Climbers admire Gunks challenge

By Russ Clune
For the Poughkeepsie Journal

It was a crisp October weekend in 1977, and a small group of us had commuted down from college in Vermont, novices to rock climbing all, save our one experienced leader.

It was dark when we arrived, hiding all but an outline of the major cliffs, the Trapps (coming from the Dutch word for steps), Near Trapps, Millbrook and Sky Top. We rolled out our sleeping bags at the cliffs. A fitful night’s sleep followed, anticipation of the coming climbs keeping our minds rolling.

The morning dawned clear with all the peak colors of autumn tumbling forth, highlighted against the white stone of the crags. I immediately knew I was in love with this place and couldn’t believe that I’d grown up a scant 80 miles south of here in Westchester County, never knowing of the Gunks’ existence.

The first day on the stone is fixed in my mind forever. Looking up at that first route of the day had me anxious; it seemed so steep and so long. As I climbed, my mind was focused on the immediate surroundings. Each hold was brought into focus, muscles straining much too hard to gain upward momentum. Once at the top, anxiety was replaced by euphoria. The up-close world of the small holds and edges was replaced by the colorful big-world view below us.

It was the start of an affair that lasts to this day.

Living in the area has not dulled the feeling. The Gunks offers not only some of the best rock climbing in the world, but does so in an area that is stellar in its setting, with the Catskills rising to the north and the Hudson Highlands bumping up to the east. Views worthy of Ansel Adams’ camera are everywhere to be found, especially from cliffside while climbing.

The Gunks has a long and colorful history of rock climbing, begun in 1935 with the first technical route put in by well-known climber Fritz Wiessner at Millbrook Mountain. An emigre from Germany, Wiessner was an accomplished climber. He has first ascents all over the country and abroad, but he will always be most fondly remembered in this area for his “discovery” of the Shawangunks for rock climbers.

As the legend goes, Wiessner had been climbing on nearby Breakneck Ridge in the Hudson Highlands, when, after a strong thunderstorm cleared the summer haze from the sky, he saw the white rock of the Gunks in the distance. The following weekend, he got a couple of friends to accompany him to the first exploration. The rest is history.

While the Shawangunks, much of which is maintained by the not-for-profit Mohonk Preserve, draws many visitors for uses from bird watching to mountain hiking, it is most special to those of us who climb the cliffs. It’s rare to find such an extensive area, with cliffs stretching for miles containing a couple of thousand climbing routes.

Choose your level

The Gunks appeal to beginners and experts alike. One can find a climb that will be little more challenging than ascending a ladder, yet an expert may be climbing just a few yards off to the side, doing a climb where only the most dedicated and talented rock athlete will ever see the top.

Both kinds of routes have left me with fond memories. My original feelings of fear mixed with joy of survival, common for all beginners, was replaced with confidence and the desire to try ever more difficult climbs. Each new grade accomplished was cause for celebration. The initial aches and pains were replaced by confidence and strength.

Contrary to what much of the public might think, climbing here does not entail hammering steel spikes called pitons into the stone and clipping a sling ladder to it to gain height.

Instead, the Gunks is a free climbing Mecca, meaning the climber uses only the various edges and cracks the rock offers, fitting finger tips and toes on to these to get up the route. A rope is used for safety only in case of a fall, not to grab on to directly for climbing.

This is what gives climbing its challenge.

We can choose a route with a grade that suits our ability, rated from 5.0 to 5.14. As one improves, higher grades are climbed.

The appeal from the purely physical level is simple enough to understand. Anytime we play any game with regularity, we seek to get better, but climbing differs with the unique places it puts us. The side of a cliff a couple hundred feet off the deck might seem a fool’s place to be, but much of the danger of climbing is hype.

Sure it’s scary, and anyone who claims not to be scared of heights is either lying or insane, but that’s why climbers use so much safety equipment: we love to live! Once one learns how the gear works, it’s reasonably safe.

It’s my 23rd season of climbing here and the cliffs still excite me with the promise of adventure. Knowing there’s always another challenge up there, another area of cliff to explore, is as much as a rock climber could ask for.

Russ Clune of New Paltz has been climbing in the Gunks since the 1970s. Though he’s known as one of the most traveled rock climbers in the world, he says he is happy to call the Gunks home.