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mack
Trad climber
vermont
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 25, 2007 - 05:24pm PT
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I've been climbing a lot over in NY the last couple of years. Poko is a gold mine of incredible routes. The grades are (by most folks standards) a little underrated or maybe you just have to get to know the rock. Most routes are in the 5.9 and up range.
A trip to Poko starts with a ferry ride across the Pond (Lake Champlain)
A view of the cliff from Rt 9 (North)
Deuteronomy is dead center in this pic (see the slashes rising L to R)
The first pitch of Deuteronomy 5.8
The 2nd pitch of Deuteronomy 5.10+
Mark, leading very carefully.
Then we hooked up with Mark's buddy Drew and Drew's 9yr old son and went over to the slabs and climbed the classic Catharsis
(pictures to follow)
Day 2
The Sting 5.8
Ragtime 5.10+
Ragtime 5.10+ (be very wary of anything with a + after the grade)
Back to the truck safe and sound....Cheers!
Mark has some great pics he promises to get to me soon....so stay tuned.
Thanks for looking,
Mack
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Sep 25, 2007 - 05:37pm PT
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Now, we don't see a TR featuring that cliff every day.
Good going!
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mack
Trad climber
vermont
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 25, 2007 - 05:41pm PT
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Tarbuster,
Poko is so far off the beaten track, it sees very little climbing plus there really isn't much easy/moderate stuff. It is hard.
Mack
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Aya K
Trad climber
New York
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Sep 25, 2007 - 05:58pm PT
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Sweet!!!
Yay for poko!!
But it definitely sees climbing and ahem I put it in my TR a few days ago :)
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Sep 25, 2007 - 06:01pm PT
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OMFG! You just took me on a major flashback to the late 1970's when I spent summers in the Ad's and climbed at Poco quite a bit. Classic routes, and yes, quite hard mostly.
Thank you for a nice tr, I hope your buddy posts more pictures soon!
Kris
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Sep 25, 2007 - 06:11pm PT
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Nice TR thanks. Great hair! I could really use some ;)
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Sep 25, 2007 - 06:13pm PT
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Tar's right, here's a major cliff we rarely see TRs from.
I climbed Bloody Mary years ago and thought it was great, very Cathedral-like, but I didn't take any pictures. Anybody got some?
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Sep 25, 2007 - 06:14pm PT
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Another fun trip report. Thanks for the photos. Glad to see everyone had shoes this time!
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Sep 25, 2007 - 06:14pm PT
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cool, thanks for posting! I'd never seen that crag before.
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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Sep 25, 2007 - 06:45pm PT
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Mack, nice TR. Hope to get there soon.
Beers on the tailgate forever!
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ADK
climber
truckee
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Sep 25, 2007 - 08:25pm PT
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Thanks for posting that.
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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Sep 25, 2007 - 08:35pm PT
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That face climbing looks scarey! Glad you had fun and thanks for posting up. Just curious, how tall is that cliff?
Michael
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AbeFrohman
Trad climber
new york, NY
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Sep 25, 2007 - 09:31pm PT
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good to see some hot NY action once in a while.
it cant always be "blablabla el clap. blablabla tuolumne. bla bla bla josh."
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Aya K
Trad climber
New York
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Sep 25, 2007 - 10:33pm PT
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Poko is about 400' tall and basically zero approach, for the man face.
Hm, now I feel like climbing there this weekend.
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bob d'antonio
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Sep 25, 2007 - 10:51pm PT
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I first when to Poko in 1978 with Kevin and Barbra Bein. We did Firing Line and another easy 11 right of that. Only been back twice since then.
Great place.
Looks like you had a great time.
Thanks for the photo.
Gunks...two weeks and counting.
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Aya K
Trad climber
New York
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Sep 25, 2007 - 11:06pm PT
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It's weird. So I mean, there are so many NYC climbers who don't even know that there's so much amazing climbing in the Dacks and who have never heard of Poke-O. Meanwhile, I feel like if I were on a road trip and I came across it, I'd be totally psyched. As psyched as I was to go to any of the awesome places I've climbed in this country. Maybe I'm biased because I climb so much in the Dacks, who knows.
It's so overlooked in this part of the country, which seems a shame, but what about the rest of the country? Has it even been heard of by you left coasters? If you were making a trip out to say hit the gunks, would you consider going there? Or would you be more likely to say, go to Whitehorse/Cathedral or Acadia or something? I guess I just have no conception of it at all. Maybe it's because there really aren't many easy routes (I think I heard that in the new guidebook they figure that most common route grade at poko is 5.11 and the most common pitch grade is 5.10+ so I guess it isn't a place for beginners. Plus it's kind of blocky and scary the way Cannon is.)
A couple of weeks ago a couple of guides from Seneca were up visiting us and their eyes were literally bugging out of their heads when they saw Poko for the first time, and they came down from a day that included Fastest Gun and Bloody Mary with perma-grins. They had NO IDEA how big and awesome the cliff was... really that it even existed.
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slobmonster
Trad climber
berkeley, ca
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Sep 25, 2007 - 11:11pm PT
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You're absolutely right, Poko's a phenomenal cliff. And no one has yet mentioned the ice climbing!
As for its obscurity, this is a good thing, no?
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Aya K
Trad climber
New York
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Sep 25, 2007 - 11:25pm PT
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Sure it's a good thing.
But at the same time, you know, if it's like your home crag (and it's not, mine would be the gunks, but I get up there a lot), you kinda want the whole world to know and appreciate how awesome it is!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Sep 25, 2007 - 11:47pm PT
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From the Poko Archives:
A leafy shot of Bloody Mary
A nicer shot of Freedom Flight
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Sep 26, 2007 - 12:27am PT
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The climbing looks awesome but the first picture of the village looks like a movie set, there is nothing like that on the west coast. Thanks for the TR
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