Near Trapps 11/2/01

Gorgeous fall day at the Gunks. We headed over to the Near Trapps. The climb I was going to lead was already taken. We headed over to "Birdland" (5.8+ ***), which was on my list to follow, since I had never done it before. Ethan got to the climb, started up it. Was having quite a bit of trouble traversing the face. I offered to read the guidebook, but he declined, he's done it before. Got up to the nose. Way more difficult than he remembered. As he started up it, he decided this was all wrong. Some climbers passing by that I asked confirmed it - he wasn't on "Birdland", he was on "Roseland" (5.9)! Hmm, I could say "typical guy, never asks for directions". But I guess the open book does kinda look like "Birdland", but I've never done it, so I didn't know any better. "Roseland" goes straight up the crack in the open book, the "Birdland" route starts at the crack but quickly traverses diagonally right and up to a nose. So he was on some unnamed variation or possibly "Revolving Eyeballs" (5.10 R) (man, I love that name!). Ethan traversed back to the crack and finished leading the first pitch. He always wanted to get the nerve up to lead "Roseland", but I think he was hoping to try it out as a second first. So he was going to find out what the climb was like the hard way. It was difficult, he took some rests. Then it was my turn. Wow, the crack up the corner sure looked nice. But it was difficult, I slipped in one spot - my excuse being that I had to traverse right to remove Ethan's pro on the wrong route, and approached the move from the wrong angle (yeah, right). The traverse under the overhang was PUMPY and the slab for your feet was damn slippery! Wow, this was an exciting pitch but quite a workout for me! I took a rest after the traverse spent me, then did the final couple of moves to the top of the first pitch. That was enough. We skipped the second pitch and rapped down.

We then went over to "Birdland" (5.8+ ***), which was a gorgeous corner, and yeah, looked a little like "Roseland". Quite a mob sitting there, doing a couple of other climbs right next to "Birdland". Ethan led the first pitch, some thin face moves, but looked quite happy to be on the right route and one he recognized. I thoroughly enjoyed the pitch, one thin spot that I had to think about, but otherwise, very nice. The second pitch was quite a workout. Ethan had fun whooping it up as he did the overhangs. I got up there, and didn't realize I was going to be doing a swinging ape move when I reached up and my feet let loose! Strenuous, but I managed to get up to the top. What fun! Great climb!
The autumn colors were beautiful, so we took a bunch of pictures on the top.