Learning to Crack Climb, as a Northeast Climber
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I posted this in another thread, but thought it might be an interesting discussion topic in its own right.: --- There's this idea that many northeastern climbers have that the NE lacks crack climbing, the west has all the cracks, and it is hard to learn to be a good crack climber in the Northeast. I disagree. This is an oversimplified trope in my experience. It underestimates the amount of good crack climbing to found in the East, and overestimates the prevalence of pure crack climbing "out west". Yes, the west has Indian Creek, Yosemite, and a few other areas with some very pure crack climbing. But these are the exceptions, not the norm. Outside these mega crack destinations, most trad climbing in the West is just like granitic areas of the East - intermittent cracks with hybrid jamming and face techniques. It's the same deal. Unless you spend most of your time in the Valley or the Creek, the standard climbing diet of a western climber isn't too different from a northeastern climber. For a more specific example, I'd argue the the ADKs offer a quantity and quality of crack climbing to match or exceed anywhere in the CO Front Range, or in the Tahoe region. Basically, I'm arguing against the idea than living in the East limits your ability to develop as a crack climber. Maybe if you live in New Paltz. But further north, no excuses. --- So what do others think - Is the crack climbing in the northeast overlooked and underrated? Does living in the Northeast limit your development as a crack climber? |
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Nuff said |
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Lots of the traprock in Connecticut has pretty nice vertical cracks too... |
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IF the argument was "in the east we don't have many true, parallel-sided splitters, so learning technique in this realm, particularly on smaller cracks is more inhibitive than living in the west" or something along those lines, I'd probably agree. However, barring that as a caveat, I'd say that if you include all of NE, WV, NC, and the Red, then this notion is laughable. There are plenty of cracks of all sizes, and even some true splitters in the east, and certainly enough for a burgeoning young crack climber to throw themselves at, if they are so inclined. Of just about every grade up to 5.12+/5.13-. Plenty of cracks, few true splitters, but this is an eliminate when discussing "crack climbing" because desert splitters you only find in the desert, at least in any kind of abundance, and most cracks aren't desert splitters. This is just my opinion as a guy that's almost exclusively climbed in the east and loves crack climbing- except for offwidth. I put that right up there with ice climbing- meaning I'd prefer not to unless someone's life depends on it. YMMV. |
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This post is laughable. eastern cracks almost always have features inside of them. there is almost always features on the face outside the crack as well. Nothing like the desert. I learned more about crack climbing in a week in the Creek than I had learned in the previous 15 years climbing in the north east. is what it is. not to say that you can't learn how to crack climb in the east but most likly you will still suck at Desert splitters untill you have some time invested in climbing desert splitters. |
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Jake Jones wrote: If we're going as far south as The Red, might as well go a state further and include Tennessee Wall and nearby areas, which have plenty of cracks into the 5.13 range. Maybe the rock doesn't tend to be as splitter as Indian Creek, but there's plenty you won't be getting up without solid crack technique. Additionally, there's an area (not in TN, but in the East) which has splitters in granite very similar to Yosemite's. Nothing as tall as El Cap of course, but there are at least two 300-ft+ splitters. I'm being vague on the details because I'm not sure the developers would want the info out there yet, but a guidebook should be out in the next year or so. |
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The Adirondacks are loaded and most climbers barely touch the surface. While there are crags like the Spider's Web (Drop Fly or Die and White Knight are undisputable classics), Moss Cliff (Fear of Flying gets my nod over Touch of Class for best 5.10 multipitch in the park), and Silver Lake Summit Cliff (Green Mountain Boys to Hairy Upper Lip Drip is a super classic linkup) that are pretty loaded with excellent cracks, the region offers immense depth. Neglecting the many obvious traveled classics, a few from my experience are Andrew, My Favorite Martian, Coy Dog, Chasing the Scream, Elusive Bastard, Azurite, Tennessee Excursion, and Mystery Achievement. Also, King Ghidorah if you wanna throw in a crack boulder. I still haven't gotten to Catatonic or Release the Kraken, which are legendary obscurities around the Adirondacks. Should we mention one of the hardest pure crack climbs in the world is a hop over the border in Quebec? La Zebree aside, routes like Le Toit de Ben and Les Grand Galets on their own show that Quebec probably can give the Northeast a run for it's money when it comes to crack climbing... Though we really haven't talked about New Hampshire yet! And then backwoods crack classics in Maine and Vermont (and I'm not talking about Bolton) |
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Nick Goldsmith wrote: I disagree with this on several levels. First, the Northeast crack climbing inferiority complex always seems to, as you do, go straight to comparisons to Indian Creek. But Indian Creek is an extreme exception, even within the west. And to most western climbers, Indian Creek is also far away. They may not need to get on a plane to get there, but it still isn't their normal climbing zone. Many experienced trad climbers in the PNW, or CA, or even CO have never been to the Creek either. Most Western US crack climbing if more like you describe - many face features. So this isn't an east vs. west distinction. Its a Moab locals vs. literally the rest of the world distinction. Along these lines, I have another thread title I've thought of posting " Crack Climbing is Myth". I.e. outside of a few very unique areas, pure splitter crack climbing is vanishingly rare. Climbers get too hung up on defining "crack climbing" as parallel sided splitters, when >95% of the time crack climbing is more variable and includes use of face features. Being proficient at the more common face/jamming hybrid technique (which you can learn very well in the northeast) will take you farther and get you up most "crack" climbs and classic multipitch routes - east or west. Even for the fairly uncommon pure crack techniques, you still can learn this in the east. Not to spray (ok, some spray), on my first day in Indian Creek, ever, I onsighted Coyne Crack. This was my hardest trad onsight at the time. I had never climbed sandstone splitter before. But I had been an ADKs local the past 4 years, and the ADKs taught me well. I certainty continued to refine my pure-crack technique as that Creek trip progressed, but all the fundamentals were already there from the education the ADKs had provided. |
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Nick Goldsmith wrote: I partially disagree. I climbed much harder on straightforward splitters in the Creek than I would normally, at least on standard sizes. It felt like more of a vacation than a learning experience. Laybacks scared the shit outta me though, the Creek is the place to learn those, 100%! Try face climbing past the crux of White Knight sometime though ;) Edit to add, JCM, excellent post. I always enjoy your contributions to the forum when I see them! |
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JCM wrote: This is sort of the impression I've gotten but I didn't want to say it because I've never been to either Yosemite OR Indian Creek. But from pictures and video it seems like even Yosemite and Vedawoo, which are known for cracks, aren't nearly as absent of face holds as Indian Creek. I may not have been everywhere in the West, but I'd venture that a lot of people who claim that there aren't any splitters in the East haven't been everywhere in the East, either. I'll also say: "pure" crack climbing isn't really necessary in a lot of places--even some famous cracks I've been on don't technically require crack climbing, it's just a hell of a lot easier with some crack climbing. And there's TONS of that in the Northeast, even at spots like the Gunks where there's almost nothing that anyone could consider a real crack climb. Ken's Crack gets 5.7+ but there's no way that's the grade if you jam well: coming back to that climb after learning proper crack technique probably dropped the grade to 5.5ish for me. Likewise climbs like Red Cabbage, City Lights, those two cracks up at LC, etc., are at least a solid number grade easier with one or two crack moves. You can always pull down on a horizontal crack, but horizontal hand jams drop the difficulty of a lot of climbs as well. |
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its not just the creek. its the desert in general. Its hard to find the types of groveling squeeze chimneys here in new England that seem to be standard fare on towers. to be fair i have never climbed at the spiders web so almost certainly that was my Achilles heel when attempting desert cracks. I was a pretty darn good slab climber ;) My first trip out west we had 1# 2.5 friend and a #9 and #10 hex to go with a double rack of micro wires and small to medium stoppers. Zion was Terrifying! |
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Nick Goldsmith wrote: 'groveling squeeze chimneys' are their own category--really all chimneys--while climbing features that are 'big' cracks, they are not what most people think of as crack climbing--they require their own techniques. |
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Crack in the Woods, best pure crack climb. Spiders Web is awesome as has been mentioned. |
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Nick Goldsmith wrote: Personally I don't think they're hard to come across as I have climbed a few and actually rather enjoy them for the most part, I think it's just that a lot of people tend to avoid chimney climbs in the east as there are few routes that are classics which demand chimney climbing, so single pitches and obscure multipitches remain literally and figuratively in the shadows. An exception would be Fear of Flying on Moss Cliff, which has nearly a full pitch of desert chimney style action, plus a lot of routes on the cliff have notable sections of chimneys, and those are all fairly popular. Another example would the Great Dihedral on Poko which has a legendary slot. Heck, ever done The Lorax in Bolton? The second pitch is a full-length chimney, not super grovely though. Sure we don't have Epinephrine-style chimney systems, but I started doing a fair bit of chimneying after being birthed out the top of the Lightning Bolt Cracks as my first "real" chimney. I think there are a few threads on MP about chimneys in NH and the Gunks too |
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Nick Goldsmith wrote: You're missing out! So much good climbing at the Web. My perspective on NE climbing may be warped by the fact that the Web was one of my closest and most visited crags when I lived in Vermont. As stated in original post, I don't think that living in the Northeast holds back your crack climbing development. But not going to the good crack climbing walls, and not seeking out cracks of all sizes, definitely will hold you back. This is true in all regions, not just the NE. Re: wide cracks in the NE. Agree with Nol that they exist and aren't even that hard to find. It's just that you are rarely forced to confront wide cracks on the popular classics, and can get away with avoiding them. There are some obvious exceptions though (Vertigo). Or if you want burly, adventurous, obscure multi pitch chimney climbing, check out No Man's a Pilot at Wallface. |
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Learning to crack climb in NH sets you up pretty well for places like Lumpy Ridge, Squamish,Bugaboos and Yosemite I think. The features are smaller overall but once you get past the terrifying western hieght, it's similar. I have climbed in the desert but that does seem like a different animal to me. Fitness,mindset and a pile of cams helps either way. OW are off the table. |
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I wanted to post a photo of some cool crack action around Swanzey NH but MP doesn't like that on mobile. Any advice?? Anyways, I got my ass spanked trying to crack climb there, no face holds through the cruxes of some climbs on TR. There is definitely crack climbing out here what about that one crack at the base of cannon? |
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this thing we call Zion dreams @ Holts ledge is the closest thing to desert tower style climbing I have encountered in the east. It has a section of that crumbly sandy, shaley shist that gives the illusion of desert mud. close but still not the real thing ;) |
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David K wrote: Yeah, I didn't know whether it was especially pertinent to JCM's OP or not, because it seems like he was talking at first about just NE, but then said the "east" so I included, you know, stuff in "the east". The line between south and east gets blurred often times, and understandably. The mid-atlantic, I think, is where the dividing line between the "south" and the "east" resides, and is also both. Va, where I live, is both considered "east" because it's on the Atlantic coastline, and "south" because historically, it is the south. Either way, interesting discussion. I think at this point, it's pretty much agreed that there are far fewer "splitters", but true "splitters" seem almost entirely relegated to the southwestern desert. So yeah, there it is the norm.l Every other one of the states outside of maybe AZ, UT and NV seem to have undulating, varying, featured cracks for the most part. So my answer stays the same. You can be a "crack climber" anywhere in the US that has climbing just about. You can't be a true "splitter" climber anywhere but the desert if you want to use those terms, but those terms, when it translates to climbing, have a hell of a lot of overlap, so it's not really that important of a distinction. Not quite a distinction without a difference, but almost. |
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I think if you actively seek out crack climbing in the NE you can certainly learn enough to have a good head start on your first desert trip but it still most likely be a learning experience. personally, I mostly climbed at my local shist area, ADK slabs and the Gunks before my first desert trip. I was woefully unprepared ;) |
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Well, as the other end of the original discussion that prompted this post, I suppose I should chip in! |