One of my
favorite things I discovered since I’ve been at Hamilton is rock climbing. While
I’ve spent a lot of time at the climbing wall here, I have yet to go natural
rock climbing. I have heard from my coworkers at the wall that there are great
routes in the Adirondacks, so for this blog post I decided to do some research
on Adirondack rock climbing.
According
to the Visit Adirondacks website, there are incredibly diverse climbing routes in
the Adirondacks. There are well over 250 climbing areas in the Adirondacks, all
of which deal a very unique experience (2). Some of the best routes can be
found deep in the wilderness, or right off the highway (1). Because granite is
the dominant rock, climbers can find anything from steep blank faces, to
splitter cracks, to cliffs that jut out over lakes—along with very few people
(1).
Some of the coolest climbs in the
Adirondacks involve crags overlooking lakes. Long Pond Cliff, near Indian Lake,
is a remote crag riding about Long Pond that offers incredible views and a
secluded climbing location (1). Echo cliff offers challenging crack climbs
overlooking the scenic Piseco Lake (1). Cascade Lake, between Lake Placid and Keene,
has some of the best known climbing in the Adirondacks, including Barkeater
Cliff and Chimney Cliff (1). There’s even a climb with a
waterfall—Poke-O-Moonshine, near Lake Champlain, has three sections including a
face along a waterfall (1). The coolest climb, however, goes to Rogers Rock, a
slab that rises 700 feet out of Lake George that you can only get on from the
water (1). The bare bedrock and small lakes that compose much of the
Adirondack’s geography translates to cool and unique climbing experiences.
Because of the sheer size of the
park, there is no epi-center of climbing in the Adirondacks (2). Climbers do
their best to keep little evidence of their passage, so you won’t find
overly-chalked holds or marked routes (2). While the Adirondacks have some of
New York States’ best routes, the amount and remoteness of routes means that they
are rarely busy and therefore well preserved (1). The Adirondacks offer adventurous,
character-building climbing that carries with it the very essence of
traditional rock-climbing (2).
Sources:
Rock climbing is also something I'm interested in as well and learning that the Adirondacks have so many climbs available is inspiring! I wonder if the Adirondack's quality of rock climbing has to do with the uniqueness of how the mountains in the park were formed. I also think that it is important that the climbers that do venture to the awesome rock faces pay close attention to not leave a trace to ensure the quality of the climbs.
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