Sport Rappelling in the Hudson Valley, NY

I'm new to the area, and before this post gets barraged with climbers telling me to get lost, where is the best place around here [Hudson Valley, NY] to tie a top-rope to a tree and rap down?

I'm looking for a place where I'd be able to scamper up/down to tie/untie the rope.

Thanks!

Where in the Hudson valley exactly?

Talal Jabari wrote:I'm new to the area, and before this post gets barraged with climbers telling me to get lost, where is the best place around here [Hudson Valley, NY] to tie a top-rope to a tree and rap down? I'm looking for a place where I'd be able to scamper up/down to tie/untie the rope. Thanks!

Rappelling is not a sport, merely a means of getting down after climbing a route.

@Keithconn...Anywhere within 1.5 hours from Rhinebeck NY to start wild be great...but i could definitely increase that radius for a worthwhile site

@Marc801...i don't want to argue semantics here, but I'm part of a rescue squad and while the focus of my post is the descent, we also ascend the ropes using ascenders,foot loops, etc.

Not the Gunks. Check out a place called Devils Kitchen, you can 'scamper around' and rappel down from that crap rock... makes great ice climbing in the winter!

Aren't you with rhinecliff volunteer fire?

EDIT: easiest way to practice true ascending/descending (takes the drive out of the equation) is to throw a rope over a big tree limb arborist style and practice ascending/descending while free-hanging from that. Easy to do in your backyard too, just make sure it's a maple tree or something like that, pines will get your ropes all sticky and gross quick.

Talal Jabari wrote:@Marc801...i don't want to argue semantics here, but I'm part of a rescue squad and while the focus of my post is the descent, we also ascend the ropes using ascenders,foot loops, etc.

Yet you were the one who decided to title the thread "Sport Rappelling..." and not say a thing about rescue training. Why be so obtuse?

@Medic...yes that's correct... iam indeed...was that through a Google search our do we know one another? Trees are fine i suppose but i want to combine it with getting off the beaten trail a little

@Marc there's nothing obtuse about it. The point is i want to hone my rapelling skills and at this point I'm not interested in forking out $500 a week to have a guide also teach me to climb.

I'm with NDP, (Matt) and look at stony clove, east side on mountain project. It's got an easy approach and walk around to set up a top rope and practice. I'd highly recommend practicing any of this stuff with a partner who has you on top rope for if you make a mistake and fall, the top rope will keep you safe and its a standard measure for practicing any rescue techniques.

"Getting off the beaten track" and "practicing technique" is a bad combination. Use the tree and make sure you have an independent belay from a partner.

Thanks for the suggestions Matt! I just looked at Stony Clove Notch...it looks like it has a few good drops, and shouldn't be too busy.

And of course I'm always with a belay partner/partners. I also use a Petzl shunt as an additional back up device

good grief, there is a place that the boy scouts used - North Lake -? I think thats what it is called.
My concern is the attitude that you convey. Semantics count, a Top Rope? A double line? Backed up ? Good on you, to want to practice.
You came to a climbing site and from a stones throw from The Gunks to ask about SPORT RAPPELLING , then . you start with condescension,
This is a fairly well used and known greeting among climbers
It works as a litmus test
(as to the level of 'sense' of humor & of 'many things' you have?) and it means nothing,;)
a kind of stupid but deep zen sorta thing :)
to restate the obvious, YAGD, You are going to die,

get a grip and take a class and what is that life of yours worth?
and a bunch of other things that start to seem cruel. . .
until you consider that Gravity is No Play thing .

If you have to ask - "where can I go near Rihnebeck?
or "how do I" ? anything
in regards to being safe - rescue training -
vertical technique - rope work, or any climbing related gear intensive, activity
You need more than the internet.

Hey talal, PM me your phone # and I'll happily take you out climbing, and if you want to practice that stuff can make sure you're doing it safely. Above poster is right and it's easy to get hurt/killed on a rope!

Medic741,Thank you for stepping up! I triple post too.;D,
I waited, and thought of extending the offer. I have a lot of experience. Decades of taking on the responsibility of showing arrogance the need to be humble in the presence of gravity and danger.
Which is what I think is needed here.

While I can understand the Rescue brotherhood, that has led you to extending the offer, do you really have the Level of experience to teach? Be safe. . .

Ground school to the point of safely rappelling, is quick and easy.
Ascending, too not to hard to teach.
BUT, securing a site, assessing, and making decisions, setting the right set of actions that need to be taken to make everyone safe -
managing risk,belaying a litter, anchoring for massive loads, - this is all serious shit.

I feel that it needs to be said that teaching this would be safest as a group working together to keep the less skilled participants, "The Rescuers" from needing to be rescued. All involved must show a
willingness to respect the nature of the activities. The methods of training for working in the rescue services must be followed in conjunction with standard protocol.

In the OP, it seemed to me, there was a lack of interest in going by the "numbers", soured no doubt by the (500$ a week.! Is ridiculous?, NOT!!) price he was quoted for rescue training.

Michael Schneider wrote:In the OP, it seemed to me, there was a lack of interest in going by the "numbers", soured no doubt by the (500$ a week.! Is ridiculous?, NOT!!) price he was quoted for rescue training.

If indeed he was quoted $500 for a week of training, he should jump on that as the bargain of the century! A *day* of private climbing instruction/guiding is typically ~$350...could be more, but not much less.

Michael you come off a little like a prick in your posts, i imagine that's not what you're like in real life.

It's not that i have ZERO experience on the ropes,i never said i have NO training. I/we have received training here from a former member of CA mountain rescue. What i said is i need PRACTICE.

I don't underestimate gravity, nor the seriousness of a potential fall, and isn't that what one essentially does? Learns the basics and then practices what he learns until he's confident in it?

I can't afford to pay for a CLIMBING instructor at the rate of around $500 per DAY which i would then fork out 1 day a WEEK. hence $500/week.

My desire is to have the skill and confidence to rappel safely to an injured person or to be closer to a capsized boat just off our shore if it occurs again.

And i must say that besides Medic, who was very generous to make that offer, most of the other comments have been rather obnoxious and based on otherwise baseless assumptions.

Did anyone ask if i had ANY training, ? No. Did anyone ask if i had done it before and what sort of rappels they were. Again no.

I'm sure there are people on this site who want to get into climbing and rappelling etc, and i don't think the "bugger off, and leave the cliff face to us seasoned pros" message is the most constructive.

The title of the thread, and then the scant information provided, seemed to me to be used in an attempt to promote an arrogant response.

Talal Jabari,
Given that you said:

"I'm new to the area,

and before this post gets barraged with climbers telling me to get lost,

where is the best place . . . . [Hudson Valley, NY] to tie a top-rope to a tree and rap down? I'm looking for a place where I'd be able to scamper up/down to tie/untie the rope. Thanks!"

Okay, right there, no one said get lost or bugger-off, marc801, inferred in his 1st post. That you were barking up the wrong tree.

'Sport Rappelling in the Hudson Valley NY', - don't say that. that is wrong, Training or
Practice for rescue work. Or something that is not explicitly banned in the park's and preserve's

I would say, . . . . go to the Gunks, There are many areas, lost city, the Out Back Slabs,the Peters kill area, or other out back areas,

The 'main areas' will be crowded with climbers but you can avoid them. There is a visitors center on rt 44/55, where you can familiarize yourself with the rules, and pay the day fee.. . . .But . . . . .Sport Rappelling is, I think?, not allowed ?

You did not say anything that would lead a member of this site, to take any other tone.
You showed no concern of the potential dangers of what you asked us. I and others who do not know you, can only go on the information available.

If you had spent more time introducing the subject I and others might not jump to the conclusion's that I/we did.

Medic741 wrote:Hey talal, PM me your phone # and I'll happily take you out climbing, and if you want to practice that stuff can make sure you're doing it safely. Above poster is right and it's easy to get hurt/killed on a rope!

Medic741 wrote:look at stony clove, east side on mountain project. It's got an easy approach and walk around to set up a top rope and practice. I'd highly recommend practicing any of this stuff with a partner who has you on top rope for if you make a mistake and fall, the top rope will keep you safe and its a standard measure for practicing any rescue techniques.

UPDATE: I drove over to Platte Clove yesterday with my partner, and found a nice little 60 ft cliff (more or less). scampered up the side and rappelled down. After several attempts, I was able to tie the rope around the tree and rappel the 100 ft drop in under 2 minutes [which is very reasonable for a water emergency just west of our district]. Thank you very much Matt for suggesting that area. It was the perfect layout for what I needed.

I'll probably go to that same location a few more times to also work on other techniques (such as ascending and switching over from the belay device to an ascender and vice-versa.

Thanks again

Michael Schneider wrote:Medic741,Thank you for stepping up! I triple post too.;D, I waited, and thought of extending the offer. I have a lot of experience. Decades of taking on the responsibility of showing arrogance the need to be humble in the presence of gravity and danger. Which is what I think is needed here. While I can understand the Rescue brotherhood, that has led you to extending the offer, do you really have the Level of experience to teach? Be safe. . . Ground school to the point of safely rappelling, is quick and easy. Ascending, too not to hard to teach. BUT, securing a site, assessing, and making decisions, setting the right set of actions that need to be taken to make everyone safe - managing risk,belaying a litter, anchoring for massive loads, - this is all serious shit. I feel that it needs to be said that teaching this would be safest as a group working together to keep the less skilled participants, "The Rescuers" from needing to be rescued. All involved must show a willingness to respect the nature of the activities. The methods of training for working in the rescue services must be followed in conjunction with standard protocol. In the OP, it seemed to me, there was a lack of interest in going by the "numbers", soured no doubt by the (500$ a week.! Is ridiculous?, NOT!!) price he was quoted for rescue training.

You sir are a boner and not playing nice, go to your corner.