Day 3 - evening visit to Neverland Ranch

Now that our "home" climbing gym has closed down, our Monday night sessions have moved outdoors. Last night was our first excursion and of course we went back to GB.
We met up with our friends Murph and Mira as we parked and brought them right to Neverland Ranch to warm up. Everything felt a lot easier now that it was dry and dirt-free. JP even sent another route, "White Glove" V3 all the way at the right end of the main boulder. Murph tried the "Thriller" project and agreed that the first move is VERY hard and will need some projecting.

At 7pm we packed up and moved back down the hill to work on our projects. JP and Kyle went to "Green Goddess" V7 and Ben went to "Fatwa" V9. I went up to spot Ben and found a fun looking V6/7 called "Pistol Grip" next to "Fatwa" that I decided to give a few goes on. Ben was making slow progress on his proj, so he decided to give a shot at Pistol Grip. After two or three goes, he got it and cleared dozens of spider webs out of the top out chimney. I was grateful. It took me another few goes but I got the send on that one as well. Ben went back to work on Fatwa.

Down the hill, we heard JP send Green Goddess and Murph send Shade (our V5 that we established last year). Murph then came up to help Ben with beta on Fadowah and he quickly began to make great progress, getting it in two pieces. Our time was running short and with little rest between goes, Ben was not able to get the send but is very confident that next visit he will send.

We got a text as we drove home that Mira sent Shade as well and loved it. Murph also worked Buckteeth, the sit start to Shade but couldn't unlock it either.

All in all, really a great session for the 2-hours we had out there. We are excited to continue rolling to either there or 9 Corners on Mondays throughout the summer.

Day 2 at GB

JP and I ventured out Saturday for a second day in a row. We were very excited to find drier conditions and decided to try to get some climbing in rather than more development of Neverland Ranch.
We began with a route that Ben and I had developed last year but I had never completed, Shade V5. JP and I began work on it with a porcupine looking on from about 3 yards away. It is a powerful three move route. JP sent first and after numerous tries, I got the send as well. Next we began working a sit-start project to it called Buckteeth. It is about 10x more powerful and will probably go at V8-9.
Next we went up to Green Goddess, which I sent this spring but has been on JP's ticklist for a while. He made really good progress on it before a little drizzle came and dampened the line and our spirits.
Just as we were packing up to go clean up at "the Ranch", the rain stopped and we decided to try another new project that we scoped out a week earlier. It is an 8' sloping arete on the trail between the "Warm up boulder" and the "Spac boulder". After a little more cleaning and drying, I gave it a few goes and sent. We dubbed it "Closer" and call it a V4, the straight up dyno to the lip will be called "Farther" but we didn't have the power to do it at the end of the day.

Day 1 at Neverland Ranch, GB

Call us obsessed if you'd like. Three out of the last four days we have made the trip out to Great Barrington. With all the rain we've had lately, our plan for Friday was to clean and develop a new climbing area that we had discovered the weekend before. As we expected, walking in in the morning was very wet. The rocks were dripping and there was a small shower on its way.

Kyle, JP and I headed right for what we would call "Neverland Ranch" with all the necessary tools for cleaning. My first mission was chopping a fallen tree off the top of one of the gem routes. Even though the outside of the trunk was rotten and spongy, it took a little longer then I had expected. As I chopped, I watched Kyle and JP "carpet roll" the top of the main boulder, clearing a 3'x12' section in a few minutes work. After finishing off the tree, I followed their example and "carpeted" off the top out of another route that I had my eye on, revealing a huge jug and a fun finishing move to the problem.

With 6-7 potential problems cleared, now came the task of cleaning off the dirt, mud and moisture enough to get the send.

The first to go was "Break of Dawn", the right leaning crack running up the middle of the main boulder. JP got the First Ascent (FA) and we dubbed it a V1. Next was a traverse that Kyle scoped, beginning at "Break of Dawn" and going all the way to the right end of the boulder. We dubbed it a V2 and called it "Moonwalk". The third line was an easy straight up in the middle of the boulder, "Billie Jean" V0. Next we went up to the routes I had cleaned. A 45 degree wall and a taller arete. The 45 degree wall was dubbed a V3 and we call it "Bad" due to the flakey nature of the wall. There is a huge jug on the lip, but rolling up the top out requires a very high foot and a powerful mantle move. The last route of the day was "Smooth Criminal" an arete climb that begins on a beautiful Jug, moves through two small crimp sidepulls and then up jug ledges to the top.

As the skies opened up with the typical summer afternoon rain, we scampered out of the woods and called it a fun day. Definitely making the most of a wet day out. (Pictures taken Monday night)

Two Wet Weekends

The last two weekends have been incredibly rainy. We managed to get out on both Sunday the 14th and Friday the 19th, but there was not a lot of good climbing to be had.
Sunday we went to Peter's Kill with a large group of about 10 climbers and the only dry boulder was a decent one with 2 V7s and a V4. All problems were classics but I had sent the V4 last year and made some decent progress but never finished the V7s.
Kyle, Sam and another guy named Josh all sent Tiger Style, but no one completed Delicate Soul. The V4 was a quick repeat for just about everyone.

On Friday we went to Great Barrington and again everything was wet. We spent a good deal of time trying to dry a few routes but they just were never dry enough to send. We decided to explore for potential new routes. We were successful. EXTREMELY successful. There are many great new lines to be cleaned and we are excited to go back this Friday to begin work on them.

...If only the rain would kindly stick to the beginning of the week, so that things will dry out for Friday and/or Saturday sends....

Triple Right is AMAZING

This weekend Shiloh's Edge/YFC had our annual walk-a-thon on Saturday, so instead I rolled out to a new area called Triple Right on Sunday with a few guys that I hadn't seen in a very long time. One, Sam, went off to college in Colorado last fall and another, Evan, took about 18 months off from climbing.
A full van load made the trip to New Paltz though, including Luke, part of the 'usual gang' and a few from the AIR gym that I hadn't really met yet.

The rock quality at this area is very good; part of the same escarpment which makes up the fabled "GUNKS". The area is a few miles north and back in the woods just a bit. There are many established lines but no guidebook as of yet.
None of our crew had been there more than once or twice, so we were a bit limited on finding routes. However, they knew of enough to get a great workout in and a feel for some of the more quality problems.
I was able to send 3 V5's (all second attempt), 2 V4's (one of which I cleaned and established for the FA) and a very fun V2.
I can't wait to return again with someone who is more familiar with all the gems around Triple Right.