Adirondacks

I'm going on a weeklong family vacation here. We're going to be staying right around Lake Placid. No one in the family really climbs, though a few people like to climb when I'm out and about and they've come with. So I'm looking for some reccomendations for easy to get to, easy to set up TRs that ideally someone without a lot of climbing experience would enjoy. I'll have a ton of webbing and some static line and I'd really like to be able to get on top of the cliff to set them up. I have the guide book, there's just so much there it's hard to find a place to start and I thought some first hand experience might make it a little easier. Thoughts, recommendations? Any info's much appreciated

Bonus points if anyone can point me in the direction of some good OW cracks that fit the bill. I'd love to drop a line down something and tr solo a bit and I really don't get the chance to do that kind of climbing around home. Again, any info's greatly appreciated.

(PS, Bonus points actually get you nothing, maybe some good karma...)

Some good info here:

mountainproject.com/v/daks-…

How hard do you climb? ONLY top roping, or do you have a rack?

As that thread explains, best concentration of climbing will be the Chapel Pond area. Can get busy on the weekends though.

Hey, thanks for that link. That was pretty helpful. We'll be there mostly during the week so maybe crowds around Chapel Pond wont be so bad?

I do have a rack but I'm sans competent lead belayer so I'm limited to what I can put up by walking around or scrambling around to the top. A few of the family have a handle on a TR belay but leading is a different deal, unless there's a way easy access route or something.

I've climbed in the 10s and 11s but haven't been around the dacks enough to know.

I'd like to check out spiders web. I've heard really good things.

I thnik all of the Web are trad climbs, no easy walk around and it's pretty tall for a TR setup.

Creature Walls has some top roping, Tanager Face... Beer Walls in a couple spots. Unfortunately a lot of the ADKs is trad.

Near Saranac Lake there's a smaller cliff whose name eludes me, but I believe has TR'ing potential. There's also Owl's Head near Cascade Pass that has a long wall of generally 5.6 climbing and multiple lines, bring bring static rope since the trees are pretty far back from the cliff's edge.

Weekdays deifnitely increase the odds you won't be in line or settling for Plan B routes.

Jewels and Gems, both of the King Phillip Spring Walls are also easy to top rope. Leading a 5.6 (Bozeman Bullet) at Deadwater will let you TR a few lines. Really TRing is possible for most single pitch routes depending on how creative and sketchy you want to be. The areas I've mentioned are not sketch by the way.

It's great that so much of the climbing up there is off the beaten path gear climbing, just not so much for this trip. But it sounds like there's still plenty of options if we just look around a bit.

Creature walls, tanager face, beer walls, jewels and gems all sound like they've got some good things to check out. I'm not sure where the King Phillip Spring Walls are. I wasn't able to find them in the database here anywhere.

Thanks again, I think with the areas mentioned we should be busy all week if we want to be.

King Phillip Spring directions are pretty simple. Up the Northway to exit 30, turn left at the bottom onto route 9/73 towards Keene. After you go under interstate 87 start looking for a hot dog stand on the left. Park at that lot closest to 87. Walk back in the woods and you will see a doubletrack trail that goes off to your left that quickly turns to singletrack. Walk about 15 minutes onb the trail until you hit the crag. It's easy to figure out how to get to the top. You may get to the bottom and have to hike back up to set your TR. Just go back the way you hiked in.

100 feet of static line will be useful if you wanna TR KPS.

Beer walls has some ares that are very easy to set up TR and have easier stuff. The approach is short (uphill, but not hard). The wall with 3.2 and Seven ounces comes to mind. IIRC the wall with Afternoon Delight is not hard to get to the top to set a TR. Also just stop into the Mountaineer in Keene Valley and chat with the staff they can give you plenty of beta and the shop has a wicked book section if you are into literature.