For love....

These quotes are from an interview with Tom Adams on Climbing Magazine's web site. This guy apparently climbs super hard and yet seems to have his feet planted firmly on the ground.

"My friends and I climb because we love the sport; we love to improve, and more importantly, we love to be there for each other! A day climbing with my friends is much more than just climbing!"

"Climbing is about feeling the movement, the camaraderie, and the love. It’s not meant to be food for the ego! Climb for yourself, support your friends, and take care of all the areas where you climb."

"The majority of us love something. We may not always revel in our love, but it’s there. For me Love is the driving force of life whether it be for my girlfriend, family, friends, or climbing!"

"I want to get to know my inner self..."

Over the course of this last ten days or so we have gone from gray to green. The forest has changed now and the canopy is very nearly in place. I climbed with a visitor who is from CT like me but now lives in Salt Lake City yesterday. We both marveled at how different this forest is than anything in the west, at how full of life it is. We also marveled at what a brilliant experience it is to climb on a cool and quiet weekday morning in the Gunks.

In our online registration form a woman from NY wrote; I want to try climbing to get to know my inner self better. This got me to thinking about what draws people to climbing. Why spend all this time, money and energy to go hang from a cliff face? I think that Diana's response is refreshingly honest, "to get to know my inner self better". That gets right to the center of it, I think.

Over the next several weeks I'll be asking the visitors that I work with why they have come out and I'll let you know what I here.

J.

alpineendeavors

Sky Top Climbing

Mohonk Mt. House

Hello! I have been threatening to start a blog for quite awhile now and am finally getting round to it. Thanks for looking in.

The point is to provide a view of what I see happening in the Gunks and the climbing community in general, and to spread the word about what we are up to at Alpine Endeavors. Most of you are probably familiar with the guide service and with Marty.

While working full-time for the ski patrol at Belleayre Mt. this winter, I filled in most of my spare time guiding ice in the Catskills. Though the winter began mildly, we ended up with mostly sustained cold from the middle of January through March, allowing for lots of great adventures climbing ice. We split time mainly between Stoney and Platte Cloves, with a visit to Buttermilk
Ravine for the Back Country Ice Fest. Seven of us made the hike into Buttermilk through deep snow on a bitterly cold day and were rewarded with thick ice in a pristine setting; it was brilliant. Perhaps my favorite moderate outing was the multiple falls of upper Platte Clove--the Japanese Falls, Bridalveil and Platte Kill Falls. This combination gives five pitches on five separate waterfalls, all in a gorgeous setting.

My last day of ice climbing was in The Devil's Kitchen on March 24th, and with the cold snap in early April we likely could have squeezed in another couple of days.

Most of April was more winter than spring, with rain and cold and some significant snow falling in the Catskills through mid month. But, we are now in the midst of some beautiful spring weather. Things have thawed dramatically and the forests are rapidly turning green. For six or more days in a row, we have had 70-80 degree temps, with dry and crystal blue skies. Perfect.

We have been climbing quite a bit in the Trapps, and true to form, the weekends have been congested while the weekdays are far less busy. A visitor from the city told me today how happy he was to have so many classic routes to himself. I told we could share.

We have also begun work at Sky Top. After years of quiet, persistent negotiations, Marty Molitoris worked out a program with the Mohonk Mountain House in which Alpine Endeavors will provide guided climbing services to overnight guests of the hotel. This is a remarkable development. Due to liability concerns and other issues, the Mt. House closed Sky Top to climbing nearly fifteen years ago. Sky Top is arguably one of the single best crags in North America, and it's closure has been a tragic blow to the climbing community. Though these current developments do not mean the crag is now open, it is a step forward and perhaps one day we will see Sky Top open to the climbing community on some level again. It is certainly a great honor to be part of this process. The Mohonk House has such a wonderful history, and, of course, all of us who enjoy playing in and living near to the Mohonk Preserve owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Smiley family for their vision in preserving this fantastic land resource, which includes both the Mt. House property, the 6,500 acre Mohonk Preserve and most of what is now Minnewaska State Park. This fantastic undeveloped swath of land would likely be another exclusive McMansion Land if it were not for their vision.

Well, please check in regularly for more on what is happening with us, and I'll at least try to reward you with some cool photos for your trouble.

Cheers.