Quick Post on Bouldering at Gunks...

So I went bouldering at the Gunks today for the first time, and man, on Carriage Road (also called Trapps Area) I just couldn't find anything inspiring except for a problem that was way out of my league. So I spent most of the day working like 2 moves on a V8, but I found it fun. Thin and kind of heinous crimps on a nice arete with some fat pinches, I was just dying to test my contact strength on something serious outside.

photo by Katie Levy

Well, I didn't know it was a V8 until later in the session. My friend Mat Underwood walked up to it and pulled through most of it without much effort, but was apparently too burned out to work it. I think part of it was a psych-out on his part because after he had given up, we found out that he thought it was a V4 and I think his assumed rating caused him feel weak rather than realize he was actually climbing really strong.

Again, this feeds my ongoing tangent about ratings and how disappointing it is that climbers can become mentally committed to or dismissive of a problem one way or another based solely on the problem's rating.

But that's for another blog post.

Anyway, I found a vid of the problem with two ways that it can go down. I have most of the beta sorted out already. I just have a few more years of solid climbing to get done so I can eventually send this thing as well as these guys do:

More on the Gunks to come, too. I'd like to get the hell off Carriage Road next time and over to Peter's Kill to try to find some different climbs:

If anyone knows the name of the problem towards the end of the video, please let me know. It looks like fun.

Also, I'd like to get back there when the friction is high, because man, that Gunks' conglomorate is awfully slippery when it's 70 degrees and sunny. Otherwise, it was a freaking beautiful day to be on that mountain preserve and out of Philly.