gunk

Ah, New Paltz. What a cool town! In this hip little college town, German #2 and I set out for the Gunks to do some climbing. After two and a half hours on the road (“we’ve been driving for two and a half hours?!”), we found the Visitor's Center, paid our $15 a piece to climb the wild and free (ahem!) outdoor rock faces, and hiked up to the walls.

We only managed to fit two climbs in before we had to call it a day and drive back home. But what a couple of climbs they were! We only did easy walls (5.5 and 5.6?) because I'm a beginner and German #2 hadn't been climbing in a while. I was quite impressed with my climbing, if I do say so. And she wasn't so bad, either. For our first climb, we had to scramble up the hillside to set up our rope and belay each other down the face. She gave me a quick review on how to tie the essential knots and how to belay, and then I was off down
the wall first, dangling and pushing off with my feet until I alighted on the dirt at the bottom. Then it was my turn to let German #2 down without letting her plummet to a rocky death. After that, we took turns working our way up the rock face, grasping for handholds, and trying to find even the tiniest crags on which we could place our crunched toes. Have you ever worn climbing shoes? Imagine trying to squeeze your feet into shoes three sizes too small, and then bending them at the arch and twisting the toes in. But they do amazing things for letting you drive your toes into any space, or onto any minute protuberance you can find.

Our second climb didn’t seem as tough as the first, but I wound up thinking about it a bit too much. As I was on my way up, I was trying to avoid ledges and obvious handholds, and then I found myself on the face with nowhere to go! I had to scramble to find anything to grab, I could only hold on in one place for so long.

And of course, we couldn’t make it home without any snags. Halfway between Hudson and Hillsdale, we got pulled over. The car we were borrowing from a friend (which we’d picked up at the shop that day) had no taillights. Good grief! So we had to drive the last 45 minutes with our hazards on. I guess I can trade that for the rest of the day.