West Comes East: Part One

One of our climbing buds from Colorado came to visit for a couple of weeks and I wanted to provide him with a climbing tour of the Northeast's renowned climbing areas.  Impossible to hit it all in that time so I chose to give him "The Select Tour." Gunks - Rumney - Cannon - North Conway. Turned out week 2 gave him a clear perspective of the weather challenges we face here in the east, quite unlike his customary semi-arid climate in the Front Range of CO.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed exceptional weather the 1st week in the Gunks and he was rewarded with ascents of some of the most classic routes.  Here is a pictorial review.

Randy's Intro to Gunks on Jackie Day One

Day One: Dennis, Jackie, Classic
Day Two: High E, CCK, Cakewalk
Day Three: Limelight, Arrow, Strictly From Nowhere
Day Four: Frog's Head, Ken's Crack, Laurel
All Days: Beer Thirty apres climb (IPA style!)






Randy loves leading.

Randy is not afraid.

Randy hates photos of him following.

Randy loves a strong IPA, just like me.

Randy drinks a lot of beer and coffee.

Randy is fun.

Randy talks a lot.

Randy REALLY liked the Gunks!

Randy placing gear before the crux move on High Exposure. Sling it lllllong and have fun!

Well after the crux up on the short, steep wall above

Here he is stepping up into the crack/flake

CCK is short for Cascading Crystal Kaleidoscope. The final pitch of this climb is truly exciting with a long traverse and lots of exposure.  It is significantly harder than High E and best of all, provides the belayer with a great photo-op!

On Limelight. There is also a scary traverse on this route!

Strictly From Nowhere - a steep corner finish completes this fun and interesting line

Wow, looks hard Randy!

Beer Thirty at the van

We left Friday afternoon for Vermont.  Time to meet Annie, clean up, reorganize and have a rest day before Week Two.  

I'll be posting Part Two soon.

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