Shawangunks - Cornerstone of Eastern Traditional Climbing

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richross

Trad climber

gunks,ny

Nov 9, 2008 - 09:51pm PT

Dick Williams on the back cover of North American Climber on the summit of Devil's Tower.The sign reads "No climbing above this point".

richross

Trad climber

gunks,ny

Nov 10, 2008 - 07:44am PT

Kevin Bein on the bottom and me on top. Uberfall. 1975.
Rich Romano, 1975.

Dave Rosenfeld and Matt Muchnick 1975.
Rich Ross 1975.
Rich Romano at Lake Awosting in 1976.

Mike Sawicky and Geoff Ohland at the Mohonk Mountain House, Late 70's.
Gunks crew in Eldorado Canyon 1977. Gary Garret,Kevin Bein,Dave Rosenfeld,Barbara Devine and Mike Sawicky.
Rich Romano bouldering mid 80's.
The same spot this year.
Rich Ross on Adair by the Sea. Acadia National Park,Maine 1985.
Another back cover of North American Climber.

rgold

Trad climber

Poughkeepsie, NY

Nov 10, 2008 - 01:39pm PT

The handstand on the Gnomon is by (of course) Dick Williams.

Geno

Trad climber

Reston, VA

Nov 11, 2008 - 07:02am PT

Rich Ross,

Those are fabulous scans from the great 1975-80 era. You, and the other top Gunks climbers in your generation (Kevin Bein, Rich Romano, Bob D'Antonio, Russ Raffa, Mark Robinson, Mike Sawicky,...and others)were again pushing the limits of difficulty and risk. Amazing how young you guys look! The other great thing is that you actually took some pictures! Thanks to Harvey Arnold, Bobby D and others there is a photographic record. Some of these photos as you revealed were published in Mountain and other magazines. I know when I started climbing in 1980 I was inspired by those early pictures of Henry Barber, Rich Romano and others climbing hard rock.

GOclimb

Trad climber

Boston, MA

Nov 11, 2008 - 10:32am PT

Regarding this pic:
>> "MH2, Nice old photo of climber on CCK. There is no caption of
>> who it is? If the climber is MH2 I will take a wild guess at
>> Matt Hale? If Matt took the photo my second guess is Dave Roberts."

> The climb is Moonlight.

You're certain of that? It looks a hell of a lot like the middle of the flake on CCK.

GO

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Nov 11, 2008 - 11:15am PT

I also think it's CCK, especially with the roof above. I also matched some features with another picture. Sorry, I don't have a scanner.

richross

Trad climber

gunks,ny

Nov 11, 2008 - 12:23pm PT

CCK 1975. Climber is me.

scuffy b

climber

On the dock in the dark

Nov 11, 2008 - 01:54pm PT

But MH2 has already been outed!

Mighty Hoax from tiny A. Cairns grow

richross

Trad climber

gunks,ny

Nov 11, 2008 - 02:25pm PT

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Nov 11, 2008 - 03:01pm PT

That little bushy thing shows up in all the CCK pics as it does in MH2s'.

Mighty Hiker

Social climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Nov 11, 2008 - 03:49pm PT

MH2 = Andy C. All clear? He lives in Vancouver, and no doubt can tell you himself about his connection with the Gowannashunks.

MH2

climber

Nov 11, 2008 - 05:32pm PT

>> The climb is Moonlight.

> You're certain of that? It looks a hell of a lot like the middle > of the flake on CCK.

> GO

The thing at the top of the photo is a tree, perhaps no longer there.

Thanks to Rich Ross for a great series of pictures.

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Nov 11, 2008 - 06:25pm PT

OK, if that is a tree, Moonlight it is. There are remains of a tree there, or was a couple of years ago.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 15, 2008 - 03:29am PT

A little Gunks history compliments of Chris Jones Climbing in North America, 1976.

I had the pleasure of meeting Chris at the Nose reunion and what a fine man and lover of climbing history he is.

richross

Trad climber

gunks,ny

Nov 15, 2008 - 04:48pm PT

Mark Robinson on Red Tape 1979. Climbing number 54.
Rich Ross on Red Tape 1980. Photos by Rich Romano.

Geno

Trad climber

Reston, VA

Nov 16, 2008 - 08:48pm PT

Bump

Geno

Trad climber

Reston, VA

Nov 16, 2008 - 08:56pm PT

Rich Ross just posted some heirloom shots of Red Tape. For those who didn’t climb in the Gunks back in the mid to late 1970s, Rich Ross was one of the top Gunks climbers and personalities from that era. He is not as widely known as Russ Raffa or Rich Romano, but he is another guy with “RR” initials who could and did climb shoulder to shoulder with those stars. Rich Ross had a natural strength and grace. And, he had what we called back then a “good head.” Rich was one of those top 1% climbers who was able to keep it together when the moves were hard and protection difficult or absent.

Rich Ross in 1978:

Anyway Red Tape is a fabled hard route located on Mohonk land near Eagle Cliff. It is unusual for a Shawangunk Grit climb being it is an overhanging crack. At the time of the first ascent in 1978, Red Tape was one of the hardest, most pumping routes in the Gunks. A while back I asked Rich Ross about the first ascent of Red Tape. Here is what Ross wrote:

“Geno, I think you asked in one of your emails about the first ascent of Red Tape. It is a climb that I discovered in 1978. I brought Rich Romano there. We did not know the first time there that we required a lot adhesive tape to keep our hands from getting torn up. The climb starts as laybacks leading to finger jams leading to hand jams, leading to fist jams that go up this offset crack. There are quartz pebbles in the crack the whole way up. It is very painful. Richie got up to the hand jams on the first day and would have done it then if he had taped up. We both had bleeding hands. The next weekend we planned to meet there. I was supposed to bring the tape and he was supposed to bring the tincture of benzine. I brought this not so big roll of tape. We did not have enough to do a good job and ended up opening the scabs we had had acquired the week before. The next week we came fully prepared and Rich cruised it. I got two thirds the way out but could not do it then. I learned how to crack climb on Red Tape. I thought of the name. This was in the fall of 78. I did not do it until the following spring. A few other people did it before me. I have a few slides of me trying do it the first day. Our friend Fred Yaculic was there taking pictures. I also have slides of me and other people doing it. I think I have done it 8 or 9 times. I call it meat-grinder 5.11+ or harder. That is the short history of Red Tape.”

Rich Ross on Red Tape, 5.11d/5.12a

Vern Clevinger on an early ascent sans mechanical friends of Red Tape, 5.11d/12a:

Rich Ross ranged far and wide on the Shawangunk Ridge and was always looking around in obscure places for fine lines like Red Tape. Many of his first ascents were off the grid in hidden areas where the ethic was and still is to keep things quiet. Rich Romano often climbed with Rich Ross then. Romano told me that Rich Ross was one of the few people who was always motivated to make the hour hike out to climb at Millbrook. Ross-Romano Incorporated did dozens of first ascents together. At Millbrook, the pair put up several “adventure routes” which at their time were state of the art for difficulty and risk. Here are a just a few:
Artistry in Rhythm, 5.10 R
Danger UXB, 5.10 PG
Brown Bomber, 5.10 G
Asteroid Belt, 5.10 X
Diaper Man, 5.10 X

(Note that at Millbrook the grades are only comparable to places like Seneca Rocks).

Rich Ross also established some well known Gunks routes during the late 1970s. One is Land of Milk and Honey, a three star 5.11- at Sky Top. He also climbed The V, 5.12 which is an amazing route that goes through a series of improbable overhangs also at Sky Top.

Rich Ross on The V, 5.12:

But one of the very best routes Rich Ross did was Grave Yard Shift, 5.11, PG. Grave Yard Shift is not an obscure line, but a mega classic that is front and center on the McCarthy Wall. Here again in the words of Rich Ross is how the first ascent went down:

“The funny thing about Graveyard Shift is that nobody knows how it got it's name. I was awake for over 24 hours when Russ Raffa and I climbed it. I was working for Cohen's Bakery in Ellenville at the time. I had worked the 12 midnight till 8 am (graveyard) shift. And then I drove straight to the cliffs that morning. I showed up at the Trapps and immediately ran into Russ. He said that he had tried a new route the day before on the McCarthy wall with Sandy Stewart. They had gotten up the first bulge and were working on the crux but had not done it. I don't know why Sandy was gone that day but Russ recruited me. I led the bulge and set up a belay below the crux. Me and Russ took turns trying the crux. We played around trying to get the nerve to go for it. At one point we got thirsty and took a break and went to the Brauhaus for some cold glasses of Pepsi. After that we returned and Russ did the lead of the crux overhang. I remember we had some other name we were considering for the route. But a few days later the name Graveyard Shift came to me. Raffa liked it too so we kept it. “

Some other Rich Ross FA's at the Gunks:

Skytop (all left of the crevass):
Inflatable Girl (right of Mechanical Boy) actually just right of Strawberry Yogurt.
Juggernaut
Tor and feathered
Blockparty
Kashmir
Mystery Woman
Amazon

Trapps:
Dogs in Heat (Nerdie Gerdie) most people call it Nerdie Gerdie.
Nevermore
High Times
Daydream
Dat Mantle
Kernmantle

Rich Ross in 1979 style attire with Bob D'Antonio after a session on Super Crack:

richross

Trad climber

gunks,ny

Nov 18, 2008 - 09:27am PT

Here is a photo of me on the very first attempt at climbing Red Tape in 1978. It was taken by Fred Yaculic.

Rich Romano leading Rhumba Mama, 1980 gunks hinterlands.