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.