PRINT: Rock Climb Dry Martini, The Gunks

Dry Martini

5.7, Trad, 3 pitches,

Avg: 2.1 from 39 votes
FA: Pitch 1, Rich Perch and Ivan Rezucha, 195. Pitches 2 and 3, Hans Kraus, Bonnie Prudden, and Lucien Warner, 1955
New York > Gunks > Trapps > e. The Mac Wall (Some…

Description

1. Start by climbing the right side of the left-facing corner, up to an overhang. Swing around right, then traverse right ~40' until you're below a stance in a right-facing corner. Climb up to the ledge/stance and build a belay. 70 feet, 5.6.

2. Climb the corner about 8-10 feet to an obvious horizontal, then traverse out left to a bolt. Pass the bolt (crux) and then go up and right for about 25 feet to some ledges. There are several you can use; one has two old pins and a fixed piece. 70 feet, 5.7.

3. Climb straight up to a corner system then on to the top. 60 feet, 5.4.

From the clifftop, walk right to various rappel stations.

Location

At the rightmost end of the McCarthy Wall there is a large, right-facing corner system. Walk past that for about 200 feet and look for the left-facing corner that starts the route. Another 20' feet right you'll see a left-leaning crack, which is the start of Tequila Mockingbird.

Protection

Standard 'Gunks rack

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Dry Martini and Tequila Mockingbird have the same start (this crack). Protect the first overhang carefully.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Gail Blauer
Gardiner, NY

A nice climb. Each pitch is very different from the next. The first pitch has a thoughtful, well protected roof. The second pitch has a couple of thin face moves protected by a shiny new bolt. The third pitch is a fun jug haul up a v shaped chimney thing. I did get lost on P2, ended up building an anchor just below the chimney. Oct 10, 2009

divnamite
New York, NY

5.7

A nice climb. I didn't like the first pitch; there is a huge loose block under the roof and the protection isn't as good as you think. As for P2, as soon as you climb the bulge (crux with bolt), start moving right and you should see the fixed pieces (2 old pins + couple of other pieces). P3 is fun climbing. May 29, 2011

SketchySam

We did this for the first time last weekend and it was great. Most climbs were either wet from the rainstorm the previous night, or had people on them, so we decided to give this one a shot. The second belay station, consisting of two pins and a tricam, would have required traversing way out right so I just climbed straight up a bit more and set a belay a little higher. If you do a good job at placing runners, you could probably just climb straight to the GT ledge from the first belay and skip the second belay all together. You'd want a long runner on the bolt if you were going to do that. The third pitch was pretty wet, but fun nonetheless. Oct 5, 2011

Wes John-Alder
Kingston, NY

The second belay station is junk. The pins are ancient, and the other fixed pro came out too easily. Best to pass it by, and certainly don't rap on it. Aug 12, 2017

Franz Buzawa
Brooklyn, NY

A few bits of worthwhile beta (IMHO) if you decide to take on this overlooked, high-quality route…

1) The start/1st pitch is shared with Tequila Mockingbird. The difference bet. the 2 can be confusing.—you could easily do one while thinking you're doing the other, unless of course you're very good at memorizing route descriptions and can apply that information when you're climbing.

2) Don't link P1 & 2. The resulting rope drag, even after liberal use of long slings, is horrible.

3) The hard moves on P1 & 2 stretch the idea of what a crux is for their respective grades (.6 & .7). In particular the P2 crux seemed height dependent and wicked hard—maybe it was the rope drag!

4) As Wes J indicates, P2's 2-pin "belay" is junk and should be removed. Really, those pins are dangerous. If they were old in `17 they're even older now. Take SketchySam's advice and move up ~20 ft. and you'll find a decent spot to build a solid gear anchor. Jul 5, 2019