Climbing is fun.: Wallface Mountain

Rich, Matt, Rich's buddy Paul and I just spent Wednesday evening through early Friday at Wallface doing some climbing and camping. Pretty sweet to say the least. The weather was the absolute best we could hope for, the bugs were non-existent, the cliff was impressive and the climbing was remote, adventurous and classic.

We got a relatively late start on Wednesday, taking care of chores and things around the house. Once Paul rolled in (coming from New Hampshire), we packed up the car and headed out to Placid to get a couple of bear canisters and some high-calorie food. From there we took off and headed to the ADK Loj, in the heart of the High Peaks.

Wallface is, in the poetic words of David Henderson, "If Niagara be the prince of waterfalls -- [Wallface] exhibits the prince of precipices." The cliff itself is roughly 700 feet tall, with routes up to 1000 feet long. The climbs themselves, as I mentioned earlier are very adventurous. You have to hike more than six miles to get to the camp sight, with probably another 30-45 minutes of approach through scree and talus. (Sidenote: the boulders out there look awesome.) Once you find your climb, you can expect plenty of lichen, moss, and dirt -- and definitely no chalk to guide your way. Once you get above tree level, which won't take you very long, the exposure and scenery are fantastic -- simply sublime. We were warned before going out there that "the climbing itself isn't that good." That may be true, but if thats what you are looking for, go sport climbing in Kentucky or something. Wallface is definitely about the whole experience, of which there is none better.

So after our six mile hike, each sporting 40 pound packs, we set up camp, cooked a gourmet dinner of pasta and meatballs (quite the feat for the backcountry) and went to sleep with dreams of crushing.

Next morning it was on. We cooked up some instant oatmeal, drank a cup of tea, and racked up for the day. Rich and Paul set out for the classic Diagonal. It goes at 5.8, is 860 feet long and was first climbed in 1962, which is very impressive given the gear of the day. Matt and I opted for another classic, despite the fact that it is only 10 years old. It's called Free Ride and it goes at 5.11a.

The route itself is grade IV (my first), and it 750 feet tall. There are nine pitches in total, and the go like this: 5.11a, 5.10a(sandbag), 4th class, 5.10a, 5.9+, 5.10a, 5.11a, 5.10d, 5.10c. Jim Lawyer has this to say about the route:

This route has brilliant climbing, good-quality rock, good protection, and exposed situations...the exposure on the final pitch is jaw-dropping.

I'm inclined to agree. This route has everything from technical, beta intensive cruxes, to cracks, to steep face climbing to steep friction climbing. On top of that, the last two pitches are spectacular -- so much so that they get their own names: Endurance Pitch, and the Perverse Traverse.

Needless to say, both parties enjoyed themselves thouroughly. We both made it back to camp well before sundown. Once there we drank some whiskey, ate some food (backcountry pueblo stew, kung pao chicken and cheese cake -- yum), and crawled into our sleeping bags.

All-in-all it was a great success.