Southern Adirondack Climber: Some History Behind Nine Corner Lake

A couple of weeks ago, I received a paypal payment notification for a copy of the New York: Adirondack Park Bouldering guidebook. When I logged in to see the buyers address so I could print a shipping label, the name sounded extremely familiar. After thinking about it for a while, I remembered that I had seen the name on an old guidebook draft that Arien Cartrette (aka Groover) had done back in the early 2000's for Nine Corner Lake. Jay Shultis was credited for some first ascents on the Lost Dog Boulder in Zone A at Nine Corner Lake.

Jay's guidebook purchase was extremely ironic because I had just recently devoted some time to "reclaiming" one of his boulder problems, Survivor (V4) which was an attractive arete climb that always caught my attention but was completely grown in and dirty. In addition to needing some TLC, I also wasn't quite sure how the problem started or finished for that matter so this was a perfect time to reach out to the first ascentionist himself. Within an hour or so of sending out my first email to Jay Shultis, I had a very nice detailed response and even a handful of his personal pictures (see below) from back on May 30, 2004 when he and friends put up some new climbs on the Lost Dog Boulder. The pictures of the climb and the confirmation of the start/finish points fueled my psych to finally try the problem; but I think the most interesting part of Jay's email was the story behind the name of both the boulder and the boulder problem.

Back on May 30, 2004 while climbing at Nine Corner Lake and developing new problems; Jay's dog somehow managed to get separated from the climbing group. They looked all over for the dog but were unable to locate it. Nervous and concerned for the worse, Jay was forced to leave with the fading light. He returned everyday for the next week trying to find his dog...he check with local homeowners and stores, asked hikers, anyone who might be able to help. Nine days after the dog's disappearance, Jay received a call from someone in Caroga Lake who had found his dog. When the dog got separated from the group, it had a dog harness on which was attached to a rope. It is assumed that these items got tangled somewhere in the forest stranding the dog. When the dog was discovered by a local from Caroga Lake, it had apparently chewed through it's harness and ended up making a full recovery from the whole ordeal. Now that is an awesome story!

Below are Jay's pictures from "back in the day" at Nine Corner Lake. Also, the two problems depicted in Jay's photos that he established; Survivor (V4) and The Banana (V5) are the first two boulder problems in my short video. Also it is worth noting that the original Survivor problem started higher that I did in the video, with left hand on the sloper sidepull and right hand on the jug. Enjoy!

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