Gunks - intermittent rain climbable?

Hey team,

Thinking of making a day trip to the gunks on Sunday. The forecast's iffy - are things still climbable if there's intermittent rain?  Maybe we can do some nice single pitch if the weather isn't cooperative.

Fang

There are a handful of climbs that stay sort of dry...not a lot.  I have purposely climbed in the rain, significantly reduced grades.  Once the rain stops, the rock tends to dry out fairly quickly.  (head into NP for lunch, come back, climb until the next shower...)

It does depend on the route's angle, rock on that route (polish), and your comfort in climbing trad on feet that could slip at any moment.

I've climbed wet rock in the Adirondacks a few times, but only once in the Gunks.  One time was enough to realize it pushed things well outside my comfort zone.  Maybe you can get a top rope down something at the Uberfall.

I personally don't find it fun to lead when it's raining off and on. Gunks rock gets slick in rain, and unless you can climb some quite high grades, everything is going to be at least partially wet.

I don't mind top roping in the rain. Peterskill has lots of options for that, and rain is likely to prevent a situation like last weekend where the climber quota fills up early in the day.

IMO Gunks rock generally climbs pretty well when wet due to all the positive holds(especially at the lower grades) and especially when compared to somewhere like the Dax where the cliffs tend to be slabbier and with less positive holds.

As Gail said above, the rock in the Gunks also dries very quickly after rain... and extra speedy with some sun and a nice breeze.  

Yes, the Gunks dry out relatively quick compared to other areas.  If you are a 5.9 or above climber, the Yellow Wall area has several routes that stay dry even in steady rain:
-Airy Aria
-1st pitch of Carb & Caffeine
-1st pitch of Yellow Wall
-The Sting
-Wop Stop
-Lisa

I'd say it depends a little on how used you are to climbing wet rock.  The main thing to beware of is the green lichen on footholds, which is as slippery as soap when wet.

Simon Thompson wrote: IMO Gunks rock generally climbs pretty well when wet due to all the positive holds(especially at the lower grades) and especially when compared to somewhere like the Dax where the cliffs tend to be slabbier and with less positive holds.

As Gail said above, the rock in the Gunks also dries very quickly after rain... and extra speedy with some sun and a nice breeze.  

That's funny, I find the anorthosite of the Adks grippier than Gunks rock when wet.

Gunkiemike wrote:

That's funny, I find the anorthosite of the Adks grippier than Gunks rock when wet.

Simon was referring to the size of the holds, esp on the easier climbs, not the grippiness of the rock.

Hey everyone. Thanks for the tips. forecast got even worse (didn’t know that was possible) so we ended up not making the trip. But got some good things to try on the yellow wall. See you out there next weekend!