Climbing Near Phoenicia, New York

The Sportsman's wall is in the touristy town of Phoenicia, also near some great Catskills hiking and decent restaurants. The wall hosts about 10 fun, well bolted, moderate (from 5.8-5.12) sport routes on sandstone. At one time the cliffs were part of the local quarrying industry, but have been abandoned since the early 1900's. Many of the bolts have been painted to blend in with the rock. You may need to look closely to find the start of some routes. The routes vary from short with massive overhangs to slopey. As with any sandstone some of the holds can be crumbly, but most are on quality rock. The Sportsman's Wall is in a beautiful forest setting occasionally visited by black bears (don't pet them) with great views from the tops of the pitches. Bolted anchors at the tops of the climbs. Many of the anchors require re-threading at the chains. Be sure you understand this procedure before you climb, or plan to leave 2 biners. You may be able to top rope harder routes by leading easier ones nearby, but attempting to reach the anchors from above is not recommended. Before you climb do not miss the pancakes at Sweet Sues! (Update: Sweet Sues is re-opening soon, in the meantime try the Phoenicia Diner or Brios for breakfast.) The Sportsman's Alamo Cantina is great for burgers, burritos and beer outside after your climb. Mamas Boy has good coffee and snacks. There is also a little grocery store that sells beer etc, and several campgrounds. From the NYS Thruway, take exit 19 (Kingston/Woodstock). Take Route 28 west about 27 miles to Phoenica. The town has two entrances from route 28. Take the first one (the eastern). Follow the road down a hill across some train tracks and a bridge to the main street. Drive across the main street. Immediately after the post office on your right is a paved driveway to the town park. It looks like a residential driveway, but it's not. There is a wooden fence along the far edge of the driveway. This is the parking area. If it's full you can park in town and walk over. From the parking area start flat across playground field NE 250 feet and cross a wooden footbridge. Look for a sign pointing you to the Tanbark Trail. Across the footbridge on the left there are three worthy but not very hard boulder problems. Follow the signed trail to the left of the boulders. Please avoid going directly up the drainage as this is leading to significant erosion. The trail winds upwards and crosses below some low chossey sandstone cliffs. You’ll follow beneath these for about 650 ft. These look like they have the potential for top-roping if cleaned a bit, but they are apparently on the property of the church across the street, I don't know if there are access issues. Continue east on the blue trail, eventually moving let and coming to a T intersection in the trail (~3mins). There is a sign on the left that says this is a loop trail. Go right. Cross a double-log bridge over a small stream. Follow the trail uphill. Pass under a low fallen tree. Soon the trail makes a sharp turn to the left (uphill). At this point you can see evidence of an old very overgrown logging trail. Don't take this one. Continue uphill a bit further and you will see another, more obvious but still overgrown logging road on your right. This is 0.4 miles from the trail head. (If you find yourself enjoying the view from Grandview Ledge, you have gone too far.) Turn right onto the logging road. You’ll only need to follow the road for about 325 feet. Almost immediately you will be able to see the anchors of the short, but very appealing Azucar (.10b) up on your left. Follow the remnants of the logging road up to where it peters out below the cliffs, then follow the path of least resistance to the base of the climbs. Total 15 minutes walking slowly. The GPS location below is for the parking area. There are resident biners at most of the anchors. Bad Joo-joo if you take them.

Late morning to afternoon sun. Up the steep talus to the impressive looking, tall, cathedral of ice up on the hill in the trees to your right as you head north up rt 23 from the tombstone parking lot.

The most popular ice area in the Catskills. More to be added. There are two ways to get to Stony Clove; one is faster, but you can end up stuck in traffic for Hunter, Windham, and Bellayre. The other is slower, but you might actually make better time due to less traffic. It's six of one, a half-dozen of the other. 1) Take Exit 20 off I-87 (Saugerties), get on Rte 32, take that to Rte 32A, take that to Rte 23A. Make a left, and follow 23A past Moore's Bridge, Asbestos Wall, and Kaaterskill Falls, all the way through Tannersville, and just before you reach Hunter Mountain make a left on Rte 214. Approx 2 miles down the road, just after passing through a very obvious notch, you'll see a parking lot on the right at the bottom of a hill. 2) Take Exit 19 off I-87 (Kingston), and take your first right out of the roundabout (Rte 28 West); in fact, you don't even have to get into the roundabout to get on Rte 28 - just stay to the right out of the tollbooth. Follow Rte 28 West to Phoenicia, and get on Rte 214 North. After about 10-15 minutes, you'll come upon the parking lot (on your left, this time). If you miss it, PLEASE continue through the Clove and turn around where you can on the other side; the Clove is narrow, and cars don't exactly slow down when driving through. Neither do snow plows. The parking lot is generally well-plowed, and it can hold an amazing 10-15 cars if people are smart about parking. As usual, carpooling is a good idea. The route through Tannersville goes directly past Maggie's Krooked Cafe - some of the best breakfasts you'll ever find - while the route through Phoenicia goes past Brio's - excellent pizza place. What many people do is drive up through Tannersville, and home through Phoenicia. Also, if you're staying in the Palenville area, there's an excellent restaurant called New World Cafe in Saugerties; go back on 32A to Rte 212 (right near the thruway), make a right, and drive for 4.6 miles. It'll be on the left. Fantastic food, all organic, and the restaurant follows Slow Food methods. Excellent place. There is free camping at Notch Lake (near the parking area) and just South of the parking area, on the left; no facilities, but hey - you're camping in the middle of winter, and you have fire pits. Suck it up.