Peterskill TRing

This post was originally a comment in Peterskill

Hi! Im coming out from Arizona to the Catskills for a wedding, and hoping to do some climbing. It sounds like PK is pretty crowded? If Im just hoping to come in for a friday or Sunday afternoon to climb Is this a good spot? Is there anywhere else adjacent to the Catskills with TR or sport climbing? Thanks

There is a small sport crag in Phonecia seeing some development. Maybe a dozen routes or more. Mostly bolted. Oddly enough its sandstone which is uncommon in the NE. Routes up to 60-70 feet high. Mostly moderate grades. Not a destination but if you are in the Catskills anyway it's better than bouldering...

Go on Friday. Go to the überfall section of the trapps. There are tons of routes you can top rope. If you go on Sunday forget top roping - you will have to lead to get on anything in the überfall this time of year on a Sunday. But on a Friday you can get on an easy 10 to 15 routes between 5.2 and 5.11 with a walk up. PM me if you need details on accessing the top.

I don't know much about peterskill, but I'd recommend the überfall area of the trapps for a mid-week afternoon of top roping so long as you don't camp on a single route.

There's a sport crag being developed in Phoenicia?!?!?!?

Peterskill does get crowded, but there is (at least nominally) a limit on the number of parties, so it tends to be manageable, even on the weekend. There is also a lot of rock in a reasonably small area. The few times I've been there it felt less busy than Rumney, Farley, the Near Traps, or even some of the non-destination CT crags. The key is to get there early in the morning (i.e. try to be there ~10 mins before it opens). You'll want a static rope for rigging anchors, and it can be quite a hike round to the top of the climbs, almost to the point of spending more time setting ropes than actually climbing. If you can team up with other climbers and share top-ropes you can get more mileage in.

David gives good advice, as does Jesse. PK opens at 9, so take "early" with a grain of salt. And with a limit of 100 climbers/day, it really never gets as busy as the Uberfall section of the Trapps does on a typical weekend. Also, while the single pitch part of the Trapps has 10-15 TR routes, Peterskill has 230. From 5.0 to 5.13. So where would you go for TR climbing?

If you're coming in for Peterskill in the afternoon you might have a problem even getting in if they've already reached their maximum.

IMO the top rope access in the Uberfall is not obvious to someone who's unfamiliar.

Medic741 wrote:There's a sport crag being developed in Phoenicia?!?!?!?

Yeah I think there are about 15 routes in Phoenicia. Above the ball field in the center of town. There are multiple tiers on the hillside behind the field. The first tier is visible from the parking lot but mostly choss. Hiking up the hill to the 2nd tier is where the better and taller climbs are. There are some smaller quarry type areas as well. We hiked it in the rain after getting rained out at Peterskill. Saw a lot of bolts. Not sure how the TR situation is.... Might be dangerous to set up on sport anchors from the top.

Medic741 wrote:There's a sport crag being developed in Phoenicia?!?!?!?

Sportsman's Wall

I've been there (and then contributed to MP more detailed. diretions how to find it) - but have not climbed there.

Rock different from the Gunks.
Doubt it makes sense to try Top-Rope it.

For leading, it would not say that the bolts were closely spaced.