New climbing areas in the Hudson Valley?
With the publication of Adirondack Rock earlier this year, dozens of new rock climbing areas in the Adirondacks were made public for the first time. The telephone-book-thick climbing guidebook does a stellar job of pointing out previously-little-known climbing areas in the south and western Adirondacks. For climbers who primarily ascended around the High Peaks, the 242 areas and 1,938 routes mentioned in this text will keep them busy for years.
But what about South?
Climbing between Albany and New York City has been pretty much focused on one place — Mohonk Preserve in the Schawangunks, with its 1,000 or so routes in the Trapps, Near Trapps and Millbrook Mountain (plus the storied routes at Skytop, which you can’t climb unless you’re a guest at the Mountain House). But these routes have been climbed for three-plus generations. Even with Dick Williams’ new climbing guidebook that just came out, there’s very few new routes to speak of.
However, there’s talk of some new climbing areas in the New Paltz areas.
Don’t get too excited, climbers — I doubt there’s any new High Exposure-quality climbs waiting to be discovered. Still, since it’s rare that new areas are open around New York, it’s pretty cool to consider that some new routes might be available.
For starters, there’s the Rosendale Water Works Bouldering Area. For the past three years, advocates have been working on a plan to open this area near the Village of Rosendale (a 10-minute drive north from New Paltz) to public bouldering, according to the Gunks Climbers’ Coalition Web site. Last summer, village officials were negotiating with the Mohawk Preserve, which owns the big cliffs outside New Paltz, to purchase the site.
Meanwhile, nearby Minnewaska State Park is considering opening up more of its own beautiful, white cliffs for climbing. The park already operates a place called Peter’s Kill, which is known for its top-roping and stellar bouldering. Now, the park is considering opening some more areas for climbing, including Beacon Hill, Schevchenko parcel, Millbrook, Sam’s Point and Stony Kill Falls for ice climbing.
Both ideas have been in the works for a white, but it sounds like significant progress was made last summer. For climbers, both places would be quite exciting, and could help provide some quiet alternatives to crowded weekends in the Gunks.
For more info, check out the Gunks Climbers’ Coalition:
http://www.gunksclimbers.org/projects.shtml
This section is to list the various projects we are working on, contacts, status and what you can do to help. On May 27, 2006, the GCC held its Rosendale Rocks fundraiser in the Widow Jane Mine. Once famous for providing the cement in the Broooklyn Bridge and the base of the Statue of Liberty, the mine is now one of the Hudson Valley's most unique performance venues. Featuring sneak preview Doses from Josh and Brett Lowell's next Big Up release (the brothers have been intimately involved with the Waterworks project), the crowd of 200 watched Tommy Caldwell become the first person since Lynn Hill to free El Cap's Nose; Chris Sharma and Dave Graham established new bouldering test-pieces at Hueco. Preceded by the evocative trip-hop of musician Alex Schein, and Gunks bouldering clips from Urban Climber editor Joe Iterato's Fuse video production, the GCC's biggest event to date raised nearly $1500. Half of the proceeds went to the Century House Historical Society for providing the extraordinary space of the Widow Jane Mine. The rest, originally intended for the Rosendale Water District (declined by the Water Board because purchasing discussions have been initiated), will now be used to seed a dedicated Waterworks bridge fund. On June 12, 2006, the GCC made a Waterworks pitch to the Mohonk Preserve's Land Stewardship Committee. While the parcel is close but not contiguous to the Preserve's northeast boundary, and managing the world-class bouldering area presents a number of staffing and fiscal challenges, the Committee recognized the significance of the parcel and decided to pursue discussions with Rosendale officials. The GCC arranged a meeting between the Preserve and members of the Rosendale town board on August 9. On August 13, 2007 following more than two years of presentations, meetings, and negotiations, the GCC and Mohonk Preserve signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Rosendale Waterworks bouldering parcel. The signing marks a significant step, with several remaining, including fundraising both for purchase and management costs, before access to the parcel can be realized. Jeff Powell, one of two boulderers who discovered the world-class site, has volunteered for the Waterworks' liaison position outlined in the MOU. Through the summer of '08, Rosendale officials remain in negotiations with the Mohonk Preserve for purchase of the parcel. Preliminary also to expanded Minnewaska climbing will require a ten-year follow on impact study of climbing at the Peterskill. We have the full sanction of Park Manager Mike Krish in conducting this study. The impact study has been one of our goals starting last year. It will compare present conditions to extensive data compiled ten years ago when the area was opened to climbing. The study has now been ongoing since April 2006 and we are very pleased to report good progress on the study. Opening more climbing within the Park will depend on the results of this very important work. Anyone with experience conducting animal, (small mammal trapping) and plant surveys is welcome to volunteer for the study; we could use a local person with experience in this area and the time available to participate. Estimated time commitment is about 8 to 16 hours per week through the summer and early fall. If you can volunteer to help, please contact the GCC at[email protected]. The areas possibly being considered for inclusion are: Input is needed and greatly appreciated. Anyone with info on historical climbing information at these areas should contact the GCC Access Committee at [email protected]. In July 2008, the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation will be holding public informational meetings to discuss the Draft Master Plan for Minnewaska State Park Preserve. They are inviting the public so they can listen to issues, impacts and alternatives to their proposed plan. This is an opportunity for the climbing community to express any interest in opening additional climbing areas in the park. Written comments may also be sent until August 11, 2008. The GCC remains in discussion with Minnewaska State Park officials to expand climbing opportunities in the Park. Any expansion will require establishing a backcountry Search & Rescue team. This will be its own stand alone organization. If anyone is interested in volunteering, contact Marty Molitoris at [email protected], and check out their website, www.hvmr.org. We are envisioning a rescue cache program to enable the Preserve to have a rescue cache not just in the Trapps, but also in the Nears, Lost City and possibly even Millbrook. The other facet of this program could be that we eventually defray at least part of the cost of climbing related rescues which the Preserve must conduct annually. At present accident rates, the Preserve estimates that rescues cost $10,000 dollars per year and presently this must come out of the Preserve's bottom line. To date, the GCC has donated a titanium rescue litter at a cost of $1,150 to the Mohonk Preserve and in March of 2005, donated $1,000 each to the Mohonk Preserve and the Gardiner Fire Department for their respective rescue programs. In May 2007, the GCC donated a rescue wheel to the Mohonk Preserve that will help transport injured victims more quickly. Please fill out our online form and donate generously by personal check or credit card using the PayPal service, to the General Rescue Fund.GCC Projects
Climbing Access Projects
Developments with the Waterworks continue to move along with some good positive developments to report. In early March 2006, the GCC learned from Rosendale town supervisor Bob Gallagher that a clause in the zoning code does permit recreation on the parcel, ruling out municipal management for a bouldering park. However, needing to raise capitol for the water district, town officials began exploring options with the GCC for selling the parcel to the climbing community, provided the town can retain their water rights. One option involves creating, through a private source, a Horse Pens 40 type low-impact campground proposal which was presented to members of the town board in April; another involves acquisition of the parcel by the Open Space Institute, to be managed by the Mohonk Preserve.
In February of 2005, the Access Committee started work on a Draft of Facility Development and Access Plan for the Peter's Kill Area of Minnewaska State Park Preserve. The Park is expanding and this gives climbers an unprecedented opportunity to open some new areas for climbing.
Beacon Hill, Schevchenko parcel, Millbrook, Sam's Point and Stony Kill Falls for ice climbing.
During the last couple of years we've gotten access to excellent tools / volunteers for GIS mapping and establishing property boundary lines in relation to geological features (cliffs!) We've used these tools on all of our recent work and they're indispensable. We're building quite a database of the local boundary lines and cliffs and hope to continue this very valuable work. Many thanks go out to our volunteer and GCC member Mark Folsom.Community Projects
Marty Molitoris, of guide service Alpine Endeavors, has started to organize a local search and rescue team along with other local climbers. The name of the group is Hudson Valley Mountain Rescue. Marty has been working on their website and applying for not-for-profit status. Marty is still taking new members and you can contact him for the latest schedule of training sessions.
The GCC will manage a General Rescue Fund, for the benefit of the Mohonk Preserve.Cleanup and Maintenance Projects
Dick Williams coordinates a Trail Maintenance Crew, in collaboration with the Mohonk Preserve, to fix and maintain the many approach trails in the Trapps and Near Trapps. The Gunks Climbers' Coalition supports this fine effort and a number of members of the GCC are volunteers on Dick's trail crew. If you are interested in becoming a member of the trail crew, please send an email to[email protected].
The Gunks Climbers' Coalition organizes cleanup days at area crags to help with landowner relations and raise awareness of the environmental impact climbers have on the land. We have coordinated a garbage cleanup at land recently purchased by the Open Space Institute that was targeted for donation to Minnewaska State Park; organized boulder and cliff chalk cleanups in the Mohonk Preserve and Peter's Kill area of Minnewaska State Park; set up general work days including trail work, trash cleanup and erosion mitigation at Mohonk, Peter's Kill and the MUA campground; and trash cleanups on Route 44/55 and along the Labyrinth Trail at the Mohonk Mountain House. Maintaining good landowner relations and reducing our impact on the environment are the responsibilities of all climbers to keep climbing crags open as well as create a good reputation that can help us open new crags.
GCC Organizational Projects
- GCC Newsletter
GCC newsletter submissions are open to everyone. We are gathering material for our next newsletter and would like to receive more submissions. Please email essays, stories and other prose to Dell Bleekman at [email protected], and all visuals, including poetry, to France Menk at [email protected]. We will post its publication closer to the date. - GCC Brochure
As part of climber education, the GCC has created a brochure for Gunks climbers to introduce them to the area, provide general information about Gunks climbing and Mohonk preserve policy, remind all about leave no trace ethics, and other practical information such as a map showing the Multi-Use Area legal camp sites. These brochures have beeen distributed in various places near the Gunks, and handed out at GCC events.
Really beautiful and insightful post.Thanks for sharing..
regards
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Posted by: Web mapping services | December 10, 2008 at 06:17 AM