The Gunks!

This weekend I traveled up to the Gunks to do some climbing with David and Maraya, some friends I met at the Rendezvous. Since I got to New Paltz first I was delegated the critical task of securing a good campsite at the multi-use (read multi-abuse) area. I managed to claim a relatively flat and rock free spot pretty far from the road, and it didn't get very crowded since no one else seemed to want to hike up the gigantic hill that lead there. After pitching the tents we went out to dinner and then to shop rite to pick up some last minute supplies.

Despite a rain scare in the early morning hours, the weather on Saturday was warm and clear with a light breeze...perfect climbing weather! Our first climb, Beginners Delight (5.3) was aptly named since it was to be my very first multi-pitch route and to say I was delighted would be the understatement of the century. It took me a little while to get used to how much more exposed the cliff there is than other places I had climbed, but by the second pitch I was hooked. Nothing like looking down during a climb and noticing birds soaring a good fifty feet below you!

For our second climb of the day we settled on Updraft (5.5) a three pitch climb that ended with a rather narrow chimney. One thing I will say about the Gunks is most of the climbs seem rather stiff for their grade... The second pitch could have easily passed for a 5.7. That, combined with the necessity of using 3 rusty old pitons in a row as protection, means Maraya gets mad respect points for leading that thing. There were a couple of sections that had me rather nervous and I was on top rope! We ended up moving a bit slower that we expected, which resulted in a totally safe but still rather freaky three pitch rappel by moonlight, involving one scary tiny ledge.

We got a rather late start on Sunday, owing to the fact that we slept soundly until 9:30 and still had to break camp. We did a bit of bouldering to warm up and then had a rather leisurely lunch, which left enough time for just one more climb. We settled on Andrew (5.4), a four pitch climb (one pitch being walk across the GT ledge to the next belay station...) with a long traverse on the third pitch. Learning from our previous mistake we took along a headlamp, even though we were starting the climb at around 3pm and should have been down in plenty of time. Thank God we did because we ended up getting caught up behind another party and by the time we got started on the last two pitches (which David combined into one) the sun was already going down. Without the headlamp we would have had a lot of trouble finding the rappel station, which was some 400 yards climbers left, and even more trouble checking our setup as the moon was completely useless in the cloudy sky. To save time David took the second rope down first to set up the second rappell and I continued right on to the ground while he waited for Maraya so he could pull the first rope. Once off of the actual cliff we commenced a rather treacherous 4th class scramble back to the main trail.

Needless to say we packed plenty of adventure into those two short days. The funny thing about adventure though is the more you have the more you crave. I'm hoping to get back to the Gunks at least two more times before the season ends...who's with me?