Wright Peak  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  703. Good page?    Administrators:  Jim Lawyer, Chris Duca, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  M LaViolette Jr. on May 29, 2012 Make this area a Favorite What's New   Print a Mini-Guide with routes Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event  Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 72° | 55° 79° | 55° 70° | 41° 55° | 30° 55° | 32°

BETA PHOTO: Thar she is.

Description 

Does lugging gear 2 hours up a mountain to climb 5.6 half pitches sound like your idea of fun? If so then Wright Peak is just the place you've been looking for. Fortunately there is an officially designated wilderness campsite with room for several tents about .5 mile from the crag. The best idea would probably be to pack some camping gear and some extra PBR's and head on up in the late morning, set up camp and then do some climbing in the evening.

Although only about 40 to 50 feet high and maybe 150 feet in length the climbs here are quality routes in a great setting. The whole length of the crag is a latticework of cracks, so much so that without a topo it is a little hard to tell which route is which and where exactly they go. The most prominent landmarks on the crag are a left angling chimney at about the middle point which is the route The Wright Wrong Chimney. Fifteen feet or so to the right of that is a large white spot about ten feet up with a shallow right facing corner to it's left and a similar left facing corner on it's right. Straight above this at the top of the cliff is an overhanging triangular block, these mark the start of a few routes including The Hole. To descend walk off to the climber's right and scramble down a 3rd class gully back down to the base.

The crag is located at around 3800' and the top is a wide open, flat expanse of rock without any trees and has an alpine feel to it which offers great views of all the surrounding mountains. All anchors must be built with gear and climbers should do their best to trample the alpine vegetation atop the cliff as little as possible.

The cliff faces SE and absolutely bakes in the sun all day until late afternoon with little or no shade to be found. Don't forget your sunblock and your Julbos. If you are staying at the campsite and you have one of those handy tents that you can set up just the rain fly with a groundcloth it might be a good idea to take that too and set up a little sun shelter to chill out in between climbs.

Check out Jim Lawyer and Jeremy Haas' guidebook Adirondack Rock and their website Adirondackrock.com for more information and a list of additional routes.

Getting There 

To get there go to the Adirondack Loj and start hiking towards Marcy Dam. After about 10 easy minutes you will come to a fork in the trail and a trail marker. The trail to the dam will head off left and the trail to Wright Peak and Algonquin will head straight, go straight. Continue along this trail for approximately an hour and you will notice the camping area on the left with a little water fall just beyond. From here it is about a half mile of rough terrain until you reach an obvious side path on the right just before the main hiking trail comes to a steep section. Head down the right side path about 10 feet and look off to your right and you will see the crag.

The Classics

Featured Route For Wright Peak

Ranger Danger 5.6  NY : Adirondacks : ... : Wright Peak

Ranger Danger starts as a left angling finger crack. Move up easily to gain a shelf with a matching overhang above it, the crack continues on up the left side of the overhang. Place some good gear in the crack from a kind of weird off balance position. Then, commit to a move that feels like it's definitely going to be harder than .6 but ends up not being too bad to clear the overhang to a good stance. Continue on up the widening crack to the top....[more]   Browse More Classics in NY