[Hide Comment] Climbed with Adam Rivera Jun 27,2010 did in 5 pitches Simulclimbed the 5.6 (v2), while the other team in our party climbed off the 5.7 (v3) till the pins just before the bulge on P2 then swung leads after. Climb was a lot of fun esp the crack in corner and the left crack at the twin crack's. The cave finish looked wet and dirty Jul 12, 2010

[Hide Comment] The route description seems off to me (but I'm a Adirondack Rock fanboy).

Following the same route, Adirondack Rock has it in 6 pitches.

Although the last pitch is easy, I wouldn't call it 4th class.

For us, the descent took almost as long as the climb. The north gully was wet, wet, wet. We never did find the fixed rope, but still got away with a single double rope rappel. Oct 3, 2010

[Hide Comment] Do yourself a favor and do the starting variation on Pitch 1 (to the right). Standard start looked less like climbing and more like hiking.

Due to all the rain this Spring, the walk down is wet and washed out. May 27, 2011

[Hide Comment] Catch it dry and the cave finish is awesome! The ~5.7 move out of the cave/chimney is hard to figure out and exposed but well-protected (save your bigger cams). Jul 5, 2011

[Hide Comment] Adkrock description was spot on, although books and leaning cracks can get jumbled at certain pointsin the climb. Money pitch was 3 with the crack running along the left facing corner. Last pitch had great position and there were harder variations on the 5.2 sections. Class 4? Not by today's standards...

Fwiw, i feel The Empress and anything on Rogers Rock was pitch for pitch better than this "classic". Other than pitch 3 i didnt think there waws anything here worthy of ever repeating (although ive heard the 5.7 chimney is a good variation). Jul 24, 2011

[Hide Comment] A nice beginners route for those getting into multi-pitch climbing. Easy slab climbing, I climbed the first 5 pitches in my approach shoes. The 5.6 variation up the chimney makes for an exciting and slightly heady finish. Apr 12, 2012

[Hide Comment] Not for a beginner climber, he'll have issues with the 20ft+ run-outs.
Instead of heading straight up from the belay up the ramp/black wall to the terrasse on P6 I mistakenly went left on the slab to the corner below the chimney variation. That little mishap will bring you to an enjoyable 5.7 variation (just below the chimney leading to the terrasse ledge).

Major issue I had was with the description and map in the guidebook on how to get to the north gully descent, I ended up taking the first gully which had a nice amount of loose blocks of ice and rock. Apr 16, 2012

[Hide Comment] @Luc I agree; the descent is the crux. Both times I made it to the top (regular and empress), the descent was longer than the ascent ... There is a jambalaya of heard paths up there. Apr 16, 2012

[Hide Comment] A tree at the second rappel is gone/damaged. There is now a slung block that appears safe. Someone might want to bring another piece of 20+ foot webbing since there's only one right now. Lots of loose rocks, beware as they will tumble very far down this gully.

If this climb had a better, bolted rap it would be considered one of the best climbs in the northeast. The descent really limits its appeal. May 20, 2012

[Hide Comment] I think people are missing the descent. The Regular Route has been soloed car-to-car in nearly 10 minutes. Really.

From the top of Bob's Knob, you follow cairns to a narrow gully. The entrance to this gully appears unlikely from the top, but it's very easy scrambling once you're in it. There's a fixed rope part way down to use as a hand rail when its wet. From the bottom of this narrow gully, walk down to a fork in the trail. Take the (skiers) left fork and follow the trail downhill and left across a couple exposed sections to a rappel tree. No need to rappel; walk back 20' and find a hidden birch tree with another fixed rope with knots. Hand-over-hand down this for 20', then rock-hop the stream back to the base of the slab.

Irene dirtied the descent a little, but it still goes easily.

Once you've done it, it's trivial.

[edited to add this...]
I should say that the birch of the second fixed line is not hidden, but rather the rope tied to its base is hidden. The birch is nearly dead, so perhaps [hopefully] this can be upgraded soon. May 22, 2012

[Hide Comment] Jim,

I just tried the North Descent this weekend using the guidebook description. I made it to what I thought was the first rappel tree after going down the gully but couldn't find the hidden birch tree. Ending up doing two rappels, the second of which required a full 70m rope and a little scrambling to get to the next set of rings, followed by rock-hopping on the stream as described in the book. Jun 18, 2012

[Hide Comment] I posted a photo showing EXACTLY where the fixed lines are. You need to explore a little to find them. If you're rappelling, you're in the wrong place. Jun 18, 2012

[Hide Comment] Thanks. That photo is quite clear. Jun 19, 2012

[Hide Comment] Missed it at first but photo has been moved to front so available for all Chapel Pond routes. Thanks Jim, great resource as is your book. Jul 2, 2012

[Hide Comment] Did the walk off yesterday using the map Jim posted. Was indeed quite easy. We made it to the car in 30 minutes at a modest pace. Fixed line appeared to be in fine shape and was easy to descend.

Chimney variation is very worthwhile and protects well with a #3. Jul 22, 2013

[Hide Comment] Past couple times on Regular Route we've been using a 2 rapel line that is very clean/easy, and puts you out near Tilman's Arete.

We follow the paths off the last technical pitch of the Regular Route that head into the woods (climber's right) following this contour while heading down, SKIP the first rapel you reach which is about 20 feet off the trail (skier's right) on an exposed tree overhanging a long wet corner and walk for a bit more until you reach a rap station on a small rock outcrop/ledge (tree slung at end of ledge). From this station you can clearly see the next rap station below you, which uses two trees.

Once down from the second rapel walk down 50 feet or so and slightly left through a few large boulders, following the gully down with the cliff on your left. This spits you out in 5-10 minutes at Tilman's Arete, and from there you can head to the road which is the fastest way to walk back to the base to retrieve gear. There might be faster ways, but this descent is easy to find and follow.

Taking the first rap on the right is HORRIBLE, leading down a wet corner to a chossy section.

We haven't tried Jim Lawyer's suggested walkoff yet. Aug 19, 2013

[Hide Comment] Great climb. The second edition topo/photo and route description was very easy to follow. Linked p1/p2 with a 60m rope, a single rack to #2 is plenty. I placed 2-3 pieces per pitch and felt like plenty. Excellent climbing on beautiful rock.

Following the instructions in the second edition the descent was easy to find, you'll meet with 2 handrails that are in great shape as of 8/15. Aug 11, 2015

[Hide Comment] Great route. Just "walked" up it today with the wife. I must agree that you need to have experience with trad to have the right state of mind because of the long run-outs. However it is a nice easy climb to get your head into the trad scene. Route finding was easy enough and the descent was manageable. Overall a good day on the wall! Sep 6, 2015

[Hide Comment] Just did the V6 "Li'l Sebastian" finish on Saturday and I would highly recommend it. 5.6 handcrack with some fun layback moves and some really nice jams. It's 3 stars in the book but it didn't look like it sees a ton of traffic, it's also only mid-April though. Apr 18, 2016

[Hide Comment] More walk-off "beta" ...When descending from the top of Regular Route (and Bob's Knob), we all know getting to the "normal" descent trail is to the right, but, you'll have 2 choices. Follow a small forest trail that goes up 50 feet , before it re-joins the down trail or..... cross the slab immediately to hit the down trail.
If you walk directly across the slab be aware, the slope on your right (towards Upper Washbowl) quickly steepens and if you tripped, or slipped on wet leaves in the autumn ... you would fall ... very, very, far. May 28, 2017

[Hide Comment] If you miss that initial narrow gully to start the north descent, there's a well-worn path that will take you a bit further north and then down. It ends at a drop off (no rap station) so you poke around a bit higher/farther north and you come to a rap station, with another one in view below. Two raps off these put you in the streambed (you are actually descending the winter route Tahawus). Not that much worse than the fixed rope descent. Aug 14, 2017

[Hide Comment] Led this on Friday (July 20, 2018) - great route! The MP route description will probably get you to the top, but isn't great. Stick with ADK Rock guidebook, it is much more on point. Plan on 6 pitches - which includes roping up for the last pitch (I would not call it 4th class)
Many thanks to Kirby who we met at the top and was gracious enough to show us the best descent route. Probably saved us an hour! Jul 22, 2018

[Hide Comment] P-1 and 2 can be easily linked into a 70 m pitch if you start by the 5.7 var. Also, the li'l sebastian var. for pitch 6 is the best pitch of the whole route IMO. More exposed and sustained then everything else on the route and it feature great jamming!

The north descend is very easy to follow with the guidebook and will get you to the ground in 10 minutes. Aug 9, 2018

[Hide Comment] With dark approaching, we traversed climbers right from the boulder on pitch 4 (lawyer/hass) crossing below Bob’s Knob, continuing climbers right and down past the broken ledge and a moss spotted slab into the trees and found a well established tat anchor with two rings at the end of a 60 meter rope (maybe ten feet shy of the full rope length). From there less then a half rope length rap to the gully and a feint trail down and climbers left in very wet gully to the start of the Regular Route. Not a bad option. May 14, 2019

[Hide Comment] Climbed this 2 days ago. First time climbing in ADK. I was extremely surprised at how easy the route was. Our party soloed up to the "crux corner" built our first belay and climbed up to bobs knob vertical pitch.

The knob out of the cave is a juggy fun 3 moves. The best part of the route IMO was the small "s cracks" left of the larger S cracks on top of the knob

Descent sucked, we got lost and bushwacked our wwy down. Someone should flag the descent seeing as there's so much confusion following the "false trails" everywhere. Later that day we did Empress snd found the proper north descent route. When traversing off the summit of regular route you'll pass 3 cairns before you head into the trees. Once in the trees you'll see a downed tree across the trail. Turn i.mediately right and you'll follow down right next to the slab. That'll get you started on the proper descent. 2 fixed ropes along the way are in good shape Jul 29, 2019

[Hide Comment] If like me, you climb all the way to the top until you run out of granite, you'll probably have a hard time finding the descent. If you walk toward the pond, keeping near the treeline above you, there will be a small trail with a barkless tree fallen across it. Step over the tree, and head downhill around a small, flat boulder. At the bottom of the hill, you'll stumble onto the trail that heads to the fixed ropes. The last post gave a good description of where to go from there. Aug 13, 2019

[Hide Comment] DECENT DESCENT (as newbies to this wall, we did find the descent and we want to share what helped, which is same as much of what others say, we just want to emphasize the MOST IMPORTANT points): YES, it is a GREAT DESCENT, you just have to FIND it, and we felt it could use some more markings (Cairns please? and thx to whoever pitches in on this, ...seriously, and also there are some mis-leading cairns up top on the slab). We traversed over from the EMPRESS tree island top-out (not going to the top of the slab) and it is very easy to find THIS trail in to the woods, yet you then MUST FIND the "barkless tree" fallen across the trail which you WILL find if you stay low while traversing above Bob's Knob, and it is easiest to stay low simply by staying at the same height as you traverse, enough if you keeping most of the trees up and to your left (up-cliff), and then once you finally enter in to the woods on a clear trail there is this IMMEDIATE encounter with this (infamous?) "Fallen Barkless Tree" across the trail at which you must then TURN IMMEDIATELY RIGHT and follow the path down, down, down, and you WILL soon find the 1st handrail rope on the right side of the descent, and then VERY(!!!) SOON after this there is a small cairn on the LEFT marking the trail further down, so turn left here and this leads you (if you keep staying RIGHT) to the 2nd Handrail (which could be a rappel as there is a rap-ring on the tree), and thereafter the quite obvious trail continues down, down, down, perhaps loosing it during moments when it weaves in and out of the steep/rocky river bed, but you are best to always make decisions bearing right to keep you closer to the cliff band, and then very soon the road and the CHAPEL POND SLAB BASE of cliff (where you started) will magically appear! -- total time 30 minutes Jun 13, 2020

[Hide Comment] At the top of the pitch that goes up Bob's Knob (~vertical rock), protect your second before you move right on the flat platform to build a belay. Without a high piece, if they fell the rope would scrape across the edge a substantial distance and could be damaged/cut. Jun 17, 2020

[Hide Comment] Freesoloed in 20 mins car to car, hiking down instead of rapping. not a record but I thought It was pretty good Jul 24, 2020

[Hide Comment] Did this route yesterday, and enjoyed the lovely last pitch variation that goes off right: "Lil' Sebastian" in Adirondack Rock. However, with a 60m rope, I barely had enough to finish the pitch, had horrendous rope drag, and communication between belayer and leader was impossible.

If I were to do it again, I wouldn't use the standard belay position for the last pitch. I'd instead do a 30ft+ 4th class traverse right and around the corner to set up a belay near the beginning of the waist height crack. Maybe people are uncomfortable with that, given that a fall would be pretty bad, but just my two cents. Aug 13, 2020

[Hide Comment] Lil' Sebastian finish variation is the best pitch of Regular Route. Fun diagonal-horizontal climbing in linking a bunch of great cracks. Be prepared to use most of your rack, unlike the rest of the climb. Bring three of everything from yellow C3 to blue C4s. Wouldn't hurt to have three from green to yellow C4s. Set your belay at the base of the corner of the horizontal crack. May 10, 2021

[Hide Comment] Done with the cave finish (5.6) this is one of the best easy multi-pitch climbs on the east coast. Feb 6, 2022

[Hide Comment] with a 70m rope its nice in 4 pitches.
(P1) full 70m up above wavy cracks to beginning of big left facing corner.
(P2) full 70m up to the top of left-facing splitter corner, belay beneath flaky bulge.
(P3) almost full 70m to huge ledge above steep crux.
(P4) to the top. Jul 11, 2022

[Hide Comment] Did with the cave finish and Lil Sebastian after walking back down. I’m not sure I can go along with 5.6 for this variation and think Lawyer’s 5.7 is more accurate. The position making the move through the chimney is by far the best along this route and added more fun to an old classic. After walking down we walked in and climbed the Little Sebastian variation which is an outstanding 5.6 crack. You can sew this thing up with doubles in BD 1-3, 4, and maybe a few finger sized pieces, tricams. If anything, double a #2. I’m not sure triples are necessary. This last pitch added some major value to an already outstanding day. Jul 18, 2022

[Hide Comment] it’s 6 pitches w/ a normal 60m rope. 1+2 set you up for the crack pitch; 3 is the crack/dihedral up to the “twin cracks” belay. 4 is twin cracks up to base of bobs knob. 5 is the ramp up onto bobs knob. after unroping and moving belay around the corner, 6 is a long easy romp up to the top. not sure where these extra pitches in the description come from Jul 23, 2023

[Hide Comment] The 7-8 pitch range probably comes from the history of the route, the FA being from the 60s at least. Shorter ropes, uncertainty in where the next belay might be, and the need for communication make the original pitching make sense.

These days the only reason to pitch it out so short is for communication. I have witnessed and heard when someone stretches the rope to its end and can't seem to hear their belayer, nor the belayer hear them and suddenly they're downclimbing and mucking it all up. I would recommend short pitches if it is your first time up the slab for this reason. Aug 9, 2023

[Hide Comment] Amazing climb on amazing rock. Pack light. You’re basically bringing cams to build anchors. I placed one piece on each pitch except 7 and 8 where I placed none. Probably not for the beginner leader. The runouts will sketch the crap out of you. I ended up doing it in 5 pitches by linking some. 1/2, 3/4, 5, 6, 7/8. Didn’t take the descent trail (although the cairns make it very easy to find). Two raps with a 70 meter put me rock-hopping back to the car. Did it in 4 hours car to car. But we enjoyed the amazing view at the top and rested in the shade for a while. Definitely will be back! Oct 5, 2023