The Trapps Rock Climbing

The Trapps is the largest and most popular cliff at the Gunks, with many excellent routes at all grades ranging from one to three pitches in height. Almost three miles in length, it is home to many classic climbs of all levels of difficulty, and sports almost 500 routes. It has many exceptional easy and moderate routes, and draws large crowds on weekends during the spring and fall.

In 2022, a rappel station was added at ground level across from the Uber Pooper to facilitate teaching anchor building, anchor cleaning, rappelling, and more- on the ground, safely. This ground rappel station uses the standard double-bolted-chains-ring setup found across the Trapps.

The Grand Traverse Ledge (GT Ledge) starts halfway up the cliff near the route Easy Overhang, and runs north (right) with only minor breaks almost the entire length of the cliff.

A gravel carriage road runs the entire length of the cliff, and provides an easy walk below the cliff to get to your route of choice. Access trails, marked with yellow paint blazes, are used to get to the cliff from the carriage road in less than 5 minutes.

The hardest thing for new climbers to the Gunks is to find the correct access trail from the carriage road to a desired route. In summer, the cliff is obscured by trees, so it's often difficult to spot the routes from the carriage road. If in doubt, ask someone where to go; the locals are plentiful, friendly and helpful.

The cliff first rises tall above the carriage road at area known as the Uberfall. Mohonk Preserve rangers sometimes hang out here on weekends, checking to see if visitors have their passes. Water is sometimes available from a spring near the Uberfall, and a vault toilet is located nearby. There is a kiosk with a message board here as well.

To accommodate the 300+ routes of the Trapps, we've broken down the cliff into areas around well-known routes and walls, and divided them by easily-identifiable features. They are:

The Uberfall, including routes from the beginning of the cliff up to the vault toilet and kiosk below Boston. A ground level rappel bolted anchor is available across from the Uber Pooper.

Jackie and friends, covering routes between the vault toilet and the huge left-facing chimney of Miss Bailey.

Frog's Head - the Arch, covering the Baby & Frog's Head, Drunkard's Delight, and Arch areas, to the major arete of Ribs.

Strictly - Shockley's, roughly between Ribs and the major corner system of Three Pines.

The Mac Wall (Something Interesting), from Three Pines to the huge orange right-facing corner of Asphodel.

The Guides' Wall (Madame G's) includes routes from Asphodel to the Mantle Block just left of Raunchy.

V3 - Middle Earth covers the Raunchy, V-3, Cakewalk, Middle Earth and Thin Slabs / Thin Slabs Direct clusters.

The Arrow Wall - CCK starts at the height of land near Red Pillar, past Arrow, Andrew, Moonlight, Cascading Crystal Kaleidoscope (CCK), and ends with Modern Times.

High E includes its namesake, Insuhlation, Ants' Line, and Bonnie's Roof, up to the huge cleft of Silly Chimney.

The Yellow Wall (Airy Aria) - The Seasons (The Spring) also covers the alcoves around around Ventre de Boeuf and The Sting, Double Crack, and the Seasons, ending with Blistered Toe.

The Slime Wall starts with the unmistakable crack of Last Frontier, covers Simple Suff to Wasp, and includes the Moondance area.

Sleepy Hollow covers the scattered routes and crags at end of the cliff.