My tent has a tub style bottom to prevent water from seeping in. It has welded seams rather than stitched so there are no needle holes for water to find. The fabric and zippers are all coated to block and repel water. It even has extra little flaps on top to add an extra layer of protection over the door. I'd hate to think how much more water it would have been full of if all these precautions hadn't been made...
I ignored common sense and weather reports and trekked to New Paltz, New York, this weekend for climbing at the Gunks. I even planned to camp in spite of the flood warning. Kurt headed up on Thursday night to meet Kimmy, who was dropped off after a few days climbing in New Hampshire. I had sent my tent and sleeping bag up early with Kurt so he could set it up in advance of the usual Friday night crowd.
I carpooled up with Patrick and Jason, another face I recognized from the gym but was only introduced to on Friday. Agnes was supposed to come with us, but had a cold and decided to stay the night in her bed and drive up on Saturday if she felt better. An hour into the trip (not that far from where we left thanks to rainy Friday traffic) Kurt called to tell me the sad plight of my tent and his sleeping bag, which had been inside it. He told me that Kimmy's tent was not waterproof either, but that was a moot point since it did not get drpped off with her. They spent the night in the bed of his truck. I considered bailing on the trip. There were so many strikes against it being a good idea at this point I thought about getting dropped off in Quakertown and having Agnes picked me up. Then again, this was starting to sound like an adventure.
Patrick and Jason were staying in the New Paltz Hostel with a number of other attendees of the PA gathering in the Gunks. I had checked the gathering thread before I left and knew there were no beds left. Maybe there would be a cancellation, someone else might have been more sensible about the rain. If not, I could always split a hotel room with Kurt and Kimmy. We arrived at the hostel around 11:30 PM. I asked about cancellations, but had to wait until the organizer showed up around midnight. She did a head count and every bed was accounted for. There might, however, be a couch. I talked with the owner of the hostel and secured my couch for the night at the discounted (two whole dollars) rate of $20. Man I can swing a deal. Unfortunately my couch was about the only couch, and it and the room it was in was occupied by the rest of the gathering. I guess I wouldn't be getting to bed until after everyone else. Not a big deal though, I'm sure that would be the case wherever I slept. In the meantime I hung out on the porch with a few people, including two of the SUNY New Paltz tennants. The upper two floors of the hostel housed 14 people, mostly college kids. What an interesting place to live; there must be a strange mix of people available for late night drinks and chatting on the porch. One of the tennants, an art student named Kate, said the previous week the house was filled with Japanese people in town for a conference. We chatted until about 2 AM, after which I found my couch had freed up.
Guilherme was coming up that weekend and was supposed to be my lead. Given that it was supposed to rain all night, there didn't seem to be much of a point in meeting him at 9 AM at the Gunks. I set my alarm for 8 AM so I could replan with him, but he beat me to the punch with a 7:30 AM call. I told him it looked crappy and we pobably wouldn't get on anything until after noon. Eventually he decided it wasn't worth the two hour drive from his girlfriend's place in NYC, and I agreed. I'd just have to tag along as a third with Patrick and Jason (thanks guys!). We killed some time at a diner and Rock and Snow, wandering our way over to the rocks around 11:30 AM. We hiked a little in the Near Trapps to give the rocks more time to dry. About 1:30 PM we had our gear and looking around for dry and available routes. There weren't many. An hour later we were back near where we entered to climb the single pitch 69. It was in pretty good shape given the huge amount of rain (one of the climbs featured a waterfall where it hadn't been before, I'll bet tat changes the rating). We took a crack at Easy Overhang next, but had to bail after the first pitch. Water wasn't the problem though, the second pitch was swarming with wasps. Fortunately we did get a good climb in, Jackie and the second pitch of Classic. Hooray, whatever happened Sunday we wouldn't be shut out on multipitch climbs for the weekend! The climb was fun and we got to watch the sun set from the top of the Trapps. Unfortunately that meant we had to rappel down in the dark. We had an almost full moon and Jason's headlamp (I forgot mine - you hear me Agnes? Mine.) in my bag (yep, that is mine too) at the base of the climb. The moonlit rappel was fun, the shadowy rock and trees looked pretty cool.
We made it back to the car safely and then drove the detour back to the hostel (the road the normal way back, whic passes the campsite, was closed for flooding). Kurt and Kimmy were there, as were a lot of other climbers just for dinner and war stories. I gave Kurt the cupcakes I brought, which were supposed to be for his birthday on Friday at a camp fire. I have present for him too, but I didn't want to bring it to New York. I've actually had it for a while and keep forgetting to give it to him. So Kurt, if you are reading, remind me to surprise you with your birthday present. I slipped off for a shower and the dinner only crowd slipped offin the interlude. I heard thy were going to try for a campfire but'm not positive. I went to bed a little earlier on Saturday, and it was actually in a bed. Nicole, a girl who also climbs at the gym, had to take off and the organizer said I could take her bed. A woman showed up close to midnight looking for a bed, but ended up on the couch. She said she had been on the list, so I think I ended up with her bed. Oh well, at least it wasn't as bad as Jason who kicked some girl out of her bed so he could have it. I think he cursed her and her descendants too.
Sunday turned out well. The forecast had chance of rain at 8 AM, 9 AM, noon, and 2 PM, but none of those panned out. I was glad for the change in fortune, but felt a little bad since I had talked Agnes out of coming. She sounded terrible on the phone on Saturday (I think she had the black lung) and I convnced her it wasn't worth the 3+ hours of driving each way for possibly rained out climbing in the cold and wind. Heck, I was even cold up there so I know she would have frozen. Anyway, if you talk to her tell her it poured all day so she doesn't beat me up.
Things could hardly have worked out better. We walked right up to Shockley's Ceiling at about 9 AM to find it dry and available. That was a fun climb, though I had more trouble with the second roof than the famous one. I was climbing third and left along on a hanging belay above the ceiling to enjoy the scenery while Jason climbed. Man what a view. There is a hair pin turn in the road below and people pull over to watch the climbers. It was neat how well you could make out the people 200 feet or more below. I waved at a family with some little kids.
We headed to Minty next, and that was somehow free too. Every other day of every other trip I've been on to the Gunks has featured checking out Minty and finding it taken. Our luck had really turned around. Jason led this one - his first on site cimb (meaning he hadn't been on it before) - and he did a great job. I'm in no position to judge gear placements now, but they looked good to me and we didn't fall to our deaths, s that gets a thumbs up in my book. Patrick went second and he liked them too, so I was happy. The only problem was getting sightly off route around a damp section. This stretched out the length of the pitch and meant there wasn't quite enough rope for Patrick and I to both follow. We had been "short roping,&quor; meaning all threeof us had been climbing on one rope versus having a separate rop between the first and second, and second and third. This is fine as long as the pitch is less than half of the rope, or about 100 feet. Since this pitch ended up longer, the slack between Patrick and I ran out before Patrick made it to Jason and the anchor. This meant I would have to start climbing too, moving up enough with Patrick so he could get to the anchor. his is a little more dangerous, since each of us now has to worry about the other falling and not just ourselves. Plus, if I climbed faster than Patrick there would be a lot of extra slack if I fell. If I climbed too slow, he might run out of rope in the middle of amove and get pulled off. Nervous yet? I was. The guys watching at the base were interested as well.
According to the guide book, the first move of the climb (already about 20 feet off the ground since I had scrambled up to the starting ledge) was supposed to be the toughest. Fortunately I am tall enough to reach the hig hand hold that makes it really easy. From there it was more scrambling up a ledge, which gave Patrick plenty of rope to finish. The rest of the climb went smoothly and was lots of fun. We set up our rappel, with Patrick heading down first. After he left, some weirdo came out of the woods with a large branch as a walking stick and what looked like a large wicker laundry basket strapped to his back. He gave us kind of a goofy smile as he walked towards the cliff edge. He was in tennis shoes, so he probably didn't climb up. Though I guess anything could have been in that basket. The top of the Trappsisn't flat, it slopes toward the ledge, in steps more than a continuous grade. Coming over one of the steps the guy lost his footing, fell forward and started rolling down hill. Holy crap, he is going to roll over the edge. Fortunately he managed to stop. He got to his feet and gave us another goofy smile. I can't even imagine what I would have done if he had fallen. I doubt he could have survived, though maybe he could have landed in a tree or on a ledge. With no phone I don't know what we could have done to save the guy other than yell. I don't think I could have managed facing whatever he would have looked like, either. Lucky he didn't fall then, it would have ruined our day and probably his as well.
This time we made it to the ground before the sun set, but only barely. It was gone before we made it to the car. And in one final stroke of luck, we came back to find the car's dome light had been on all day. Somehow it started anyway - that 4Runner has a killer battery.
