PRINT: Rock Climb Face to Face, The Gunks

Face to Face

5.10b, Trad, 270 ft (82 m), 3 pitches,

Avg: 3.6 from 122 votes
FA: P1: A. Long, R. Kligfield, J. Kingston, A. Rubin 1977 P2,3: B. Richardson and I. Rezucha 1975
New York > Gunks > Trapps > h. The Arrow Wall - CCK

Description

A great and underrated route. The last pitch will not disappoint.

P1- An excellent pitch of 5.7. The first third, up to the right-facing arc, is delicate and a bit run-out, with a balancy 5.7 crux move or two around the arc. Of note, you can protect a ground-fall with micro-cams, small nuts, or small tricams. Above the arc, you'll find easy 5.7 face climbing that's very well protected. Make a nice tree belay at the GT ledge.

P2- Walk left 40 feet to the right side of the block. Climb up this and diagonal right across the face. Up to the left-facing corner at the roof. Hand traverse right to the face and go up for a belay below a small V-notch.

P3- A bit of everything. Climb through the notch immediately into the nice, strenuous crack. After a short stance, climb up to a thin fingertip horizontal. From here, make the wild traverse out along the crack to the edge of an overhang. Crank through these to the trees. What a pitch!

Location

40 feet right of Three Vultures at a concave face. Begin at the left side, just left of a very shallow right-facing, right-arching corner.

Descent: Three rappels from bolted anchors over No Glow will get you to the ground with a single rope.

Protection

Standard rack. Micronuts/cams and one 4" unit may be helpful but not necessary.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Serious business!AaronM

At the last crux

Eugene sending Face to Face

P3 start

Start of Face to Face

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Lancelevine

AMAZING LAST 2 PITCHES. Do not miss this climb. The first 30 feet are unprotected easy climbing, but then... oh baby... you get a awesome feet cutin' roof traverse, follow that up with a crack crux directly above an overhang (think CCK but with more exposure), and then a fantastic finale through a wild traverse and overhanging roof. Oct 15, 2010

Ivan Rezucha
Fort Collins, CO

The last bit of the last pitch, 5.9 angling left to the top, was first done by John Stannard as as hard finishing variation to Three Vultures. Oct 16, 2010

Ksween
Wakefield, RI

What does the crux crack on the third pitch look like? I ended up going through this notch on a finger sized layback crack/flake. Didnt exactly feel like 10b at the gunks. Was I off route? Anyone have pics? Nov 8, 2011

lucander
Stone Ridge, NY

5.10+

Crux on p. 3 is right off the belay, a butt scum in a small right facing corner with fingers in a thin crack. This leads up through easier terrain, then either (1) break left on a pencil thin finger traverse and bust through the roofs or go 15 degrees right and break through the roofs there. Both options seem hard for 5.10 Apr 10, 2012

Sean McAuley

The crux of P3 is almost directly over the crux traverse of P2 (slightly to the left actually) and is a butt scum into a thin seam which eventually becomes thin hands/stacked fingers. After this I traversed a few feet right, then angled back left on a fingertip (green alien) traverse into space, then powered through some big roofs to some stacked flakes. The Trapps App lists these flakes as loose but they felt pretty secure to me. Outrageous route that deserves to be counted in with the best 10s in the gunks. May 11, 2015

Pawel Janowski
Seattle, WA

P2 is asthetic, easy to read and very well protected. I'd recommend it as a good entry level 5.10 gunks roof. Jun 15, 2015

TheGabernator
New York, NY

(i) We linked p2 and p3 as described here. Lots of climbing but the rope drag wasn't too heinous. I suggest linking.
(ii) I found a #3 BD stopper (tiny, blue these days) invaluable at the triangular notch roof-let crux at the start of what is described as p3 here. The placement is in the seam/crack on the left side of the notch. It made the roof-let significantly less intimidating. Maybe TMI, but I reckon it's good to know about in advance; it's not an obvious placement.
(iii) Small cams (.4 and lower) useful for p3.
(iv) This route is *money* for sure. It packs quite a lot of climbing in the 100 feet between the GT ledge and the clifftop. Sep 25, 2016

SethG

I am curious that two of you describe the beginning of P3 as a "butt scum." I've done this climb twice and it never occurred to me to do it that way... I would describe it as small crimps for the hands and delicate footwork for a couple of moves. Jun 26, 2017

Nicola Masciandaro
Brooklyn, NY

a more direct finish, up the wide crack (with bush) and out small roof, looks possible Oct 31, 2017

bridge
Gardiner, NY

Is it just me or is this one pretty spicy? Wiggled in a couple brassies at the 'notch' but had to climb well above them before getting enough of a stance to place a piece. Ripping the brassies and falling on to the cam below would be quite a ride... Aug 21, 2018

Wes John-Alder
Kingston, NY

I linked P2 and P3. The rope drag was manageable, but next time I think I'll set up the intermediate belay at the v-notch.

Keep some gas in the tank for the final finger traverse out left. Just when you think this route is over, it gives you a few more grunts before the end!

EDIT
Went back for the redpoint yesterday. I linked p2 and p3 again. I only _just_ had enough slings with 9 long and 3 double-long slings for managing the rope drag. Drag was totally manageable, and working all three cruxes in one pitch makes this the most varied and spectacular single pitch I've climbed at the Gunks. Aug 26, 2019

Rob Kwark
Montvale, NJ

@SethG I did it in a similar fashion to you by pulling on sidepulls on crimpers with foot smears and delicate footwork, but my partner seems to have butt scummed as well. I think both work. Seems harder than 5.10b, but maybe I'm a wimp.
At some point after the notch/crack, it seems really blank and the description above tells you to go on a thin fingertip horizontal; in order to get to that horizontal, you need to climb a bit right and up. It's not entirely obvious. Aug 18, 2020

Jia
Cambridge, MA

We did this from the GT ledge. P2 starts at the giant fallen block (starting from left of block at "Amber Waves of Pain" yields more protection) and aims diagonally right across the face towards the giant roof, after traversing the roof and going onto the face, you will see the belay notch, which is before the fingery "butt-scum" crux. It ends with a fingery traverse left and a super fun roof pull to the top. I tried to lead this in a single linked pitch, but ended up with lots of rope drag...belaying above the first roof in the notch seems to be the way to go. Oct 19, 2020

Alejandro Diaz

5.10c/d

The 3rd pitch is significantly harder than p2 and harder to protect. Coming up out of the triangular notch into small crimps is difficult and I agree with @TheGabernator that you should try to place a small nut or cam before entering the crux. I fell at this crux with two cams in a horizontal crack a few feet lower and swung into the roof of p2 and nearly got seriously injured. A friend of mine took this same fall and got a major concussion. Be very wary! Feb 10, 2023