The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
Outfitters and Guides in the Adirondacks There are so many great outfitters and guiding businesses to start rock climbing. Here is a short list of some in the area that offer climbing gear rentals and guiding services. They can help point you in the right direction if you are looking to start climbing! Rocksport Indoor…
Now you are getting to the good stuff, gear. A gearhead is someone who is borderline obsessive about gear. How can you spot a gearhead? Easy, they are always searching for gear deals online on websites like backcountry. They say things like, “woah is that a Black Diamond ATC pilot?” Now there is no need…
By Mike Lynch
A leading Adirondack guide service doesn’t plan to open this summer for rock climbing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Phil Brown
Poke-O-Moonshine is one of the premier rock-climbing destinations in the Adirondacks, with more than 300 routes, but DEC usually closes part of the cliff in the spring to allow peregrines to nest undisturbed.
By Tim Rowland
Parch Pond offers a picturesque lake framed by mountains and evergreens and a diverse forest east of the Northway and west of Port Henry on Ensign Pond Road. It was once renowned for its 200-foot cliffs that offered challenging rock climbing.
We were following in the footsteps of a man named Robert “Bob” Carroll Jr., unknown to most of the world but a giant in the secretive world of northeastern caving. Carroll, who died in 2005, was obsessed with underground exploration. For decades, he traveled all over the Adirondacks, mostly by himself, seeking out caves that had not yet been discovered. For this he would pore over topographical maps, looking for rock outcrops that might hide a underground passage in their midst. He would hike upwards of thirty miles a day.
By Phil Brown
Seneca Rocks in West Virginia is billed as the only peak in the eastern United States that can’t be summited by a mere hike. You need (or should have) ropes, helmets, and other rock-climbing gear. If you ever have the chance to see Seneca Rocks close up, you’ll see why. Seneca actually has two peaks,…
A coterie of climbers tames the cliffs at one of the wildest, remotest, and most sublime locales in the High Peaks. By ALAN WECHSLER Four and a half hours after our 4:30 a.m. departure from the Garden trailhead in Keene Valley, my two climbing partners and I dropped our packs and looked around. We were surrounded by cliffs: free-standing pillars, tiered walls, slabby…
Roaring Brook Falls is just one of many superb routes to be included in a new book on Adirondack climbing. By Phil Brown IN SOME RESPECTS, Roaring Brook Falls isn’t such a great climb. The rock can be loose, mossy, or wet. And there are places where you can’t find cracks to insert protective gear—cams…
Climbers put up more than a hundred new routes on huge cliffs opened to the public after the purchase of IP timberlands. By Phil Brown Over the past two decades, the state has purchased conservation easements on some 750,000 acres in the Adirondack Park. These timberlands are protected from development, and many of them are…