Otter Lake Cliff: Caroga Lake NY

This past Saturday, Pooler, Banta, Schyler, Mitch and and  I all opted to not try and boulder in the rising heat and instead venture into a sport crag that I established two years ago known as the Otter Lake Cliff.  This cliff is by no means a destination crag but it does have (12) established sport routes and (1) established all trad route.  Every time I revisit the cliff I have a blast on the routes as they really fit my climbing style and feel almost like highball bouldering.

I have topo for Otter Lake linked through my southern adriondack climbing guides page, but for those of you who have never seen the information; here is another link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/59452994/Otter-Lake-Guide

So when we got to the cliff on Saturday morning, everything was wet...not just slightly damp but absolutely soaked.  I have climbed on this cliff before in the rain and it was more climable than what we encountered on Saturday.  Trying to keep the psych levels up, we set some topropes of things that looked somewhat climbable and Mitch began cleaning some new lines.  As the day continued on, things began to dry up really well and by the end of the day we pretty much could climb any of the lines on the cliff.

Mitch was able to grab the first ascent of the cliffs only all trad route while I was able to finally send the roof direct project that I equipped last year for leading.  Last year it felt really difficult but on Saturday with a new approach to rope climbing and some slightly modified beta, the route felt more like an easy 5.12.  Regardless of the grade, the line is really good and it acsends the more prominent features on the cliff...the overlapping roof sections.

Definately looking forward to getting back to Otter Lake for more climbing and development.  Could this warm weather have sparked a surge of energy for the Caroga Lake rope climbing???  We will see!

Media Update: