Watch Me!

As usual, I start my morning with coffee and a big, fat hunk of internet time sink. Out of obligation, I look at my business emails(grateful when there aren't any....hahaha) and my personals next. Deleting all the automated crap I signed up for thinking "Sure, I'll want that newsletter" and...well, right.

Then it's over to Supertopo for a gander at last night's drama du jour. Three hours difference in time, and I sometimes miss out on some good....well, okay. The truth is, the *big news* is sometimes drunken babbling, or the fizzling of a flame war. But, it's the addiction, of course, and I always think "There's going to be something good I can get to go with my joe..."

Well, this morning, there was. A guys came on to announce the launch of a new video website he's been working on. The site is called ClimbClips.com, and you can find it by clicking that hot link. Or....here, if you're like me and your caffeine hasn't kicked in yet, causing slow synapse connectivity...

The thing that makes his unique is that the primary focus will be climbing videos. There will be a Lifestyle section, which I hope will be filled with *around the campfire* antics and other such nonsense. And an "Other" category, which I suppose might be a place where people who submit climbing videos can upload other works. I mean, if I think someone is an awesome videographer, why not have an in-site link to their stuff? Makes sense to me.

This is a new launch, and there are not very many videos on the site yet. But don't let that stop you from taking a look, and passing the word along to people who can help this guy add some great content to his site.

So - since I am still...waking up.... I am just going to copy/paste the guy's Supertopo post here. After all, he knows better than I do what he's up to! Here's what he wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I've been a climber and a web designer for many years. Recently I decided to combine the two and construct a website providing a service which I think is somewhat lacking on the internet. The site is called Climb Clips. Simply put, it's a climbing video community. It runs using a system similar to You-Tube. You-Tube works fine, but why lose our climbing videos among millions of other non-climbing related clips?

Users can
sign up and upload their own climbing videos,
view other videos sorted by category,
send messages to other users,
Create and modify personal profiles
Create interest groups with other users
Rate videos
embed videos on other websites, just like you-tube
and more

There are few rules:
Mostly all directly climbing related content, though there are "lifestyle/fun" and "other" categories. Go nuts!
No overly violent of overly obscene content etc..Swearing and huge whippers = ok.
I want to try to keep videos depicting areas with access issues off the site. At least don't tell where it is.

So, the site is in it's infancy. You might call it "ClimbClips: BETA", no pun. Embarrassingly enough, I only have 2 video clips on it! But you have to start somewhere right?

I plan on adding "exclusives", my own video work on various climbs/subjects. I'm not trying to compete with the big boys in that regard though. It's all about fun. ClimbClips will always be 100% free.

Again the site is new, so there may be bugs in it still. If anyone has suggestions or comments, I'd like to hear them.

Thanks!!
-T. Carrier


Now.....if only I wasn't too cheap to upgrade from dial up, I could actually watch the videos! The good news is that I am not in the majority, and most people have quick connections.

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Near Trapps Guide Nearing Completion

Every Gunkie has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Dick Williams' updated version for his guide to the Near Trapps. Today I asked him for the latest news while we were doing trailwork..... It's coming soon!

Maybe not as soon as you'd like, but look forward to a spectacular leaf peeping season from new vistas in the Nears this autumn. The book should be on the shelves in early August.

Dick said that there is a bit of work being done on the cover in the next week and then, off to the printer it goes. The final stage of production takes between six and eight weeks. He says he'll be happy if the book is available by August.

Now....there can be no promises, of course. But even with a buffer zone, I think it should be safe to say that the book will be ready to fly off the shelves at Rock and Snow for the high point of this year's Gunks season.

I wish I'd thought to ask him a few questions about the new additions in the guide, but I can tell you for sure there will be descriptions of not only old routes not noted in "the Black Dick," as the last guide to the Nears is affectionately referred to, but newly established lines as well.

The big joke I heard was when he was talking about some of the FA's he'd been doing(this was in 2006) and someone said "Hey! In your old guide you said not to bother with the part of the cliff between..... and that the reason you gave was that it was loose and chossy! Now we know the truth is that you couldn't get all the FA's before the last book went to print!!!!" At the time. I looked over at him and though he did blush....he didn't deny it either!

But seriously, Dick, with the help of his climbing partners, spent a considerable amount of time working over in the Nears in order to bring a book that promises to be as well done as the "Grey Dick" guide to the Trapps. Which is to say - an extraordinarily researched and detailed book. Following the same formula, he reclimbed every route on the cliff, or had someone else whose opinion he valued do the routes he was unable to.

Not only that, but he spent many, many, hours cleaning choss and trundling killer blocks from lines where the cliff is known for the loose stuff. This work had to be done very carefully, as you can imagine, due to the dangerous nature of it. From what I understand, there would be people at the trail up and down from the areas where they were working, to alert people of the potential for falling rock and to stop them when active trundling was occurring. Walkie-talkies were used for communication amongst the team.

Back in 2005 I was lucky enough to tag along when Dick walked someone along nearly the entire length of the Nears, giving them first-hand beta on all the classic routes. During that time, he pointed out many lines that were not in the old guide, some recent FA's and even some of the unclimbed lines he had in his sights. Last season I followed a new 5.5 of his down just past "Up In Arms," which is the last route listed in the existing Nears guide. There is also an interesting 5.7 in the same area that he had people climb and provide feedback on called "The Shadow Nose." Go down there on a sunny day and take a look....The name is a good giveaway to find the route!

So....that's what I've got for info on the upcoming book. In other news, today was our first day of trailwork this season and we kicked things off, appropriately enough, on the trail going up to "Welcome to the Gunks."

If you've walked that access route, you know that it needed a little attention. What begins as a solid set of stone steps transitions about halfway up the slope into a sometimes steep bit of dirt, with bad footing if you don't stay attentive. If you haven't been there....it looks like this:


The established trail was steep and fairly straightforward, and that was a contributing reason as to why parts of it had washed into a slippery slope. During wet periods, water found the path of least resistance to be a great escape, which eroded the slope and increased the grade in places.

We had a couple options in fixing the situation. We could have rebuilt the existing route by adding more stone steps to replace the dirt sections, or we could reroute the line to include switchbacks. We chose the latter. In this scenario, the angle up the slope is more gradual. This is easier on the user, but also helps lessen the rate of erosion on the slope.

Here's the start of our new section, angling off from the original trail:


This is a better shot of the work we started today. It's far from finished. We will need to reinforce the trail in places on the downslope, and add some stones in areas where we need to protect tree roots. We'll also do finishing work to make a solid, even, route that will hold up for years to come.


The section heads upwards in a slight rise for about 30 feet before making a switchback to continue the path. Now the Welcome to the Gunks access trail will have a hairpin turn, reminiscent of the infamous one on highway 45/55 down below!

Here's Dick Williams and Al DiMaria working in that upper section, which reconnects with the original trail about 10 feet below the cliff base.


Again, this is just our initial work, and more fine tuning will be done on our next session. Which will be Sunday, June 1st, weather permitting, in case you were wondering.... We can always use volunteers and if you would like to join in, we meet atop the Steel Bridge at 9am!

As a special bonus for our work, we were graced with the beauty of a pink LadySlipper Orchid.


If you are in the area, keep an eye out for her. Go up the trail, and when you rejoin the old section, she's located just to the far side of the route, a few feet uphill(the flower will be on your right side as you ascend the trail). Be careful; the flower is quite delicate and is one of only a few examples you will find in this part of the Gunks. The LadySlipper Orchid is, obviously, coming into season now, and can be seen for the next few weeks before spring turns to summer and she fades away until next year.


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Good Old Marty from Alpine Endeavors - What a Guy...de!

Quick Post: Here's an offer found on the front page of Gunks.com you might be interested in - A day of climbing with a guide going for his AMGA Cert in Single Pitch, at no cost to you. They need six people to act as clients while the guides go through their test. Check it and, if you're interested, better act quickly.

Here's the details:

Event: Free Day of Guided Climbing Instruction
Event Start: 04/18/2008 @ 9:00AM
Location: Shawangunks, NY
URL: www.alpineendeavors.com/courses/SPI
Description: We are looking for six people to participate in day of rock climbing in the Gunks, free of charge*.

The day will consist of beginner to low-intermediate climbing with a guide candidate on routes from 5.2 to 5.7 under the supervision of an AMGA Certified Rock Instructor and Rock Guide.

The purpose of the day is to evaluate AMGA SPI guide candidates during their final assessment of the AMGA Single Pitch Instructors Certification. All guide candidates up to this point have successfully completed an AMGA Single Pitch training Course (three days of training) and have successfully completed a one day assessment of their technical and rescue skills.

The day is to provide each candidate a realistic opportunity to teach basic climbing skills - knots, belaying, and climbing techniques to beginners as well as to asses their ability to clearly communicate the skills, manage the group, and facilitate the days progress to a group of actual beginner climbers.

For more information on the AMGA Single Pitch Instructors Course, please visit:
http://www.amga.com/programs/SPI.php


*day passes are not included. They are required and are the responsibility of each participant.
Contact Email: info@alpineendeavors.com
Contact Phone: 845-658-3094

I can personally vouch for Marty, as can just about any other climber on the east coast! In fact, I climbed with a guy in Jtree who was there for his AMGA multi-pitch cert. that knew Marty. This guy was from West Virginia, if I rememebr correctly.

Actually, it's interesting, because I did something similar that day, with this guide. His name is Karsetn, and he approached me asking if I would be interested in following him on the classic Josh route "Walk on the Wild Side."

The caveat was that we'd need to do the walk-off descent, instead of simply rapping off the route. he wanted to familiarize himself with the descent as it might have been one of the "tasks" he'd be graded on for the certification.

I'm always up for adventure, even if I'm a pretty big chicken when it comes to JTree walk-off and scrambling, and I am really glad I agreed to the offer. For one thing, I'd not yet been on the route and definitely wanted to do it. I was not disappointed; it's a great line.

The walk-off was involved, to an extent, although for the most part the route-finding was extremely obvious. The route ends at a bolted anchor, and one 3rd classes up a ramp to the crest of the formation and toward the back for the descent passage. There was a decision to be made shortly after a section one must rap to a lower level at, but the wrong choice shows as a dead end(or....ballsy jump, I suppose...I didn't look, taking Karsten's word for it!) within a very short time.

There was definitely a section I was glad to have Karsten short-roping me on, and one other where it was nice, although I would have been okay without it. And, I got to do something that most visiting climbers to the Tree don't do. The rap from the route anchors is definitely more expedient....

We were smart, getting on the route fairly early. The sun was just coming over the formation as we topped out, but not high in the sky where the heat would be a problem. By the time we reached the floor and got back to our packs, it was becoming hot. We'd had perfect timing.

Afterward, we went and did some other routes. Well - I belayed Karsten on a 10D(Pinky Lee) which WAS in full on noontime desert sun. Ouch! He sent the route, with one fall at the start of the crux. It may have helped if I hadn't referred to the line as simply a 10 when I showed it to him....(one: Karsten had only been in Jtree a day or two, and I am fairly familiar, and Two: I don't climb 10, so....I forget the distinctions in those letters....ummm yeah.)

Next, I suggested Touch and Go, which is a beautiful route that I thought he would enjoy. i wanted to give it a good shot myself, as I had a past story with the route(no time for telling it right now....). Karsten, of course, led the route with a fair amount of ease, though he did have some pump going on. Pinky Lee and the Sunshine Band took their toll. I did okay for the first part, though it was defintiely at my limit. Then I hit a cruxy move and gave up.... Pretty much I sat on the rope after every move for the duration. Pretty awful on my part.

We finished the day at the Gunsmoke area, where Karsten onsighted 3/4 of the traverse's north wall before coming off. Then he rested and did the same on the eats wall. Strong. THEN....this is sort of wrong.... I suggested he try The Chube. He walked over and said "Too bad I left my shoes over there." I offered to go get, but he then said "well....it looks like it's not about the feet."

There was a group of 4 or 5 people who had been working the problem.... Karsten got on it and sent it on the first attempt. In approach shoes.

I have some photos - but gotta go to work. I'll come back in later on and add them in.







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