Adventures during October 22-23, 2005

Saturday, October 22, 2005

3:00 AM: United was nice enough to lose Sandy's luggage, so we arrived at the campsite around 3 AM and there were still people awake. We briefly considered climbing at this time since the weather was good and rain was predicted all weekend. But we decided against it... 9:00 AM: It's too wet to climb since it starting raining hard sometime during the night. It also wound up raining all day but fortunately it's easy to kill time (and money) in New Paltz. We checked out the Visitor's Center which has a way cool model of the cliffs. Then we visited the Mohonk Mountain House which was alright but I'd rather be allowed to climb at Skytop than have a fancy hotel there. We also went to a few wineries which turned out to be an expensive trip for me. By the end of the day, I accumulated about a case and a half of wine.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

9:00 AM: Since I'm old school, I still camp in my 15 year old, $25 Kmart tent. The inch of rain we had over night didn't quite drench us but my tent wasn't the driest place either. Nonetheless, I'm still keeping it. Me: "Looks like we're going to the gym." Sandy (pissed): "Are you serious?" Me: "Alright we'll check out the cliff but no guarantees." 11:00 AM: We're not the only people stupid enough to climb today since there's a fair amount of cars in the parking lot. We head straight to Jackie (5.5) since Sandy wanted to climb it last year and it was still fresh in my head from last weekend so I'd be ok if it were a little wet. We climbed the mostly dry first pitch and I handed the lead over to Sandy for P2 of Classic (5.4) which is a sweet inside corner. She led it pretty fluently and placed good gear except for one cam that she claimed didn't look like that when she placed it. 2:30 PM: We only had time for a short climb, so we headed to the uberfalls to climb Rhododendron (5.6-). I'm not a big fan of the uberfalls because you're basically "on display" for tourists and the climbs usually lack exposure. But this sure was a sweet looking crack and most importantly, it was dry! Rhododendron just ate my gear the whole way up. At the crux, you can place a #3 C4 above your head if you want too. Then it's just a couple fist jams, layback right and you're outta there. Williams and Swain both have it graded as 5.6- but we thought it was easier; maybe 5.5. Regardless, it's an awesome climb and my only complaint is I wish it where longer.