Today's Climb

Hiked to Shanty Cliffs at the peak of foliage last fall, man it was sweet.  Nice one.

http://nyskiblog.com/shanty-cliffs-ny/

That's an epic TR, Harv. Thanks for bumping it back up.

Hammond Pond Wild Forest ?? Are you sure? I’ve been hiking the ADK Quest hikes lately and that area is one of them but I thought it was over by Schroon Lake. Great pictures I also relooked at Harvs last falls photos both great TKS guys.

I thought it was Wilcox across the river.

Thanks HH.

JJ, did you climb, or just a recon visit?

You're right, meant to write Wilcox Lake Wild Forest.

We climbed a couple pitches there, only had a couple hours free though. Looks like a surprising variety of routes there, lots of cool looking stuff in the 5.10-5.11 range. The one sport route we did reminded me of some of Rumney's moderates, great steep jug-hauling. I think it was called Swampoodle, a 5.8.

Tons of bees on Laurel right now, but I kept my headgame in check.

Feeling completely unstoppable right now with months left to climb!

Took a gamble on today's weather and headed up to Chapel Pond to climb.  Turned out to be a fine day in the mountains:

Washbowl cliff from Chapel Pond:


One of the benefits of a murky start to the day (the weather I mean, not me) is getting your pick of crags.  Jewels and Gems (or is it Gems and Jewels?) is one of my favorite crags, but it's basically a one-party crag.  Whenever we head up to climb at Chapel Pond, if there are no cars at the Gems and Jewels pull-out, my policy is to snag it.  That's what we did today.



The bottom of the cliff was damp when we arrived in the late morning, but sun and a decent breeze dried things out nicely.  The highlight of Jewels and Gems is a beautiful handcrack that rises diagonally to the right:  North Country Club Crack, aka NC3.  It's a 5.6, so even though there are some spicy moves, it's all there. But due to its diagonal orientation, if you come off the climb (on toprope), you're going for a long swing.  A nicer dad could set up a directional on the route to lessen the risk of a "pendulum" fall, but we just have our kids start to the right of NCCC and climb straight up until they intersect the handcrack. Beth and I do NCCC from the ground up.  If you don't want a pendie, don't come off the climb. Problem solved.  Directionals are for pussies.

Looking down from partway up North Country Club Crack:


Kids are natural climbers, and both of our kids do really well.  For just 7 years old, Sylvie is amazing.  


As much as I love climbing, I'm content to set up the route and belay Beth and the kids. If I climb a pitch or two (and I always do at least that much), I'm more than happy.  I just love handling the rope, clicking the gear, feeling the rock, being in the mountains, encouraging everyone. Here's Daniel:



We messed around at Gems and Jewels for several hours (my rule of thumb is that 4 hours is a good climbing session with kids), then popped our SUP in Chapel Pond to take turns paddling around.  The afternoon had gotten warm, so the cool water felt great.  The sky had turned gorgeous, with big puffy cumulus clouds.  If there's a prettier spot on earth than Chapel Pond, I can't think of it.  This is Beth on the board:



Incidentally, the whitish, right-rising streak to the left of Beth is the two pitches of Tilman's Arete, one of the climbs JJP24 recently wrote about on the blog, and another of my favorite climbs in the Chapel Pond area.

There's a resident loon at Chapel Pond, and he popped up quite close to us at various times as we paddled and swam.





We topped it all off with wings and Ubu (chocolate milk for the kids) at the Ausable Inn.  Days like this, I don't miss winter one bit.

 Directionals are for pussies.


LOL
That rock looks nice and smooth, unlike the Gunks were you can go for a ride on the cheese grater...

Adk Jeff wrote

Sylvie is amazing.  

Great TR and photos.

Back up to Chapel Pond yesterday to climb.  This time we headed to the Beer Walls.  Despite being one of the most popular crags in the Adirondacks, there were just 2 cars at the parking spot.  You can usually count on a dozen other parties on a summer weekend.  Maybe everyone was just being a weather weenie as there were some threatening clouds.  The day stayed dry though and the sun came out from time to time.

View from the Beer Walls:


Set up a top rope on 7 Ounces and 3.2, two short but very popular climbs on the upper Beer Wall.  Daniel on 3.2:


Me being belay master, Beth is on 7 Ounces:

The difference in grades between the two photos above ^^ is pretty obvious. The fingercrack Beth is climbing is rated 5.7, the blocky crack Daniel is on is 5.4.

We went over to set up on Afternoon Delight, but of course one of the two other parties at the Beer Walls had already taken the climb.  I don't usually criticize how other parties set up their climbs, but I thought this toprope set up was abysmal and used it as a teaching moment for the kids on the importance of extending your anchor so you don't saw your rope to shit.  

I cringed as the climber was being lowered and the rope scraped across all that sharp Adirondack anorthosite.  We do a lot of top roping, and our static line is indispensable for setting up toprope anchors.

We moved over to the Fast & Furious block on the lower Beer Wall and set up for Jugs of Beer and Live Free or Die. This is a convenient pair of climbs because the kids can do Jugs (5.4) and Beth & I can (try to) climb LFD (5.9+). Here's Daniel stemming up Jugs:


D's got a couple cams hanging from his harness in the photo above^^.  He likes to bring gear up and practice making placements.  Here's Sylvie on the same climb.  She's really got to stretch to make the same stemming moves:


Live Free or Die is the thin finger crack to the right of Jugs.  There are some very thin bouldery moves at the bottom that lead to the crack. It's freakin' hard.  I may have made it to the top once a bunch of years back.  I didn't today.

After finishing up the climbs, we picked up some summer sausage (made in VT... boo!), a block of cheddar, some chips and some Ubu at the Keene Valley Market and had a late afternoon picnic at Chapel Pond before heading back home.

We brought our SUP along again and paddled & swam. It wasn't quite as beautiful an afternoon as we had last weekend, but the water felt just as nice.

Jeff, I am not a climber but it doesn't take one to have enough presence of mind to know just how dangerous that rope setup was chaffing over the rocks like that.

Let me ask what is likely a very stupid question, how do you get to the top to set the belay rope without climbing it, is there a trail or safe climb that gets you there so you can set the rig? I have often wondered this as I have traveled past Chapel pond and seen the climbers.

PeeTex wrote

Jeff, I am not a climber but it doesn't take one to have enough presence of mind to know just how dangerous that rope setup was chaffing over the rocks like that.

Let me ask what is likely a very stupid question, how do you get to the top to set the belay rope without climbing it, is there a trail or safe climb that gets you there so you can set the rig? I have often wondered this as I have traveled past Chapel pond and seen the climbers.

Never climbed there specifically but usually you can ascend a "walk off" or you lead it and then set up the TR.

That system is total shite pictured above. Even with just that gear I might opt for a single anchor point off the tree with the sling and then extend it over the cliff with the cord so it isn't rubbing on the rocks. That slab looks smoothish going over the edge, but I've heard of multiple accounts of climbing parties destroying their rope while climbing in the past year. YMMV, but that's poor form and an extra 30ft of rope actually costs nothing to do it right, regardless.

nothing = $8, hmmm is that worth it?

PeeTex wrote

Let me ask what is likely a very stupid question, how do you get to the top to set the belay rope without climbing it, is there a trail or safe climb that gets you there so you can set the rig?

In this case the access trail comes in along the top of the cliff, so you set the rope at the top and then scramble down an access trail at one end of the cliff to the base of the climb.

Climbs are either "led" or "top-roped."  In lead climbs, the first climber (the "leader") climbs the pitch from the bottom, placing protection along the way.  He anchors himself at the top and then belays the "follower" up the pitch.  The follower removes the protection as he climbs. The climbers then either walk back down an access trail or rappel back to the base, or - in the case of "multi-pitch" climbs - continue up more pitches in the same manner until they reach the top of the climb.  Each pitch is one rope length (generally 50 or 60 meters).

In a top rope climb, you pre-set the anchor at the top.  The belayer is at the bottom of the climb and the rope runs up through a set of locking carabiners pulley-style and back down to the climber.  As the climber ascends, the belayer keeps the rope tight.  After the climber reaches the top, the belayer lowers him back down to the ground. Top roping is a very safe way to climb (assuming you set it up properly) because no climber is ever exposed to a "lead fall," which occurs when a climber is above his last protection point and slips off the climb (it happens, and it can be very scary).  The limitation is that you can only toprope a pitch that is half the length of your rope, and you need to be able to access the top anchor in order to set the climb up.  Sometimes a climber will lead up a pitch, set up a toprope anchor at the top, then get lowered back down and everyone else climbs on a top rope.

Some say that if you're not leading you're not climbing.  That's because when you're on lead, you're putting everything on the line so to speak.  There's no safety of a top rope.  If you fall, it's gonna at least suck.  The leader is under  pressure to find the correct route, place protection properly, and make difficult and sometimes strenuous moves to get up the pitch.  Being on the "sharp end" of the rope can be intense,  stressful (especially if you're climbing at the edge of your ability, it's best to lead 2 or so grades below) and yet also highly rewarding.  It's what sucks you into climbing and gets you addicted.

Hope that helps explain a bit of the how and why.  Of course the "why" part can never be fully explained...

taken from this awesome and educational site: jiveassanchors.files.wordpress.com

Thanks Jeff,
A clear and knowledgeable answer. I had always wondered if there was an access trail to the ledges, now I know.

ml242 wrote

That system is total shite pictured above. Even with just that gear I might opt for a single anchor point off the tree with the sling and then extend it over the cliff with the cord so it isn't rubbing on the rocks. That slab looks smoothish going over the edge, but I've heard of multiple accounts of climbing parties destroying their rope while climbing in the past year. YMMV, but that's poor form and an extra 30ft of rope actually costs nothing to do it right, regardless.

nothing = $8, hmmm is that worth it?

A 40 or 50ft static rope is inexpensive, durable and gives you lots of flexibility in setting up top-rope anchors. In a situation like the one pictured above, the static rope makes setting up the anchor a piece of cake.  I think a lot of parties don't bother carrying a static line for whatever reason.  Maybe they just assume there's going to be bolts or that Mother Nature's going to grow a stout, convenient tree at the top of every top-ropable climb.  It ain't the gym out here.  

Thanks for posting that jiveassanchors.files.wordpress.com site ML.  I hadn't come across it before.  I may just send in my Afternoon Delight photo.

Incidentally PeeTex, the climbers that you see driving through Chapel Pond pass are probably on the Chapel Pond slabs (visible on the left just before Chapel Pond as you are driving in from the Northway).  The routes there are 4 to 7 pitches long and are not top-ropable.  At the top of the climbs, you descend a rough trail with 2 rappels to get back to the base.  The Beer Walls, where we climbed on Sat, are not visible from the road.  The Beer Walls are also known as Chapel Pond Canyon.  Pretty much everything at the Beer Walls is top-ropable.

Great pics of the kids...
Last time i climbed there it was after a rain..It was quit dark and dank back there..Still cool climbing

PeeTex wrote

Thanks Jeff,
A clear and knowledgeable answer. I had always wondered if there was an access trail to the ledges, now I know.

I wondered about this too. I did assume it was either a brave lead or trail from behind, but I appreciate the great response.