Rock climbing in the Shawangunk Mountains!

[Jonathan Hutt]

I've been painfully absent from OPF for nearly a year, but wanted to get back with a bang. For your viewing pleasure (or displeasure, perhaps), I present the following series of images taken exactly one year ago.

These are from a winter bouldering trip to the Shawangunk Mountains (AKA 'The Gunks') just outside of New Paltz, NY. The climbers are Dan and Dan - one is my brother, and the other is a sponsored climber here from Ecuador for 6 months and a very close personal friend.

While the pictures below are technically rock climbing, they are best described as "bouldering" - climbing low(er) to the ground, where ropes aren't mandatory, and protection is instead afforded by "crash pads" below the climber and a good spotter. Additionally, bouldering routes (AKA "problems"), due to their shorter length, are often considerably more difficult, requiring extreme power and strength. Bouldering, by consensus of nomenclature, maxes out about 15'-18' off the ground, but a smaller, braver segment of the bouldering community engages in "highballing" whereby they'll climb as high as 30' off the ground, with their only protection being a handful of 3" thick foam mats on the ground, 3 stories below. Not for me

Bouldering problems are assigned a difficulty grade by the first person to ascend the problem and are then further refined over time by consensus. This grading is on the "V" scale. A V0 would be the easiest possible problem, up through V16, of which there are only handful in the world and only about 7-8 climbers in history who have ever climbed a V16. The 3 climbs pictured below have grades of V8, V9, and V11. To put this in perspective, I've been a climber for almost 10 years, I'm 6'1" and only about 9% body fat, can easily whip out 30 pullups, and can confidently say that I will never in my life be strong enough to even attempt a V9, much less a V11. I've been able to climb maybe two V8 problems ever, and only after a 2 month period of intense training.

All lighting is courtesy of sync-modified 580EX flashes triggered by PW's, laboriously carried into the backcountry.

1 - Karajo - V11

2 - The Illustrious Buddha - V9

3 - The Illustrious Buddha - V9

4 - Boxcare Arete - V8

Hope you enjoyed seeing these as much as I enjoyed taking them!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks Jonathan for these photographs, although I've no idea of how you ascend at such oblique angles of rock-face projecting out from the cliffs!

This must help keep the orthopedic surgeons' kids' BMW's humming!

Asher

 

[Jonathan Hutt]

None of these climbs were higher than about 15' from the ground. Their difficulty lies not in their height, but the lack of anything prominent to hold on to. If you look at the climber in #1, you might see that there is no actual horizontal surface to grab (i.e. like a pull-up bar).

Instead, he is actually pressing outwards against two near-vertical edges and the only thing preventing him from falling is the opposing pressure exerted on those two edges, "wedging" him into position. This places TREMENDOUS torque on the shoulders and requires a Cirque-du-Soleil acrobat's level of strength, as you might be able to tell from his back musculature.