Cloudspin Cliff

So, we've had what you might call an 'event' at the Cloudspin Cliff in the past few days. The cliff sits across the road from Whiteface and offers up great views of Wilmington Notch and Moss Cliff. It's about 140 feet tall with some fat cracks and some good face climbing.

Rich and our friend Tom Wright went up there on Saturday to do Frippery, which is a 5.8 with some off-width climbing on it. Rich led the first pitch and then Tom led the second. He ended up getting a little bit off route, winding up in a chimney (Off-width Pants variation, 5.8)with no gear near by. He was almost through the hard climbing and he slipped out, taking a big nasty fall. The result was a broken ankle, tibia and tore some ligaments in his ankle as well. Rich got him to the ground after assessing the injuries and called me. I ran up to the cliff with some ibuprofen and when I got there his ankle was much bigger than a grapefruit. He partially crawled out and we partially carried him and then we drove him to the hospital.

All in all the rescue went very smoothly, quickly and efficient. Tom was in good spirits, despite having just angulated his for 90 degrees, repeating the mantra "Touching the void, touching the void..." The doctors say eight weeks on crutches, which is obviously a major bummer. Lessons learned: pay careful attention to route descriptions; have the appropriate gear; backing down should always be an option.

So, continuing the saga, Matt and I went back to the cliff today to retrieve Rich and Tom's gear. Rich had fixed a single rope to an anchor he built, and all the gear was still on the pitch as well. Also, there were to packs, extra gear, climbing shoes, a helmet clipped into some gear, etc. Matt and I planned to climb Grand Ole Osprey (5.10b) and then rap over Frippery to snag the remaining gear.

When we got to the cliff there were two pieces of gear in the cliff and no rope, packs, helmet or anything else. Hmmm, where did they go?

The Web

Matt and I went up to Spider's Web today. The weather was as splitter as the cracks -- bright blue skies interspersed with big cotton candy clouds, low 70s and a nice cool breeze. Pretty much perfect climbing weather.

We warmed up on On the Loose (5.10a). I led it and was feeling sluggish and awkward, so after Matt followed it, he gave Romano's Route (5.11c) a first lead. The bottom section is really hard. We both decided later that Romano's seems a lot harder than both Fear and Loathing (5.11b) and Drop, Die or Fly (5.11a). Matt got right up to the end of the crux section and popped off, taking a nice little whip. He was feeling super pumped, so he handed the lead over to me.

Luckily for me the gear was pre-placed through the entire start/crux section. I was able to clip and sprint right through all the pumpy-ness (well, maybe not all of it), and made it to the rest fairly easily. The only thing left was 50 feet of pumpy overhanging thin hands and fingers to the chains. Not wanting to blow it, I slowly and methodically moved up the wall...and made it to the chains!

Thanks Matt for placing the gear.

Bear Den Cliff

Matt, Rich and I went up to the Bear Den Cliff above Kid's Campus at Whiteface today. I looked longingly at that cliff all winter from the bottom of the gondola, wishing I was climbing it and not working a stupid ski lift. Today, that dream came true.

The hike up is pretty funny. There are a bunch of mountain biking trails up that way, so the approach is like, walk 523

feet and turn left, then walk another 247 feet and turn right and so on. Eventually you turn up on a "herd path," which is more or less non-existent, and then wander up to the cliff. We got on Berry Good (5.10a), which is a Mike and Diana Leblanc route. They done good.

The cliff itself is a steep slab, and the second pitch has some really cool knobs. We actually climbed the first pitch of Bear Necessities, which also had really cool holds. Great climbing, great situation, great exposure. We were in high gear due to time restraints, and we totally raced up the cliff. We climbed it in good style for sure.

Potter with Margaret

Yesterday the weather was really nice. Actually, it was really hot and sunny. I think it got up to like 87 degrees at one point. Margaret is up visiting, so we got up early, ate some breakfast and sprinted out to Potter Mountain. We probably should have walked slowly, because we were really really hot when we got up there.

We got on the first and second pitches of the Brazilian (5.10a) and actually I linked them up into one big pitch, which was pretty cool. I didn't have any big gear, so it was an especially exciting pitch.

Then we did Once in a Lifetime (5.10d), which is hard. I fell twice on it and struggled for a while. What a cool climb though! Craziest holds ever. It's such improbable climbing.

After that we went swimming. It was so hot that the rock was almost to hot to touch. But the swimming hole was awesome, per usual.

And now it's raining hard.

Potter with Colin

Tuesday, Colin and I both had the whole day off so we got up early and headed out to Potter Mountain. There was 80% chance of rain for the day, which was a bummer and things looked pretty wet, but we went for it anyway. Brutus (Colin's dog) came up with us and on the hike he was out horsefly magnet. There were probably 20 horseflies swarming around him the entire way up.

The cliff was dry when we got up there. Colin had never done the top pitch of Groovitational Pull, and I had never done Every Inch Counts so we went up there with the goal of doing those climbs. The top of Groovitational was just a little wet, and there was a bunch of wind, so we did the first pitch and then did Positive Latitude (5.9). Then I led Every Inch Counts (5.10a sandbag), which is super awesome. It's probably one of the more exciting leads on the whole cliff.

After that, we top-roped some potential new climbs, both of which were pretty good. Unfortunately the were only ok and they were kind of crowding some of the other lines, so we decided to let them be for now.

By that time the top of Groovitational was dry enough, so Colin led it. I still think that is one of the cooler pitches up there. Actually the whole cliff is so awesome. All in all we did 6 pitches. Not a bad day.

Beer Walls

I've been out climbing a couple days this week in between rain and sunshine. Monday I made it out to the Beer Walls with Rich for a couple of pitches. Rich led Blacksmith (5.10a), which is an awesome classic face climb. Then I tried Pat's Blue Ribbon (5.12b) in the Clutch and Cruise cave. I've worked it a couple of times and I did all the moves on it for the second time. The third clip is hard, but I now have the beta for it, and totally crushed it on Monday. I think next time I do it, having all the beta, I'll be able to at least make it through the fourth clip without falling.

I was excited to get on Pat's because I wanted to compare it to the project at Beaver Brook. I think the project is a little bit harder and more sustained.

Rain Rain

Rain rain go away. Come again another day?

The weather isn't the greatest right now. Crazy downpours, high humidity, high temperatures. Me no like-ey.

Heat Wave!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It.

Is.

So.

Hot.

It was so hot yesterday that I couldn't sleep past 5:30. So I got up, packed my bag and went out to Silver Lake and hung a rope over the most bad ass crack climb I have ever seen. It's a straight line up an otherwise blank face. It is steep, like way steep. And it varies from fingers tips, to hands, to fists, to off-width and then back again. It looks so unrelenting.

Can't wait to get out there and start scrubbing it down (read: go away heat!). It won't take too much work to get 'er all cleaned up, but once I do, she might be the prettiest gal in town.

Now I just need to go practice 5.12 off-width...

High Falls Crag

Seeing as it's the Fourth of July, we decided to hit a crag that isn't quite as travelled. The High Falls Crag sits on the opposite side of the road as Moss Cliff and hosts several lines that are worth climbing. It is also the crag that the ever popular Multiplication Gully ice line sits. It sees lots of traffic in the winter but not so much in the summer.

The Route of Oppressive Power (5.10b) is a three pitch climb that sits to the left of Multi Gully. The first pitch is more or less an approach pitch that brings you to the base of a large chimney that eventually narrows to an off-width and then fist and hand crack. It's a pretty wild pitch and well worth the grunge on the first pitch.

I led the first pitch, with the idea of maybe linking the pitches. But, the first was really too wander-ey and I decided to do it the old fashioned way. Matt led the second pitch which starts with an exciting first couple of moves, and then moved up through the chimney, which was actually a bit easier than it looked. After that the meat came. And it wasn't filet mignon. Or, really, it was only filet mignon in some senses. This climb was really quite burly and much harder than 5.10b. The crux section is short, maybe 20-25 feet, but it's hard. Matt didn't get it clean on lead. Rich didn't get it clean on second and I just barely eeked out a clean TR ascent.

Cool climbing with great position. Maybe not deserving of all the stars it gets in the book, but definitely a worthwhile route. When we got down we took a little dip in the Ausable River, which was quite nice.

Spider's Web

Went out early again to do some climbing before work. Went out and did On the Loose (5.10a) to warm up, and then totally crushed Drop, Fly or Die (5.11a). I floated the initial crux and then proceeded to cruz the upper pumper cracker. Twas fun.

Beaver Brook and Baker Mountain

Yesterday Matt, Alex and I went out to Beaver Brook in the morning, hoping to beat the rain. We warmed up on Old Men Shooting Powder (5.10c), and then I led Good to the Last Drop (5.10d) and then Matt set up the top-rope on the project. The first go at it I made it up through the first couple of boulder problems and fell on a set of crimps 20 feet from the top. Matt and Pelman tried it and then I got on it again. This time I fell on the last move! So close! In actuality I was no where close to making the move, but I eventually figured out how to actually do the move, so that was cool. Closer and closer...

I came back and got ready to go to work. When I got there, there were like 5 people with reservations, so I went out to Saranac Lake and climbed at Baker with Pelman. It had recently been down-pouring, so our hopes were low, but lo!, the cliff was dry as a bone! I tried the 5.11 there and it was hard and scary. I bailed off that and just top-roped it. It was ok, but not great.