New York

Overview

The Empire state is home to some of the best climbing Areas anywhere. The Adirondacks, thee Gunks, and Big Falls areas are world renown for amazing climbing and bouldering. The state is a big state with rock in all quadrants. The eastern corridor is the most popular and has quality stone from New York City all the way up to the Canada border. Central Ny state has climbing but its scattered and few and far between. Western NY has some climbing too and offers a mix of lesser quality hat eastern NY.
New York state is a large stet with a lot of climbing. Just the area within the Adirondack’s has its own very large guidebook. Little crags can be found on Long Island, outside Albany, and even in Central Park. The state is rick with climbing history and rock that is outstanding in quality. Even the Hudson River just north of NYC has amazing outcrops and very 200′ high and higher cliffs. Unfortunately a lot of the Hudson Palisades and Storm King have been closed since the late 80s. A great deal of legal and good access crags lie all over NY. Visit the Gunk’s or Dak’s and you will count the days until your next visit.

Rock climbing in New York is fantastic. Areas like the Adirondacks offer amazingly high quality granite cliffs that give you 5 pitch routes and steep ice in winter. The Gunk’s is one of the best areas to climb in the world. Moat of the state has great climbable rock but some areas in the central part of NY have a void of climbing. The Finger Lakes is sparse and limited to some quarries or very small cliffs and boulders. Western NY is slightly limited but great climbing on the Niagara Escarpment exists and bouldering in the Niagara Glen is amazing.

Eastern New York

The east side of NY is where it’s at for rock climbers.  The largest majority of high quality rock climbing is located in either the Gunks or The Adirondacks.  Both of these areas are roadworthy world-class destination areas.  If you haven’t visited either, do so soon.  The Gunks is, without question, one of the best climbing destinations anyplace on earth.  The perfect marble-like conglomerate is like no other stone on Earth.  The smooth, white rock is amazingly high quality and has large vertical and more commonly large horizontals that eat up gear perfectly.  This trad climbers paradise is only one a little over an hour from New York City.  Did we mention the rock is a few minutes from the car.

The Daks is also an amazing area.  The granite is some of the best quality in America but with less crowds than Yosemite or Colorado.  These backcountry crags are steeped in old legends, history, and host some of the oldest routes in America.  Areas like Poke O Moonshine, Rodgers Rock, Wallface, Spiders Web and dozens more rise like sentinels on the green hilly mountains that neighbor Vermont.

Season and Weather

Year round climbing is possible in New York.  Summer is great despite frequent thunder storms and humidity but spring summer and fall are great times to climb.  Autumn days in the Gunk’s offer postcard settings, vivid colors and perfect temps.  Black Fly season in the Daks is a bit gruesome but only lasts a short time in late spring.

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