November Gunks Extravanganza

Wow, this post is overdue... Having had such an amazing time at Nor'Easter 2010 at the end of September, I was anxious for another adventure and to get the chance to climb with my new friends again. We had initially talked about getting together for an ice climbing trip sometime in the winter, but it didn't look like the timing was going to work out... at least not early in the season. I didn't want to wait until the new year to see everyone again. I started asking around about the weekend of December 18th, but it that wasn't going to work... everyone had plans to be in different parts of the country. I was a bit disappointed... and then... Twitter to the rescue!

I was elated. It took a bit of time to sort out the logistics, but there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. 

I remembered that Laurel, who I only knew on Twitter was going to be coming East to climb with Patrick. AJ was in too (he came up with the hashtag #NovGunksEx). Most of the non-climbers I knew thought we were insane for going camping in November.

The whole trip was fairly last minute, including the list of who was coming. The original plan included the four of us, but right before the trip we found out Aleya was joining us. Bill also decided to come, though I didn't find that out until we arrived... it was an awesome surprise.

AJ and I set out from the office at noon on Friday. We had put in more than enough overtime that week to cover the few hours we were missing that afternoon, but we still felt a bit guilty about leaving. No matter how much I work, I always feel wrong leaving the office before everyone else does (note to self: work on that). That feeling passed and the excitement of climbing with our friends again set in.

We arrived at the Gunks in the dark and managed to find the multi-use area where we were going to camp. Patrick and Aleya arrived at roughly the same time we did; Bill was already there. After a quick round of hello hugs, we started scoping out the campground. 

There weren't a lot of other people there. Apparently November is a good time to camp and climb at the Gunks. This gave us our choice of where to camp, so we opted not to camp near the drunk guy who plowed his Neon into a tree... superfast in reverse. We set up base camp for the weekend (in the dark and cold), broke out some liquid warmth and huddled around each other catching up and sharing a few laughs.

Saturday morning after coffee and breakfast, we met up with Laurel and headed out to The Trapps for some climbing.  We split up into smaller groups; Patrick and AJ jumped on Horseman, a Gunks classic. Laurel finished off a different climb with Bill and Aleya then came over and led Horseman. I seconded.

After Horseman, Laurel's friend Sarah joined us with her goldendoodle. Laurel (the person) climbed Laurel (the route), and then we headed further down the Carriage Road to get on Easy V.

Aleya led, and I got to second again. Shortly off the start I spotted an old nut that had been left behind. It wasn't in great shape, but I couldn't resist claiming my first piece of climbing booty. I knew Aleya was making jewelry from retired nuts, so I went a bit off route to dig out the piece for her. That little stopper ultimately became this pendant.

AJ came up third, and we knocked off the second pitch of Easy V (technically a 60 ft hike), but then ran out of daylight. Bill, Patrick, Sarah and Laurel had climbed Arrow so we were all on the same ledge. 7 climbers, 3 headlamps, in the pitch black and missing one camera, we opted not to do the third pitch. Instead, we rapped down in the dark and headed off to the Gilded Otter for some locally-brewed beer and awesome food. Unfortunately Bill had to get home, so he left us that night.

Sunday morning we took our time getting going; Daylight Savings Time afforded us an extra hour which we spent having a hearty breakfast (eggs, chocolate-chip pancakes, bacon, and Pacific salmon) in the parking lot of the multi-use area. After packing up, we headed back to The Trapps to get another climb or two in before the drive home. Laurel got creative and climbed a line that included parts of at least 3 different routes (I love that she just climbs what she wants), and AJ followed her. Patrick, Aleya and I figured we'd try out Madame Grunnebaum's Wulst, another Gunks classic.  Aleya started on lead, but we had some bad beta and ended up off-route and had to come down. Aleya left to find the missing camera (she did find it), but Sarah joined us again so she, Patrick and I started up the first pitch of Northern Pillar. That's all we had time for given the long drives home.

This trip was shorter than the Nor'Easter 2010, but we climbed more. I again had an amazing time and met a couple more awesome people. I'm eager to climb with them again. Next time we bring more headlamps.

Wanna climb with us? The next Gunks tweetup is in the works for May, 2011.

If you're interested in getting outside and climbing with some amazing people, check out this climbing tweetups page and come on out!