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New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #40
C Miller wrote: Temps were actually cold but OK, it was the water running down the overhanging boulder that was the deal breaker. We were prepared to clear snow off the top but not going to be enough to make it climbable today. I was prepared to go home empty handed but I got so close and then the weather crapped out. Back to the east and training! |
Ward Smith wrote: Enough snowfall, and not only won’t you need pads, but you may get a much higher sit down start! |
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Still can’t do a split but I’m working on it.  |
Guy Keesee wrote: Not exactly. But routes there are shorter (50-70 ft?) than routes at the Gunks, and the Trapps cliffs are so close by (5 minutes away), so maybe that's why it gets less respect. Like, why climb a single-pitch 70 ft route when you could go climb 3 pitches of 100 ft each? Some people think of Peterskill as more of a TR/kiddie area. I think that's because a lot of guides take groups of kids there in the summer. There are some appealing aspects: Access to most of the cliff is very short and easy from the parking lot, which is adjacent to restrooms with actual running water. It's all trad or TR, some of it quite hard, some really easy. There are no bolts that I know of, except for bolted anchors on some of the routes. |
dragons wrote: Thank you for the answer. It sounds wonderful. Same sort of stone as the Gunk’s? |
Guy Keesee wrote: Yes the same Gunks conglomerate. The Peterskill 'not getting any respect" thing is pretty funny. I agree with dragons' comments, but the funny thing is that a lot of folks who climb in the Gunks, and dismiss Peterskill, often only climb the first pitches of many of the routes at the main Gunks cliffs and then rap off convenient bolted anchors---and many of those pitches are no longer--and less steep and continuous, than many of the routes at Peterskill!!! As you can guess, I am a Peterskill fan, even though I haven't climbed there that frequently. But, sure, if you want to, you clearly can get much higher on the main Gunks crags. |
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Rich Romano on a 5.9 at the Peterskill cliff, circa 1979.  The parking lot there was built for a skiing operation run by the Minnewaska Hotel called Ski-Minne. The building is no longer there and was destroyed by fire.  |
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I gave up on ice climbing today and skinned up the ski mountain that is not yet open for business. I was about 4 days late.. Monday was the real powder day and Tuesday was probably also killer. The locals have been getting after it pretty hard and it's all chopped up now.    2150ft vertical rise was a bit of work for me. the arthritic feet are talking... they are supposed to open for turkey day  the ski down was fun but also pretty hard for me. choppy and also lots of frozen water bars down lower. legs are not strong enough yet.. Isa's front yard.. She is in Maine playing Grandma  I really needed the sauna and cold plunge. The pond is finally almost full to where it's supposed to be.  2 inches of fresh ice . PINTA to chop through.. I should smarten up and find a piece of High R rigid insulation to cover my hole with... sounds good on paper but more than likly it will freeze into the ice and cause a mess. |
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My only big kitty encounter. On the hike back OUT. It wasn't there hiking in, and only this single track on the muddy "road". Posted before, probably, but still a favorite.  |
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'Big kitty's' are 'officially' extinct in Massachusetts. However, years ago my wife and daughter, then around 8 and, as always, 'Eagle-eyed', were driving home fairly late in the evening through a heavily forested area in the hills not too far from home, when they spotted what they have no doubt was one eating kill close to the road. They even doubled back for a second look as the cat was too focused on the kill to run off. Neither my wife nor daughter are ones to make things up or exaggerate, and are quite familiar with identifying animals---it was much too big be a bobcat or any other potential alternatives--and had that 'lion' head. No phone cameras back then for photos. Not too long after, a couple of weeks maybe, on the day after a heavy rain, I was in the same range of hills, though about 15 miles north ( not far from where Ward lives), wandering on old dirt roads on a 'new rock hunt'. About a mile or so in I encountered a semi-dry 'mud puddle' and in it was a foot print, just like the one OLH posted above. We had house cats at the time, so I recognized it as a cat print, but it was many times bigger than that of any house cat, including our good-sized Maine Coon. Given that it was in semi-dry mud it was clearly relatively fresh. I immediately decided that I'd done enough exploring for the day!!! A few years later a mountain lion was found dead as road kill in Connecticut, where they are also claimed to be extinct. They aren't!!!! |
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Helen, I had a similar experience. For some reason I decided a 20 mile mountain hike in the rain would be a good idea. I was sure alone as I could be. I didn't tell anyone where I was going, either. 5 miles in, up on a ridge, the rain was coming down steady. Everything was saturated. I'm diddy bopping along when I saw them, unmistakable, lion tracks in the mud of the trail. They were going the same direction as me. I kept going. When I first encountered the tracks, they were filled with water. As I walked, I started to notice the tracks looking a little fresher, with a little less water cupped in the prints. I came around another bend and there the tracks had very little water in them. 10 more of my steps and the cat tracks veered off into the brush and disappeared. OK that was sort of freaky. The way I read it, the cat had been walking slowly on the the trail. I came up from behind, the rain serving to muffle any noise I was making. I think I actually caught up to it and scared it away. Standing there in the driving rain, looking into the chaparral, I had this tingling feeling on the back of my neck. Some deep, animal part of my brain knew I was being watched. I stood there knowing that cat was close by and watching me intently. I could really feel those eyes but I couldn't see them. Deep instinct was at work, automated firmware had kicked in. I took the decision to continue my hike! The next few miles followed the ridge before finally descending to a creek in the canyon below. Many, many miles still to go from the creek but at least more sheltered in the canyon. All along the ridge my spidey sense was on high alert. It felt as though curious cat followed me for some time. But eventually that feeling started to fade, which I interpreted to mean the cat was no longer following me. It did not descend to the creek. Once there I felt alone again. Was it hunting me? When I left the spot where the tracks veered off the trail and continued on, I stopped frequently and suddenly turned around, like I heard something, even though I didn't. I continued this behavior until my neck stopped tingling. I wanted the lion to know I knew it was there and I was ready. But no, I don't think it it was hunting me. Just probably blown away to see a human up there in such bad weather. It was curious, where in the hell is that human going??? Then it got bored and left. The rain was coming and going during the afternoon, but as it got dark it returned with a vengeance. I'd been out in it for hours and hours and even with goretex and a good umbrella, my legs were soaked. I knew I had to keep moving. The last few miles back to the truck were through slick and sticky coast range mud. It was exhausting and I could feel the cold seeping in. I knew if I did not get back to the truck, I was in serious jeopardy from hypothermia. I was shivering uncontrollably when opened the door to my truck, started it and got the heater going. 20-mile day in the rain, tracked by a mountain lion, overwhelmed by mud, onset of hypothermia, and then I was driving home listening to music and trying to dry my pants and socks off. Ever since then I'm far more aware of mountain lion territory, habitat, and habits; dawn and dusk, solo hiking or running, in the trees along an embankment or ridge, where a cat could pounce me from behind, I get very wary. I start doing that sudden turning thing, frequently staring off into the foliage, listening, looking, like Dutch in Predator. |
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For the record, I really like Peterskill (lest anyone think my question above was meant to denigrate the place). And I had one of those cat-aware days hiking alone in Zion once in the winter -- that "tingling feeling in the back of my neck" as Cherokee describes. |
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Allan, I am quite certain that the road kill kitty in CT was a collared male on walkabout from out west. I am also quite certain that we do not have a breeding population here in the north east. we do have occasional nomads passing through. |
Nick Goldsmith wrote: Well, even if we don't have a breeding population around here ( and I am not convinced of that), there have been enough credible signs and sightings around the region to suggest that we get fairly frequent visitors!!! Nice pictures, Nick. Definitely winter up your way. Still November seasonable around here. |
Cherokee Nunes wrote: "If it bleeds, we can kill it." A number of years ago, Tom "jrat" Jones and I flew into Phoenix to attend a canyoning rendezvous in Globe. We decided to hit Salome Jug on the way there...even though we were a bit pushed for time. Did the canyon and started the hike out right when the sun went down. We're hiking down a wash in the dark when right behind us a mountain lion screamed. Freaky...sounded very human. Close enough that I thought I could feel the air move. We hustled to the truck we'd rented... Good times! Edit to add a couple of pics...Tom on the hike in...  In the canyon...back before we figured out helmets were a good idear...  Pretty fun gig and a sweet canyon. |
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I know I've told these stories online over the years but maybe not here. I understand from envious friends that I have been blessed because I have seen not just tracks, but two mountain lions when out and about: First sighting was on 395 somewhere north of Lee Vining, as I was headed home to the Bay Area from my friend's house in Swall Meadows. I think it was early Spring because the passes were still closed and I was headed farther north to cross the Sierra. It was very early in the AM, just around dawn, and I saw one cross the road from the west heading east at a large pullout. I was so excited that I pulled into the pullout, grabbed my camera from the front seat (pre cell phones), left my car running and jumped out to chase it and take a picture. About 15 feet from my car I suddenly realized what a stupid idea that was and backed up back to my car. Second sighting was right near my current house. Two blocks to the east of me is a huge wash between Upland and Rancho that is part of flood control. Two blocks north of me is where all the housing stops and the terrain turns to the scrubby hills at the base of the Angeles NF mountains. I was solo walking around 4:30 in the afternoon from my entrance at 24th St. when I saw a lion cross the trail one block ahead of me coming in from 25th St. I sometimes wear a lanyard with a screech alarm and bear spray when I'm out solo walking because we can sometimes have somewhat aggressive coyotes in my neighborhood, but I wasn't wearing it that day. This time I was smart enough not to keep walking towards the mountain lion. I backed up until I got near my exit to the street. This second sighting did not really surprise me. The two streets north of me, 25th and 26th, that run more or less east west from the huge wash between Claremont and Upland, to the huge wash near my house, are well known as a wildlife corridor. People in those neighborhoods regularly post bobcat, mountain lion, coyote and bear from their security cameras. Lately we've had a red fox that likes to visit us and poop in our backyard. I know that feeling of being watched. It's very creepy. I was once at Lost Piton Rock at Benton Crags, belaying my partner when suddenly all the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I knew something scary was watching me. I turned around and scanned but of course I didn't see anything - but I belayed the rest of the route looking out rather than at my partner (who was on TR). We stayed there for a while but I was pretty uneasy. |
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Such great stories! I do not have any personal mountain lion stories but my daughter, Natty, who is the climber amongst my kiddos, does! One spring my wife, myself, and three of my kiddos all went to Moab for hiking and climbing but Natty didn't want to go and being 17 years old, we all felt fine with her staying at our house on the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The house was way back on the base and in a pretty secluded area. One night while we were in Moab Natty calls us at around 1 am totally freaked out. We ask what's going on and she says, "There's a HUGE mountain lion outside my window looking in at me!". It was a big cat just staring in the window! Scared the hell out of her! Fortunately it soon ran away but she didn't sleep that night! It was a one story house and we had mountain lions, and bobcats, and coyotes, and bear, etc. all over the place. I had personal encounters with all of the above except for the mountain lions but we had those huge cat tracks all over the place in the mud after rain and our neighbor had a game camera and would share his photos of the two adult cats and their cub that lived near us all. Man, Colorado is such a magical and incredible place to live! |
phylp phylp wrote: Yeah, ditto that. One of my longtime climbing partners and I were reminiscing just the other day about climbing 20 years ago at Sam's Throne in Arkansas. The whole time, we both had a strong feeling of being watched. Creepy. Maybe didn't help we saw that someone had placed a pumpkin with a face painted on it at the edge of the cliff... No one around that we could see...all day...quiet...but...strange...  I've seen a number of bobcats over the years. But...only one cougar that I dimly recall. Crossed the road in the dusk as I was coming out from climbing in the Uintas. Pretty neat. t Edit to add....ok...one more cat bit...  Ski touring after work in Little Cottonwood. Pretty common to have critters follow a skin track... |
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There's a camera almost everywhere now. If we had a breeding population of big cats in the north east there would be pictures on people's game cameras and security cameras. |
Alan Rubin wrote: I have no first hand experience with eastern mountain lions, having only seen their tracks in snow at our remote Arizona climbing area. However, there has been DNA verified scat in the Quabbin Reservoir area near my house, a huge tract of contiguous forest land. I also talked to somebody for Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife many years ago about the numerous sightings in my area. His response was (paraphrasing) “ The official stance of Fish and Wildlife is that there are no mountain lions in Massachusetts. However, it was also Fish and Wildlife’s stance that there were no coyotes in Massachusetts when there were probably 500. They only admitted it when they started showing up in the Boston suburbs.” |
