Gunks and Traprock trip report (August 1996) There's only so much flat sand that a climber can tolerate, so during our family vacation to Cape Cod, I headed for the crags that I knew from college days some 20 years ago. A 5-hour drive on I-95 deposited me at Paul Friberg's house near West Point. On Monday morning we covered the remaining 40 minutes to the Gunks and walked along the Near Trapps, in search of shade from the 80 degree temps. We were working with a list of *** routes I hadn't done in the Swain guide that I "found" at the Cape Cod house. 1. Elder Cleavage 5.10-. Paul fired the 5.10+ boulder problem direct start (a stiff wakeup), while I chose the 5.9 hand traverse start (in an attempt to save my strength). The crux above was an interesting lieback and undercling flake, and I was glad Paul led it, given the discontinuous nature of Gunks cracks and protection. An easy pitch led to the upper ledge, where we tried to locate the final roof (should have memorized the book photo better). I declined the lead up the probable line, and as Paul led it nicely, I saw how a flake at the roof would provide the crucial undercling bucket to bypass an otherwise fairly blank spot -- cool finish. 2. Roseland 5.9. I led this nice corner crack and traverse pitch. Paul insisted that he would divulge no beta, so when I found a gap in the traverse holds, I retreated to a rest where I saw the flake above the roof that bridged the gap. I almost pumped out on the final move (huge jugs), where I had to rearrange pro so that the rope was above my waist and helping me out! 3. Broken Sling 5.8+. I led the first pitch, after first stretching from the side to place some overhead protection for the initial arete/stem. After a few tries, I figured out how to mantle the move to get established in the crack. After a left traverse, I hesitated at a move to reach a higher horizontal -- I couldn't see a way to do it without locking off. But I pasted my feet onto some imaginary holds on the glass, and amazingly, they took some weight! Paul followed with both our packs, led a nice traverse on the second pitch, and then hauled the sack. We headed for the Trapps, now in shade. 4. P-38 5.10. Paul led this nice left leaning crack, improving on his previous lead of it, when he had taken a fall on the upper face. I took a few hangs following -- when the crack faded out, I didn't trust my feet on the fairly narrow horizontal edges (I was trying to use the crack too much -- the reverse problem an eastern climber usually has in Yosemite). 5. Turdland 5.9+. Paul led this interesting face, after I pleaded that we skip the slabby Never Never Land (anticipating a skate/hang fest on my part). The heat and humidity had hammered our motivation by this time, so we bailed without achieving the originally desired pitch count (10). Tuesday. Paul's black Labrador dog, Dakota, accompanied us to Lost City, where we found lots of nice shady and cool climbing (and a few doggie boulder problems). Paul led all the routes, while I "rode" the toprope (often weighting it more than I had expected!). 1. "5.8" (5.10a). On the far left side, Paul led a nice overhanging wall with a hand crack and jugs. I blew off unexpectedly at the steepest part, when my feet skated just as I was about to latch a huge jug. 2. "5.9" (5.10b). This was a nice thin crack in a corner, with good stemming to a jog left. At this point, I didn't see how to use my feet on the glass and tried unsuccessfully to jam a pebbly flake. After a few hangs, I liebacked it as Paul had, surprised that my feet stuck so well. 3. Stannard's Roof 5.10. A nice 2-body-length roof that I had heard about for some time. I followed to within 1 move of the final jug before hanging. I reached a high jam, but the crack was too irregular/painful to use it (perhaps with tape). And my left hand on the horn/jug below it seemed to be in the wrong position for locking off. Oh well, it was a real classic anyway. 4. Lost City Crack 5.10a/b. We moved to the far right side for this classic on a typical huge detached tower/block/flake. As the crack narrowed from hand to finger size, I had to pull out my thin hand jamming moves to stay aboard (for my only free follow of the day). After a nice horizontal, the final flake yielded huge horns in lieback mode for a nice top-out. 5. Brave New World 5.12a/c. I had fun trying out some of the interesting moves on this thin face. Paul cranked it on toprope, after one miss at the initial 5.12c boulder problem start. 6. Persistence 5.11b (toprope). This overhanging finger/hand crack is a stunning classic. The crux start involves liebacking an arete, but I didn't want to try it this way for 2 reasons -- I wasn't sure I could get my foot up to the foothold, and I was afraid I would hit the starting block if I blew off (maybe a second belay rope next time). So I ignored the beta and tried to jam it, but the fingerlocks were not as good as I had hoped for, so Paul pulled me to the first jug. I cranked many cool moves from there, but faded near the end of the fingerlocks (just shy of a handjam), and took a hang. With rested arms it was a fun crank on mostly handjams to the top. Paul nicely climbed it free with an economy of moves, and then took a second lap to remove the directional pro. While cleaning the anchors, he dropped a sling that got stuck on a ledge below him. He had already dropped the rope, but he managed to reach it by putting together a ladder of slings. At this point, we were about to leave, but Ken Nichols and Bill Lyttle arrived, so I introduced him to Paul, and Ken set up topropes on Gold Streaks and "Caffeine and Nicotine". 7. Gold Streaks 5.11a. I got out of sequence on the crux (crank to finger flakes with feet pasted on arete below roof), and wasn't able to hang on for more moves, so I lowered off. Paul toproped without any problems. Bill Lyttle found a good heel hook that helped with the crux, but fell off of the sustained upper section. Ken TRed Caffeine and Nicotine 5.12b, which Paul described as the best of its grade in the Gunks (along with To Have and Have Not). I then headed for Connecticut Traprock -- see next trip report.