Stanton Kentucky. This is the second trip we have done down that way. The weather was consistently just above zero celsius, and the rock is so overhanging so that you can find a lot of climbing that stays dry even in torrential downpour.

Bob Marley Crag is one such crag. With the lowest level of climb being a 5.11a, this is a stiff place to climb. Joe and I were feeling confident in our climbing after the first three days, and I was regularly onsighting 5.11a, so I decided that this would be a good push. My goal had been to get onto a 5.12a, and this was my chance.

There was lots of fun to be had at the crag. We jumped onto a 5.11a called Toker, which was definitely a four star at minimum. Jumping from a large boulder for the start, it was a great photo opportunity.

The rest of the climb was easy cruising to the top, with some harder, stretchy moves for clipping the anchors. All in all a great climb.

We proceeded to get onto an 11.d and a 12.a on the massive overhanging portion of the crag. I managed the 11.d in a one hang, and the 12.a on a three hang. Not bad for my first 5.12a ever. Looks like a good start to the climbing season.

Last Sunday a friend and I attempted to take a crack at the Diagonal route on Wallface, which is in the Lake Placid area. The guidebook says that it is about a 6 mile hike in from where we were parking, and then on top of that, a 30 minute approach from “Summit Rock”, which is a lookout that lets you see the entirety of the face.

Wallface is a mile long cliff that climbs 1200′. It is the tallest free climb in the Adirondacks. I saw this as an opportunity to push myself, challenge my skills, and to gain more experience with some exposure. Since I was going with someone who had done a lot more climbing than I had, I was willing to do some multi-pitch that was a little higher grade than I might comfortably lead with so much exposure (5.8). I have led trad routes as high has 5.9, but being so high off the ground can certainly alter one’s perceptions.

We had driven down the night before, and were up before the sun was. In our excitement, and neither of us having been there before, we started down the path.

The wrong path.

This took us about a mile out of our way, and put us leaving the parking lot around 8:40, instead of an hour earlier. Once we were onto the proper path, we traveled quickly. The first half of the journey went swiftly, and in no time we were within two miles of our destination. At this point, we gained a little elevation, and began climbing some very icy slopes which dropped our speed significantly.

Being Canadian, I have the foolish notion that 6 miles is not that far. In my mind, miles and kilometers are not that different, and I think that 6 miles will feel a little longer than 6 km, but it won’t be too bad. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

By the time we reached Summit Rock, I was cooked. It was a beautiful sunny day, and all I wanted was to have a nap. My legs hurt, my back hurt, and the 70 meter rope on my back  would not center properly. We arrived at about 11:30. We were expecting to go slow on the climb, probably expecting 4 hours up and down, since we both hadn’t gotten to any multi-pitch in a couple months. That combined with an early sunset this time of year, and the icy slopes, I was feeling off about the post-hike out. Then we noticed the ice at the top of the climb.

The diagonal route runs along a 40 degree diagonal shelf about midway up the cliff. We noticed that ice had already formed at the top of the climb, directly above the shelf. The day was sunny and warm, and ice was already peeling off the wall in other locations.

After everything, we decided not to climb. I wasn’t sure that I could climb and then make it back to the car in the same day, and the ice was a factor that made the whole thing feel bad. One never wants to be the one to say no, but my gut was going crazy. I felt somewhat justified on the hike out when one of the sofa sized pieces of ice landed on the very platform we would have been belaying from, but it was still a bummer to not climb.

Snapped this picture from summit rock. Maybe next year.

Recently Joe and I went rock climbing down in the Chapel Pond Pass area, where we had the following multi-pitch itinerary: Prince, 5.7, 340 feet, Bob’s Knob Standard, 5.3, 840 feet, Regular Route, 5.5, 775 feet, and Weisner Route, 5.6, 335 feet.

Here is what actually happened. We started off with Prince. Since it was the first multi-pitch we had ever done, it made sense to try something with fixed belay anchors. Unfortunately we found that at each of the stations, at least one of the bolts was a spinner. So we were jumping in with both feet. The climb went well, cold by the end and a good rappel.

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Things continued to go a little odd. We jumped onto Chapel Pond Slab the next day, firing up Bob’s Knob Standard to give us something light. That went well until we got past the 2nd pitch. We realized that we flew by the second belay standard for Bob’s Knob Standard, placing us smack onto the belay station for the Regular Route. At this point we decided that we might as well just go with it, and we finished up on the rest of the Regular Route. Fantastic climb, great experience getting 800 feet off the deck.

The next day we were on our way out of our campsite, which happens to be right beside Roaring Brook Falls. At this point, we had already done the climb we were planning for the day, the Upper Washbowl was closed due to peregrine falcon nesting, so it seemed like a decent idea to try firing up the route on Roaring Brook Falls.

The first half was great, the second half was a bushwhack. There was a great pool of water about halfway up, but then the normal route was pretty wet due to the time of year, so we did an alternate. Which was a bushwhack. Gross. I’d love to come back when it was drier so that we could do the normal route.

Anyways, here is some video highlights from the trip.

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I figured I should get a post out from trip we took down to Kentucky’s Red River Gorge this week, since I’m on my way out to the Keene Valley area in the Adirondacks this coming weekend. I’ve split the trip up into the different walls that we climbed at, since there was a lot of overlap between days.

Practice Wall:

Exactly like it sounds, Practice wall is one of two places where people go for some rock climbing that is not too threatening (the second being Animal Crackers, which we did not visit). The climbs are short, and relatively easy (with the exception of a 5.11 on the far right side). There are two parts two the practice wall. We started at the first part, where the trail first intersects the cliff. There is a string of low to moderate climbs along this cliff. As you travel further left, there will be a break in the cliff, and then some more climbing. This has some more moderate routes (5.8 and up) which are a little taller, maybe reaching 45 feet at the highest. The climbing is only good if you’ve had a solid day of sun the day before, since the overhangs are not extreme enough to protect the base of the cliff. The first climb we tried, called Low Exposure (5.8), had the most convenient belay spot in the middle of a stream of water coming off the cliff higher up. Not to be cowed by a little water, we climbed it anyways. The climb is a little slabby, a little crimpy, and even though it is a 5.8, it will take your route finding to task. I tried out a short bouldery 5.10a called Beta Spewer, that I think I should have been able to do, but sleep deprivation got the better of me. My favorite climb of the wall was Crescent Moon, which resides on the far left side of the area. It has some fun under clings and side pulls, but the base was muddy and the top had a puddle you have to climb through if the weather has been wet.

Bruise Brother’s Wall:

This is the wall that we kept coming back to. With an overhang that extends 20 feet out from the base of the cliff, this spot is great in heat of summer, perfect for a rainy day, and a good spread of climbing for everyone. I hit my personal best here, by onsighting a 5.11a sport route. Routes are longer here, averaging about 70 feet in the spots that are out from under the overhang, and about 50 feet underneath. The high traffic around here makes it somewhat crowded, so don’t expect to be able to walk on and start climbing during high season, you’ll have to wait in line. If you can get there early I would recommend it because there are some grade A climbs here.

Tectonic and Johnny’s Walls:

These are two walls that are within 100 feet of each other. We climbed here on the coldest day, with full cloud cover and averaging about 5 degrees Celsius, so the fact that these walls barely get any sun until late in the afternoon made it cold climbing. Plate Tectonics was an absolute classic, though my hands were screaming from climbing on cold rock by the end. The holds look great from the bottom, but what look like jugs are far more sloped than you might expect, causing you to rely on under-clings and side pulls. The base of the main cliff, with the exclusion of Tall Cool One (5.9), have some pretty stiff starts for the grade, ranging from 5.9 to 5.10c. As you climb the wall becomes more and more overhanging, so moving fast is pretty key. I took my time which in retrospect should have cost me the onsight. Tall Cool One was a great warm up climb, with some interesting finger pockets and fun lie-backing flakes. Once again, the cold makes it hard to tell whether the sloper you’ve got your hand on will hold you or not, so while many of the grades seemed harder to me, it was a cold day to be sure.

Hideout Wall:

Another golden climbing spot. This had some of the highest climbs that we did during our trip. Preemptive Strike, a 5.10c with a cruxy start, was my favorite of the trip. Once you got past the initial hard part, it was sweet cruising the rest of the 90 feet all the way to the top, where there is a breathtaking view of Muir Valley. I highly recommend this to anyone who can climb the grade, and even if you can’t, use the tree right next to it to get past the start so you can catch the view. There were a few wet spots when we climbed here from snow melt on the top of the cliff, and whole section of the wall that didn’t get enough sun to dry off in a day. You can climb here if its rained the day before and is now sunny, but its not a rainy day destination.

The Weather

Talking to Miguel when we were at the campground, apparently we ended up seeing their worst snow storm of the winter. Funny that we caught it in March, but apparently this weather is not typical of the area. He was telling us that the peak climbing season in May, since it gets too hot from June on, and then again in September/October.

Miguel’s Campground

Not a doubt in my mid, this place is absolutely fantastic. How can you go wrong with cheap camping, cheap pizza, and gear, fabulous gear. Admittedly, it was a little crowded, and this was only a few weeks after it opened. I can just imagine what it would be like in June. The community of climbers there was very encouraging, so it was a real pleasure to connect with people. Ironically, though not that surprising,  we ran into a bunch of people from Canada, some folks from Ottawa, and also New Brunswick. I guess we were all looking for some winter climbing, though the snow was certainly a surprise.

That’s all for now.