A Recent Adirondack First Ascent

  As some of you may already know...Ken Murphy has recently moved back home and is already actively pursuing new boulders and boulder problems in the Adirondack Park.  I had a chance to catch up with Murph last week after I received a handful of text messages and pictures showcasing a stunning arete that he cleaned in the southern portion of The Park.  The new problem appeared to be 20-25 feet tall, was slightly overhanging, had good looking holds, and offered a relatively flat landing.  All of these qualities and a stern confidence in Murph's credibility for good rock climbs got me extremely excited/psyched to get on the problem.

  We headed back to the undone problem together a couple of days after his initial cleaning and projecting session and I was immediately blown away. The arete looked incredible from the ground and a really efficient climbing sequence had already been discovered.  Murph sent the problem on his first attempt of the day and I quickly repeated this classic climb for the second ascent.  The problem, known now as Geometric Quagmire (V5) ended up being a bit easier than initially expected, but the movement and exposure on the upper moves make up for the lack in difficulty.  This could very well be one of the best moderate boulder problems in the Adirondacks!

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