Poko Central Rappel

Hello everyone,

Regarding the Central Rappel descent between Gamesmanship and Bloody Mary at Poko-O-Moonshine, Adirondacks...Can this be accomplished with one-60 meter rope? Has anybody tried this?

If not, will one-70 meter rope make the descent?

Just trying to resist double ropes.

Thanks,

AB

The rap TO THE LEFT of G'ship requires two ropes. I am not familiar with anything betw. there and BMary.

just climbed up poko for the first time this past weekend. man that descent gulley is a pain after a day of tough climbing.

As Gunkie Mike mentions, the typical descent from the vicininty of the top of Gamesmanship is to climbers' left of the route. Between Gamesmanship and Bloody Mary are Southern Hospitality and Psalm 32, both of which do indeed have fixed anchors, but neither of which would be especially convenient as a descent route from the top of Gamesmanship.

If you are referring to the rap route to climbers' left of Gamesmanship, I don't believe a single 60 will work. A single 70 might JUST BARELY work.

With 2 70s, you can do it in 2 raps, though!

two 60s: after 1st rappel involves an easy although exposed walk to the next anchor 20 feet down (bolts & chains). thats how i do it anyway=2 raps! BAM!
-never heard of anyone walking off, but i suppose if you only have 1 60m, then your on for vegetated gully fun!

I did that rap last summer with a single 70.

Hahahaha...I'm not exactly sure when that rappel was installed. Assuming it was in the 80's, I and my friends walked off for twenty years or so. And we were hardly the first ones there.

Now there are (at least) four standard rap lines spread along the main face---heaven forfend the fastidious modern climber should have to traverse more than a few feet of offensive horizontal ground before descending.

(No offense meant to the locals, who regularly endure burly approaches and descents matched only by the Cascades.)

The first rap on the central rappel line is 46 m (150 ft) in the guidebook; a single 70 m rope would be too short for that.

Blissab:

You CAN do the Central Rappel with a 60m -- I did Gamesmanship this May, and was able to get down no problems with my 60m, however it's rather annoying just how many rappels you need to do.

• **What's really important tho is that you have to skip doing the 5th pitch (some boring 5.2 slab). ****:

At the top of the twin cracks pitch (pitch 4), trend way left to a pine tree at the top of a left facing corner. Use this rap to return to the tree at the top of pitch 3 (the wandering 5.4 pitch that leads right). Rap down to the ledge to bolts/chains climbers' left of the top of pitch 2. 2 more raps get you to the ground, just to the climbers' left of The Sting. The last rappel is the most annoying though, b/c you have to use a pretty shitty rap station with a rats' nest of old webbing strung through 1/4 inch bolts. -- Doubles ropes would let you skip this section, as well as finish the climb.

I recommend doubles, to avoid some hassle and top out the route. However, a 60m can get you back to the ground, just maybe not so easily and safely.

-Guy

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am planning on doing Fastest Gun in the next few weeks.

I for one have always made the long walking decent to the gulley from the routes in this area in the past years, just because I didn't know the rap sequence and didn't want to dead end somewhere.

This time I want to leave the walking shoes on the ground!

The new guide book certainly adds an additional level of clarity to all the routes and also the decent rap options.

AB