cracks for the creek

hi all,

what are the best hand cracks in the northeast? where can i get some training in for going to a place like indian creek or trout creek out west?

i know reppy's is a highlight.  what else?

Crack in the Woods

I'd check out Greens cliff in NH... 

Poko - Sting, Gamesmanship etc.  Spiders Web if you're looking for harder/thinner action.

Not Reppy's, it's low angle.  There really aren't any parallel sided cracks in the Northeast -void of face features-  where you'll place, for example, 10 #1s.  If you want to be proficient in the desert, go to the desert.  

Generally, harder desert cracks are harder because of awkward sizes, like .75 or 4, or the cracks become thin super thin.  Learning how to ring-lock and climb any off size (for you) will help.

Our best concentrations of high quality cracks are at Greens and Spider Web, but they're irregular.  

other than the fact that its not steep enough reppys is the only crack in the east that I have done that felt remotely like a desert crack.  Reppys will certainly help but you will still get your butt kicked at the creek ;)

I've never trad climbed at the Red River Gorge (which of course is south, not north, but is East) but the photos in the guide look pretty promising as far as splitters go. 

Short of that, there are gyms around that do have some splitters. Gravity Vault Poughkeepsie has a decent tight hands splitter and is an otherwise decent gym. They also have an offwidth but it's pretty darn hard, I'd say at least mid-11, maybe harder (haven't been able to do it so dunno).

Splitter Camp from Moab Desert Adventures is an awesome introduction to the actual Indian Creek, and pretty reasonably priced too. There's one happening in 2 weeks.

Read the Crack Climber's Training manual by Kent Pease too.

I'd strongly advise tape for that GV splitter by the way,the abrasive is pretty intense

Having gone to IC for the first time this past year, I found the experience completely unique to the cracks I've climbed in the east and even places like Yosemite. Size is everything. Grades mean little. And I was not expecting how consistently steep everything was. For example, 5.10- is about the easiest grade you'll find, and it generally means #2 Camalots. I personally found out that 120' of vertical unrelenting #2 Camalots, while never super hard, wore me out---breathing hard and sweating by the top. For me, .5-.75 Camalot finger and off-finger cracks, rated 5.11+/.12-, were easier. And #1 Camalot "tight hands", usually rated around .11-, were by far the hardest size I got on.

There you go: 0.75 is insanely hard for me and #1 is cruiser...Brian raises a very good point.

Ward summed it up - Crack in the Woods is the only splitter in the Northeast remotely comparable to the Creek. Gym splitters are great for training various sizes.

Brian Abram wrote:

For me, .5-.75 Camalot finger and off-finger cracks, rated 5.11+/.12-, were easier. And #1 Camalot "tight hands", usually rated around .11-, were by far the hardest size I got on.

Wow. Do you have enormous hands, or tiny hands?

As for your neck of the woods Jay, I remember Unconquerable Crack having a pretty good section of hand jamming. Also have heard Cat Crack is very good.

Rich Brereton wrote: Ward summed it up - Crack in the Woods is the only splitter in the Northeast remotely comparable to the Creek. Gym splitters are great for training various sizes.

Brian Abram wrote:

Wow. Do you have enormous hands, or tiny hands?

short and fat, apparently. too fat to hand jam #1s, but my fingers are too short to comfortably thumb cam (ring lock) them. I also grew up in a gym with a bunch of finger cracks, so thumb cams and finger locks are something I've trained since I started climbing

Can we put in links to these? For example, I doubt Rich Brereton was referring to this Cat Crack.

Cat Crack is definitely on my todo list, as is Unconquerable

Thanks for the recommendations.  I'm always looking to get out of CT and climb in new places on different rock types.  When I get bored, I've been writing a list of projects/destinations in the weekend trip range

Screaming Yellow Zonkers is steep and splitter and awesome.  You wont find the same sort of 'thank god rests' on the horizontals in the creek, but I found SYZ plenty hard regardless.  And definitely the closest thing to pure spiltter I've found out east.