Anyone ever climb "the great wall of china" in the gunks? The complete traverse of the trapps?

Supposedly the longest continous rock climb in the world. If anyone has done it or knows someone who has I would be interested to hear about it. Thinking about doing it.

Heard of it, never heard of anyone actually doing it. I think the biggest issue is safety, with so many inexperienced climbers mobbing the gunks these days, you may be pressing your luck.

Climb to GT ledge. Walk right. Good job.

Well Dave Rosenstein and Ken Nichols did it. Stays below the GT ledge the whole time.

I thought it was just on the gt ledge the whole time? are you actually climbing through the last moves of every pitch?

PM Ross Exler on this site. He's done it.

Wade J. wrote:I think the biggest issue is safety, with so many inexperienced climbers mobbing the gunks these days, you may be pressing your luck.

^^^ This. Would need to do it mid week in a rain storm to ensure the area was clear of hazards (ie - the other climbers).

Jdrago with what youve learned here are you going to give it a go?

Wheres the official start (uberfall area? or more like Dennis/Belly roll or Baby, etc or further down?) and finish?

Really fun idea.

Got topo?

Ken Nichols has an extremely detailed route description of many pages.

According to this it starts pretty much at the beginning of the Uberfall...

mountainproject.com/v/a-the…

(third item under routes from left to right)

You start at the left end of the cliff and hand traverse right to the nook on Keyhole. Continue right until you scramble off about a pitch past A Long Walk for Man, A Short Climb for Mankind.

Stay below the GT Ledge the entire time.

I've been eyeing this for a while myself.

Kevin Heckeler wrote:According to this it starts pretty much at the beginning of the Uberfall... mountainproject.com/v/a-the… (third item under routes from left to right)

Pretty sure the Uberfall is down by the 61st item on that list.

I don't know about "The Great Wall of China" but most girdle traverses I've seen start at the bottom of the cliff at one end and finish at the top at the other end.

'course the only one I've ever actually climbed was "Warehouse Run" (said to be the first one ever done in the USA)

wivanoff wrote: Pretty sure the Uberfall is down by the 61st item on that list. I don't know about "The Great Wall of China" but most girdle traverses I've seen start at the bottom of the cliff at one end and finish at the top at the other end. 'course the only one I've ever actually climbed was "Warehouse Run" (said to be the first one ever done in the USA)

The whole section of climbs at the start of the Trapps is referred to as the "uberfall" ... area. I think it was obvious I wasn't referring to the walkoff, since I said "beginning of the uberfall" and linked to a list that clearly put the Great Wall near the beginning of the uberfall (area)...

Sorry if it confused you, it's certainly clear now.

One of the local guides attempted the route last year. It was during one of those periods of really bad heat/humidity.

Here is a link to a blog post about it:
bigfootmountainguides.com/2…

Happiegrrrl wrote:one of those periods of really bad heat/humidity.

Thats gross... I would think it's one of those cool ideas that in practicality isn't THAT cool.

I am thinking about giving it a try next spring or something. It does sound pretty awesome in theory but like Morgan Patterson said it might just not be that cool haha. Only one way to find out and worse comes to worse your never more than a two rope rap from the ground. It isnt as committing as going up. I have heard its pretty run out with a fair amount of loose stuff but I ont think the climbing is too difficult for the most part a few 5.9 R pitches possibly? Every moron and their mother climbing out of the gym for the first time is most likely the biggest hazard for sure. Someone the other day had asked my partner at the belay uld show them how to build a gear anchor because they didnt know how. Soooo.... human hazards for sure. Anyway I think I'm going to give it a shot and worse comes to worse we bail.

Kevin Heckeler wrote: ^^^ This. Would need to do it mid week in a rain storm to ensure the area was clear of hazards (ie - the other climbers).

Never mind the safety of going over/under a bunch of gumbies, I think that the main issue would be simply congestion. Doing it in a reasonable amount of time is hard when you have to stop to wait for a party to pass when you hit a classic route. In the Uberfall and the beginning of the Trapps, there seems to be a climber every 10 horizontal feet on a crowded day. Obviously a Fall weekend wouldn't be the best time to try the traverse, but the combination of good conditions and an almost empty Trapps doesn't happen that often.

Dave Rosenstein, former president of the access fund, did the FA with, Ken who took meticulous notes, & I have spoken to Dave about it. He stated that the 'crux' is in the Bunny, Retribution, No Solution, Nosedive, section, I think, as well as the High E Buttress I believe. The climbing obviously is not very hard most of the time HOWEVER because it is a traverse it is very dangerous I believe the most Runout section is also in the area of High E. Part of the R rating was also the multiple spots where the Second would take a potentially very large fall/ swing due to the traversing nature. So be advised the climb is only 5.9 but the head required for it is much stronger than that of a 5.9 climber.

As far as im aware they climbed dawn - dusk, fixed their lines at the high point (Right point??) and lowered & jugged the following day because they were never more than a pitch above the ground just an FYI, I always thought it would be cool/fun to bivvy in the Gunks on a climb such as this. The grey dick states it took them 5 days.

If you go to Rock & Snow it is my understanding that speaking to the staff about it would get you the ability to read Kens notes/ TOPO etc. for those of you who have a very serious interest, but again I would speak to those who have done it first.

The 'local guide' was Doug Ferguson head of Mountain Skills, he however did the climb from Left to Right IIRC, aka Sleepy Hollow - Uberfall, and as I was told the first to do so.

(I spoke to him about this over a year ago and he did it over 20 years prior and was just a curiosity because I saw his name in the Grey Dick and didn't realize it was him so my memory is a tad fuzzy sorry)

Thanks for the info. Traverse runouts are definitly more intimidating than going vertical especially being only one pitch up with 30 feet or runout. sounds like potential groundfall is possible in spots?Sounds interesting anyway and it is something I have thought seems pretty neat. Maybe bivy up on the gt ledge might be interesting instead of jugging back up every morning? Anyway it seems like a neat idea and if I can find a partner who is comfortable leading runout 5.9 to go with me haha I might try it out. I can lead 5.9 but that is about the extent of my climbing ability. On a traverse it could get real interesting real quick with 20 or 30 feet between gear.