"Eric, we're heading to the Gunks!"

"Dad - you're crazy. No way am I going to the Gunks. I want to stay home and relax. You're going to freeze your ass off."

"You mean we're going to freeze our asses off. It will build character! That which does not kill you makes you stronger, you know ..."

"Bite me."

We agreed not to argue about the trip until we were sure it was going to happen. Eric asked Santa for a full-on blizzard but it didn't happen. Finally, on Christmas evening I told Eric we were really going to do it. He asked if he had a choice. No way - he's living in a dictatorship.

On the drive up the weather report said "highs in the upper 20's. Wind chill near 0". I turned off the radio.

We met everyone at the Bakery and took off for the rocks. No problems parking! I was eager to get moving so Eric and I were first up the trail. Bunny! Easy and no approach - we were climbing. The cold wasn't too bad and the sun was out and I was soon on top. Eric had a tough time starting - after a fall he he decided it was too hard to climb in gloves - but soon he joined me at the top. We rapped and left the rope for the others and went to see what everyone else was up to.
Alex Chiang doing the tall person moves on Laurel (5.7)

The others had left a rope on Laurel so I tied Eric in. He soon declared this to be a "tall person route" - his most contemptuous rating - and refused to keep freezing his hands on the small holds.

We wanted to do something easy where we could move fast - Eric and I headed off for Betty. We passed Steve freezing his fingers in Ken's Crack. Obviously insane. We roared up Betty in very short order, climbing the whole route in one pitch with a little simulclimbing. It was getting warmer and Eric almost acknowledged having a moment or two of fun. The scariest part of the climb was walking down the icy trail to the Uberfall in our rock shoes. Eric found some huge icicles and soon had a veritable javelin to defend himself from rabid squirrels and crazed climbers. Unfortunately I fell on my ass while carrying it and it shattered - probably just as well for Steve as we walked across the top of Ken's crack. I shouldn't have told Eric this was Steve's idea.

Eric really wanted to head back to New Paltz for warm food but I talked him into a quick run up Rhododendron. No problem - he even had sort of fun. Again. Before we went to the car I took a run up Retribution (which Dawn had generously set up) and promptly froze my hand in the crack. Masochism indeed! Meanwhile, Eric explored the possibility of using nut tool for ice climbing and concluded it just wasn't right.

We left Steve and Dawn and the rest and headed into town for hot food. Eric really wanted to retire from climbing for the day so I let him hang out reading in the car while I bagged just one more route.

It was about 1:45 and the sun was starting to leave the cliff. Ropes were being taken down but Steve told me that Alex was still looking for adventure. This was Alex's first day in the gunks so we decided to do something big, easy, and classic. Off to Minty!

Minty was considerably more alpine that the routes at the Uberfall. Big icicles guarded the corners but fortunately the key sections of the route were ice-free. I ran up to the GT ledge as fast as I could and Alex followed. Meanwhile, we had picked up two more climbers, Keith and Leon, who tied a rope onto Alex. They climbed in tandem and we were soon all on the GT ledge. Alex was keen to lead the last pitch. As he started off we head shouts from the carriage road: Back off! Back off! I couldn't figure this out - was there a big storm brewing? Avalanches? No - they were yelling "Bacchus", a restaurant in New Paltz. Oh.

Anyway, Alex fired the last pitch in great style - his first gunks roof on lead (I was not yelling "welcome to the Gunks"!) and we rapped back after a great climb. Fun was had by all.

On the drive back I actually got Eric to admit the trip was good - sort of. Who knows - maybe someday he'll be HARD CORE!

And thanks to Steve and Dawn for setting the insanity in motion ...

In the interest of fairness, I'm including Eric's point of view (unedited!).

The Horrid Trip Report
by Eric Peterson

We started to leave at 6:45 am to meet some of my Dad's climbing buddies at the Gunks. To make me come he told me that there would be another kid there. So we put on warm clothes and jackets then hopped in the car. I spent most of the time reading in the car while my dad listened to an opera tape. When we got to New Paltz and stepped out of the car to meet the other climbers in a bakery we were very cold. Then came BAD OMEN #1 there were no kids my age there.

After talking a bit we drove up to the Gunks noting the several large ice patches. When we got to the parking lot BAD OMEN #2 hit. There were almost no cars in the parking lot. After everyone arrived we got our stuff out and nearly died of hypothermia in doing so. Then came BAD OMEN #3 one of our water bottles was nothing but a brick of ice. Then after getting ready we happily got frostbite on our way to the first climbs.

My dad and I set up on a climb called Bunny. Though it was only rated 5.3, like most climbs at the Gunks it was rated for tall people. Which I am not. Then came BAD OMEN #4: I couldn't feel my fingers while I was climbing causing me several injuries to the hand. After we climbed Bunny we went to the climb called Betty. BAD OMEN #5 My dad forgot to stop at the first belay station so we had to climb in tandem until he reached the top. When we got to the top we decided to walk down. On our way we passed several huge ice formations and slid on the slick path.

Leon Islas leading and Keith Hoek belaying on Rhododendron (5.6)

Next I did Rhododendron. BAD OMEN #6 My climbing shoes were so slick that I had to climb a tree to get up the first few moves. After I was finished we went down to the car but Dad got side tracked on the way and decide to try a 5.10. While he climbed I used an ice tool to chip away at a miniature frozen waterfall. By the time my dad got down I made a smiley face in the ice. Then as we continued our journey to the car. BAD OMEN#7 we heard a plan to set up an ice climb.

After we ate I was so tired my dad let me stay in the car reading and sleeping while he climbed. BAD OMEN #8 When he finally came back to the car almost everyone else had left. So seeing how late we were we decided to skip dinner and drive home. When we finally came home Mom was annoyed because Dad said we'd be home at 5:00 pm and it was 7:00 pm. So we ate some sandwiches and went to sleep. It was a fun day.
 

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