Gunks Bouldering (Late Winter 2016)

  So winter here in upstate New York is continuing to hang tough.  We have seen seasonably warm days followed by blistering cold, high winds, snow, sleet, etc.  At this rate I am convinced that outdoor climbing in the Adirondacks will not commence until the end of April/early May!  Hopefully I am a couple of weeks off with that assumption because I am not a huge fan of having to traveling for hours in the car to find snow free and dry boulders.  This is the nature of the sport and our climate so it is what it is in all reality.

  This past week, Ken Murphy and I again traveled out of town to seek out warmer conditions and dry rocks.  Our destination was New Paltz, New York and we were fortunate enough to have some local friends (Nyle Baker and Mike Cohn) rendezvous with us for what turned out to be a stellar late winter bouldering session.  There are so many different areas to boulder in New Paltz and we were having a tough time deciding on where to climb.  We ended up selecting a less known area, The Waterworks which I had only seen once before back in 2009 when I was able to send Sharma Roof (V8).  There were a handful of high quality boulder problems on the same outcrop that shut me down on my previous visit.

  The goal for the day was to try hard and hopefully to dispatch The Spike (V8).  Good friend Mike Cohn was able to finally conquer this problem after numerous sessions and his send got me psyched to do the same.  Despite my personal mini epic on the problem and countless failed attempts, I was able to complete the climb and it stands out as one of the better boulder problems that I have ever done!

  Below are some pictures from the day, a short climbing video, and two older videos from like 7 years ago where a handful of locals showcase the climbing potential at The Waterworks.

Media Update: