In honor of Easter weekend, I went to the Near Trapps to climb the appropriately named “Easter Time Too” and “Good Friday Climb“. They are both excellent climbs, sharing a bolt anchor at the top. The upper pitches are not recommended in the guidebook and are supposedly dirty and loose, so I’ve only climbed the first pitch of both.
Easter Time Too is rated 5.8, and for me it’s not a gimme. It’s pushing my arm endurance limits. The early moves are pumpy and the stances are tenuous. The crux is low enough that if you can’t stop to place gear (like me) when you’re moving through the toughest section, by the time you get a good stance you’re high enough above your previous gear that it’s ground fall potential. Because my arm endurance sucks, I usually put in gear for the first couple of moves, then lower down and rest my arms before returning and quickly climbing through the start and crux so my arms don’t give out before I get the good stance to place gear above the crux.
The rest of the climb follows the crack system that trends to the right. It has some tricky spots, but nothing as strenuous as the beginning moves. Many of the stances aren’t great, and when you want to place gear, sometimes you find yourself in a balancy stance to the left of the crack and unable to easily see inside the crack itself so it’s hard to see that you have a good gear fit. The good news is that there’s plenty of places for pro the entire way up. The quality of the climbing is excellent, and I highly recommend this climb. Just not a good lead for someone breaking into 5.8s.
Once you’re done with Easter Time Too, don’t miss the excellent 5.9+ to the right of it, “Good Friday Climb“. It shares the bolt anchor, and you can put in a directional to keep the rope to the right of Easter Time Too, although the climb is so close, you probably won’t need it. Good Friday Climb is a much thinner finger crack which trends up and to the right. The moves are thin, balancy, and technical, but it flows beautifully. I haven’t tried to lead this, but I would suspect those who want to lead it will need really small gear. If you’re led Good Friday Climb, please let me know in the comments how the gear was.
Two excellent Gunks climbs, next to each other with the same bolt anchor. Enjoy!
