Posts tagged Trip Report

Full view of the section where Retour des Loups-Garous is

Cold craging at Montagne d’Argent

2 weeks ago

It was under 6 degrees celsius most of the day today, but no one was complaining and we were having fun, so cold craging can’t be that bad!

This is just a quick note to give my impressions on the 2 climbs we did today. Both climbs are on the right side of Grand Canyon.

Le Retour des Loups-Garous (5.8-)

This is a sport route that has 6 bolts up the double bolt anchors. You’ll have to rappel off this one. A 60m rope will get you back to the ground.

  • Crux if off the ground, so if 5.8 is your limit, you’ll probably want a stick-clip.
  • There are two or three delicate friction moves at the very top, but not very high above the bolt.

 

Full view of the section where Retour des Loups-Garous is

Mid way up Le Retour des Loups-Garous

Just about the hit the couple of slab moves at the top

Chute Libre (5.8)

Trad route with a bolt just before a unprotectable slab. Finishes at a double bolt anchor. A 60m rope will get you back to the ground.

  • The route is superbly well protectable. I didn’t use anything above a C4 #2. Medium gear was pluggable a plenty. A couple bomber nuts along the way.
  • Nice foot jams for about 15 or 20 feet. We’re not used to them around here.
  • The crux is definitely at the top when hitting the slab. Luckily, it’s protected with a very well placed bolt. 
  • A GREAT line! Do not miss.

A view of Chute Libre

 

Another view of Chute Libre. The obvious crack in the middle

Early morning at Round Pond

And then there were nine; Dix today.

3 weeks ago

With a possible trip to Denver in a couple of weeks, I wanted to get out on the trails to get back my trail legs. I hadn’t set out on the trails in over 5 weeks given that the climbing season is on. With the rainy forecast, I elected to choose something not too long, so Dix it was. 

At 9:00 AM I was off from the Round Pond trailhead. The trail is somewhat flat and un-inspiring until you hit the slide. Of course, this lack of  enthusiasm for the trail may be directly related to the fact that there were no views to speak of given that the cloud cover was low.

The fun started at the base of the slide; I chose to follow the north side slide up to the top; this was impromptu as I just couldn’t resist following it once I was at it’s base. There were very tricky sections (given that it was raining) as well as some ice, but all in all, a nice slide climb. Unfortunately, the route I took didn’t bring me to the very top; this meant a nasty, nasty, dense and painful bushwhack to summit.

The descent was done through the normal route.

 

Note: I’ve been made aware of the issues of mud-season in the Adirondacks; this is a concept I wasn’t aware of so I’ll have to plead ignorance on this one … 

Greeting at the first parking lot

Mediocre guide for mediocre climbers looking to climb moderates in Rumney

1 month ago

Last weekend was my first time in Rumney. William and I figured it would be nice to spend 3 days clipping bolts instead of plugging gear. This is my take away from the few climbs I did at my first (and not last) visit to Rumney.  Note: All grades mentioned here are taken from the excellent Ward Smith Rumney guide book.

The first thing you’ll notice when you pull into the first parking lot (from Rumney) is that the rock looks horrible. It literally looks like you’ll be climbing choss and lichen … But worry not; this place is filled with quality climbs, especially for moderate mediocre climbers (like myself).

Greeting at the first parking lot

Day 1

Empty parking lot early Friday morning.

The Meadows

We wanted to get a feeling for the grades, so something well within our comfort range was what we were looking for. Just a couple of minutes from the parking lot is the Meadows which hosts a LOT of beautiful and fun moderates.

Mom’s Pancake (5.4)

Our first climb of the weekend and not terribly fun at that. There is a small run-out at the center which is easily avoided by clipping the bong in the horizontal mid way up. William and I both did the face only version, but I’ve read of others stemming the corner as an alternative. Either way, it was easy little climb to settle back into leading on rock.

Mom's Pankake (5.4) goes up the wall in the front.

Rose Garden (5.7)

We then moved left just a few feet to the obvious Rose Garden. The line follows the top of an overhang making the prospect of a fall not cool at all. This climb made us happy to have whipped up a stick clip with a trekking pole just before leaving; without it, I doubt I would have had the kahoonas to head out on it (as with many other climbs during the weekend — those first bolts can be sometime high for the mediocre climber like me). All in all, an ok climb, with no obvious crux or scary runouts.

Our rope on Rose Garden

The Parking Lot Wall

Looking down at the parking lot from ... The Parking Lot Wall

Percolator (5.5 – 5.5/7?)

After lunch, we headed up to see what was to the left of The Parking Lot Wall. While waiting for the cool 5.6 chimney to free up, we headed up Percolator. William took the first lead and he hesitated for a long time at the top; after doing the lead myself, I understood why. You expect it to be a 5.5 move, but I would have to say that the last move is beyond that by a grade or two. I found this climb to somewhat suck and would not recommend it to a new leader.

Cafe Au Lait (5.6)

Finally, a great climb! Up to now, the results were so-so, but that was just bad luck I guess. From the bottom, the chimney looks chossy and dirty, but once you hit it, the rock is beautiful. Fun stemming throughout the chimney section. Too bad it’s so short though …

William on the delightful Cafe Au Lait (5.6)

Easily Amused (5.6)

Another short and somewhat fun climb. Sort of run-out, but it’s relatively easy, so no worries. 3 bolts to the anchors.

Glory Jean’s (5.7)

Highlight of the day! What a stellar climb this is; there is a bit of everything on this climb. The traverse at the top is spicy, but oh so fun … I’d recommend that below the anchors (towards the end of the climb) you move left, then back right to the anchors. A direct finish seems improbable, especially at my level. Don’t miss this one!

Cooking diner on Friday

Day 2

The 5.8 Crag

Snake Skin Slab (5.8)

The second day started with a cool climb at the limit of my head space. It was a rough and spooky start of day 2, but I got through it with no hangs, no pump and no falls. A few tricky moves with a safe run-out at the top.

The Terrace (5.8)

A complete bomb of a climb … I disliked it like none other I did over the weekend. It was both unsafe and unfun with all that ledge fall potential. Not recommended!

Crowded 5.8 Crag Saturday morning

Another look at 5.8 Crag

After that, 5.8 Crag had nothing left to offer to the moderate climbers we are. So we headed further up the mountain to Upper Darth Vader which seemed to hold a few nice moderates. This turned out to be the best section for us with 4 great climbs within our range.

Upper Darth Vader

Pee Wee’s Playhouse (5.4 and 5.6)

Great little bolted crack line which if done on the left of the bolts is 5.4 and if done on the right following the crack is 5.6. We did it both ways and found it fun both times. Recommended.

Frosted Flakes (5.7)

William and I waited almost 1 hour for this climb to free up and it was well worth the wait. This one felt a lot more like a Gunks climb than a Rumney climb. Don’t miss this one; a few mention that it is pumpy, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. Fun moves with nice big holds most of the way.

Blustery Day (5.6)

Another fun moderate. This one is soft of under the radar, but it shouldn’t be missed. Even though it’s short there is a great variety of moves.

Rumney trails are super clear. No bushwhacking here.

Upper Darth Vader Wall.

Jimmy Cliff

We then headed up to Jimmy Cliff to do a few of the great moderates supposed to be up there, but the crag was so crowded that there was no chance at all of us even getting close to them. We did end up going to the left side of the cliff to do a couple easy multi-pitch climbs though. The next time we head out to Rumney, Jimmy Cliff will be our first top to get all those nice moderates ticked.

Lady and the Tramp (5.4)

A cool 2 pitch climb that parallels Clip-a-dee-doh-dah to its right. William lead both pitches in his sneakers and within about 30 minutes, we were done. When we have 2 bolt anchors to work with, we move fast; and with no gear to place, it’s even faster. Recommended!

Standard Route (5.3)

I hadn’t placed any gear all weekend, so I figured we’d also romp back up the slabs through Standard Route. Another route which I wouldn’t really recommend, but it was still somewhat fun nonetheless (at least I was placing gear). I did it with my sneakers and I ran it out placing 3 or 4 pieces per pitch.

William setting up the anchors after a lead in his running shoes :)

Setting off on P2 of Lady and the Tramp

Topout of Lady and the Tramp

Day 3

Our last day in Rumney turned out to be cold; so much so that a couple of times Sunday morning, we were climbing in light snow flakes. That couldn’t deter us from that last half-day of climbing though. The day started early (again, one of the first cars at the lot) at Orange Crush crag.

Orange Crush and New Wave Wall

Sign from the overflow parking lot

Orange Sunshine (5.5)

When you look up at this climb from the bottom, it looks horrible; wet and full of lichen. But don’t be fooled. This is one of the nicer climbs we did all weekend and luckily for us, a couple guys were just finishing with it and recommended it. If it hadn’t been for them, we would probably have walked off. Don’t miss this one! Great rock with very spice last moves before the anchor.

Couch Potato (5.9)

My hardest lead of the week, and unfortunately, I took a single hang at the last bolt to figure out the top off. This lead taught me something though; that I can definitely get onto those pumpy overhanging 5.10′s which I will be doing on my next visit. A fun, short climb with a lot of jugs to hang off of.

Sixth Sense (5.6)

Not much to say about this one; it’s a climb. It’s moderate. It’s mediocre. But it’s still a climb and I had fun doing it!

Back to The Meadows

Bolt Line (5.8)

Just before heading back home, we decided on a last climb; and what a last climb it was. I found this climb to be absolutely awesome. The movement on it is sooooo precise; technique (for me) was everything! You are always standing on tiny nubs holding on to tiny crimps; but it’s always there it and it always holds. There is a scary runout at the end of the climb, a very scary one for someone getting into the grade. But once it was all said and done, I was a proud little guy! Vigorously recommended!

 

As a side note, I’d like to congratulate and thank everyone involved in making Rumney what it is. I was shocked at how well everything is setup and how well all the routes are equipped. For a place which is absolutely to climb at, this was surprising to say the least.

Uphill lean-to. My sleeping quarters for 2 nights

Weekend herdpath galore – Gray, Redfield, Cliff and Marshall

2 months ago

With most if not all marked trails out of the way on my quest to do the NY 46, the stage was set for a big weekend of herdpaths. This weekend, it made sense for me to combine Gray, Redfield, Cliff and Marshall. I was successful and the task was easier than I’d like to admit; apart from Gray, all trails were well broken in, visible and very well packed.

Day 1 – The walk in

On Friday, I set out at about 1PM from work to park at the LOJ for a walk up to the Uphill lean-to. The attendant mentioned that the brook was too high to pass on foot and that I should park at South Meadows instead. Obviously, on a weekend planned for over 30 miles of hiking, the extra couple miles didn’t bother me.

I started the hike at about 4:30. My body wasn’t feeling strong because of a very bad flu I had been going through the preceding days. Nonetheless, I was at the Uphill lean-to about 4 hours later, taking the route through Lake Arnold to get there. On the way up, a couple of gentlemen mentioned that Opalescent was impassable. With my tent on me, I figured I’d just stop there and re-assess the next morning if need be. They were right; but I had read the Allen instruction book for winter 2012 and had 2 large plastic bags to cover my legs with. 15 minutes later, I was across. Dry.

The lean-to was already occupied by a group of 3. I rudely setup shop between a couple of them and got to bed early.

Day 2 – Gray, Redfield, Cliff

At 8:30, I was out of bed and ready to hike. Gray was the first target of the day, and I needed to be back at Uphill for 11AM to meet up with a group of hikers joining me to do Redfield and Cliff.

All in all, Gray was done quickly. I was the first one up there in a while so the herd path were mostly covered. I obviously got off track a few times, but in the end, I got to the top at about 9:45. The views were awesome with Marcy and Skylight in full view. After a few minutes at the top taking advantage of the sun, I was off for a quick descent to meet with my group.

At 11:00 precisely, they showed up at Uphill and we were off for Redfield and Cliff; both these were done extremely quickly as well, so much so that at 3:00 we were done. The views on both summits were surprisingly good (I hadn’t heard anything good about these 2 summits).

Day 3 – Marshall

After another shitty night (this time, we were 6 at the lean-to with at least 3 snorers), I set out for Marshall. My legs weren’t as strong as the day before and the ascent towards Marshall was slow to say the least. Nonetheless, I got it done and by 5:00 PM, I was back at my car, totally spent.

The Stats

Gray Peak stands at 4826 feet, Redfield at 4606, Cliff Mountain at 3944 and finally Marshall tops out at 4380 feet. The 3 days combined had me walk about 50 km (30 miles) going up about 7500 feet of elevation gain.

The GPS log data can be seen here (day 1), here (day 2) and here (day 3).

The Photos

 

 

Early morning start

Easy going on the Santanoni range

3 months ago

I’d heard that the range was difficult and possibly nightmarish in bad conditions. But yesterday, with a beautiful day, broken out trails, early start and a great team with me, the 18 miles were done quickly and with no snags.

Yesterday was the 8th Winter Gathering where the organizers try to put someone on each one of the 46ers in the Adirondacks. I had asked to be on the Santanoni Range team.

Six of us started out at the trailhead at 6:30 after a night spent in Newcomb. But there were much more than 6 of us out there. In my last year of hiking, aside from Cascade, I had never seen as many people on the trails.

Roughly 3 1/2 hours after starting, we were atop Panther. The walk up to Herald Square was constant and in the packed snow, relatively easy. Snow shoes were donned somewhat early in the hike, something that I hadn’t done often this year.

Then commenced the walk down to Couchsachraga. At 11AM, we were at it’s summit and at just over noon, back at Time Square to have some lunch. Again, snow conditions were more than perfect.

Santanoni was then quickly dispatched and at 1:30 we were back on our way to Times Square. Some time was lost on Santanoni trying to find the express way back down, but we figured that the extra few miles weren’t worth the risk of having to bushwhack through spruce traps.

At 2:20, we were back at the Time square and at 4:45, back at the cars.

The Stats

My GPS died for a few minutes of the hike, so the track log isn’t necessary precise. Nonetheless, the tracklog can be viewed here.

Panther Peak stands at 4,442 feet; Couchsachraga at 3,783 feet and Santanoni at 4,606. The hike took us about 10.5 hours and had us walking close to 19 miles (30km). The elevation gain was in the vicinity of 5000 feet.

Current Conditions

As mentioned before, the conditions were perfect. No tricky sections worth mentioning and all water ways were frozen over.

The Pictures
The Tracklog


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