Shawangunks

The Shawangunks, or just plain “Gunks” to us climbers, have been on my list of places to go and visit for many years. And so, when Laetitia asked back in March, “Where would you like to go in the autumn for some rock climbing action to get away from typical Lakeland wetness?”, it took me no time at all to reply, “the Gunks!” …

Getting to the Gunks is easy… A flight to New York (JFK for us from Manchester) followed by a 1.5 hour drive north. The drive would be even quicker if it weren’t for NY traffic!! (It’s possible a better arrival airport might be Newark as this avoids driving through NY.)

The closest accommodation to the Gunks climbing is in New Paltz, east of the Shawangunks ridge. However, everything we found there was quite expensive. So we opted to stay in a nice AirB&B on the western side of the ridge in the sleepy town of Ellenville. This added 5 minutes on to the drive each day, not a big deal. Plus staying here had an added interest in that we actually got to see more of the countryside away from the tourist honey-pot of New Paltz.

Don’t get me wrong, New Paltz is great place and I’d elect to stay there next time we visit (and there will be a next time, the Gunks were that good) assuming we can afford somewhere suitable. We did spend two afternoons, when rain stopped play on the climbs, exploring the town. It has an innumerable number of cafes, restaurants, etc. It also has the best (and only) gear shop in the area, Rock & Snow. Prices were not great though, so only really for urgent or forgotten essentials. (I’ll write more on US prices in a follow-up post.)

At the end of August Laetitia had crashed her mountain bike on a fierce downhill run in Les Gets. She fractured a metacarpal bone in her left hand in two places in the crash! The trip to the Gunks was only seven weeks after the crash, so while the bones should theoretically have mended there was no doubt that the injury was still hurting – a lot! As such we knew our climbing agenda was going to be limited to easier routes. However, that isn’t really such a bad thing in the Gunks as there are dozens and dozens of ultra-classic must-do moderate routes hereabouts. One of our first and best was Horseman, an utterly brilliant and improbable line at the grade, 5.5. That’s only something like a UK Hard Severe. When Laetitia first saw it she thought there was no way she’d be able to climb it. She did.

Perhaps the best moderate route of the trip though was Madame Grunnebaum’s Wulst, or simply, Madame G’s. Unfortunately we didn’t get any quality photos of that route as the view of the first pitch was obstructed by trees, and the second pitch was so overhanging neither of us could see each other from our respective belays! 50 metres of continuously overhanging rock, mostly climbed on massive jugs, at the modest grade of 5.6 (or maybe something like a UK MVS). Outrageously brilliant.

Our first day in the Gunks, Saturday, was a complete wash-out so we spent the day exploring New Paltz including a look around the Historic Huguenot Street. We did also have one wet afternoon … initially we thought we’d sit the rain out in a cliff-base cave. Although it soon became clear that the rain meant business, and had certainly soaked the rock through.

The next day the sunshine returned…

High E (as it’s colloquially called) is perhaps one of the most famous 5.6 routes in North America. As such it had to be climbed. But, while it’s true to say that the moves out from under the roof at the start of the second pitch are fairly awesome (especially on-sight as the search for descent holds above the lip is quite something with the instant and considerable eponymous exposure … let’s say the search has a certain urgency!), the climbing above the roof is steep but quite short lived. A one-move wonder of a route, and probably not as great and exciting an experience once you know the moves and holds. Madame G’s is certainly a better climb.

Series - Gunks

1. Shawangunks
2. New York