According to the Black Diamond web site:

Torque Gloves
A durable, slim-fitting glove with a super-sticky palm ideal for drytooling and mixed cragging, the Torque’s lightweight construction provides incredible sensitivity without palm rolling.

Description
Built for high-end mixed climbing and drytooling, the Black Diamond Torque Glove features a super-sticky palm and low-profile construction for unmatched grip and dexterity. The softshell fabric protects your hands from the elements while remaining highly breathable, and the soft tricot lining adds just enough warmth for the WI5 hanger above the business.

• Abrasion-resistant woven softshell
• Slip-Stop palm for unparalleled grip
• Laminated, brushed tricot lining
• Articulated neoprene cuff with hook-and-loop closure and carabiner clip loop
• Compression-molded EVA padding for impact protection

 I can agree with the sensitivity, fit, and sticky palm comments. They are a pleasure to slip in and out of leashes. But the durable adjective is provably misplaced.

After two 30-foot M6 climbs and one 30 lower, the rubber was gone from the right pinky and holidays were evident on the ring finger. Just one short lower.

I called Mountain Tools and they said "but you've used them." Black Diamond said "they aren't for rappelling, just climbing." However, the company literature does not SAY they are too delicate for any of the realities of climbing. (Mountain Tool subsequently accepted the return and refunded the money, after contacting Black Diamond.)

The next day I went to the same places, climbed 3 times as much and lowered 3 times as much, wearing a pair of 10-for-$3.99 disposable work gloves ($0.39 each, or about 140 times cheaper) and had less wear. Pretty comfortable, too. Perhaps the Torques climbed a little better, but only a little. I may have to start keeping a stack of the discount gloves in my pack. I can loose a lot of them for 39 cents.

February 2015

Photography By Dave Rockwell

A little lead climbing on the upper wall, north of the Amphitheater. Very solid, WI 3+ to 4+, depending on the specific line and ice conditions. Generally you can get in all the screws you need, but place them in hollows and mind delamination in the sun or above 32F.

All sewn up. Just practice, you know. For me, shooting in screws on steep ice without getting my gloves tangled in the leashes is the crux. The climbing is easy. Don't get me started on leashless climbing; I guess I'm just old school. But maybe I can learn.

 Oh yeah.... I was supposed to clean that!

____________

Don't forget your helmet; stuff falls down.

Keep Crampons on the Feet

After having the heel come loose on my new Lynx crampons (and having to one-foot up the remainder of a 20' problem with no rope) and a friend telling me of plastic toe baskets breaking while front pointing up a big snow/ice slope (and having to figure something out way up in the mountains), I got to thinking.

 

 

• I like the high aluminum lever on the BD Switchblades (right); bullet proof, low profile, and a high leverage point. It doesn't seem that plastic has any place on crampons, and yet many high-end  crampons do.
• My BD Contacts (left) have plastic front and rear. I got these for my daughter when she was 5, and they fit quite a range (2-11). How durable? Can't say, since they have only been used by a miniature person, and lightly at that. Never in sub-zero conditions. Maybe I should carry a strap for field repairs.
• The Lynx has a VERY low strap securing the ankle (second from left). It provides effectively NO restraint for the heel lever. Was this a factor in the release I had? Minor, at most. I think I did not have them tight enough and vigorous kicking loosened them. I may also have had my gaiters on the ledge, but I don't know. I readjusted them that night, after better understanding how I wanted them fitted to the boot and they have been great since.
  
• With the addition of a few rings (second from right) I was able to put a second wrap on the ankle and to secure the lever MUCH further up. It certainly feels more secure, and there is no way the lever can be released by snagging. Several reviewers commented on this lever design flaw, but none suggested a revision or work-around. Interestingly, I can even swap the BD heel lever on to the Lynx if I don't like this.

Just in case you haven't seen these side-by-side

And while we're at it, note the difference in front point angle. I find that with the lower angle it is easier to place them higher, and they are still very secure with more moderate heel drop angles. In fact, it is less critical to keep the heels down to prevent shearing. So just like axes with differing droop angles (Cobras vs. Quarks, for example), the correct placement angle varies. Gotta know what you are wearing.

Ice Climber's Guide to Great Falls, Virginia

Rev. 1-15-2015

While hardly a wonderland of ice, there is enough to learn basic skills, warm up for greater challenges, or enjoy a vigorous morning of ice bouldering as your skills improve, all within minutes of Washington DC.

Warning. Everything we said about rock climbing being dangerous goes triple for ice. You can stab yourself, cutting the rope is easy, and falls with crampons carry a high risk of ankle injury. Even the approach hike can be dangerous. Falling in the river is almost certainly fatal. Be careful and use a top rope until you have well advanced your ability to read ice. Climb in the morning , while it's crisp.

  Keep your heels down! 

(My waterfall crampons broken, 

I went old school for the day. 

Honestly, SMC rigids do just as well)

 
Consider wearing a helmet. It's not impossible for the climber to drop ice on the belayer... though belaying to one side should prevent that. Belaying from above can be smart.

Leading. Climbs are short and ice conditions extremely variable. Though I love leading ice, the practice would seem silly and dangerous here. That said, there is no harm in practicing screw placement (waist-high, make a starter hole, use ONLY concave ice (convex ice shears off). Don't bottom screws into the rock; sharpening is a drag.

Anchors. Rock anchors with slings. If you have ice screws, bring one or 2 for directionals.

Dry Tooling. Don't dry tool anywhere folks rock climb. You will be very unpopular and will richly deserve it. There is simply no reason to scratch up such a limited resource. In fact, the Park Service has expressed displeasure at this activity in some places (Little Stoney Man, SNP), so try to be invisible. Find some hidden place no one climbs; there are many. There has never been any mention of trouble at Great Falls, and let's keep it that way.

The aftermath of sloppy dry-tooling. Dry-tooling is NOT about hang-dogging and flailing, it is about precision placement and planning. Curious that there are no scratches on the holds that actually work--All this punter did was his dull tools. At least they stayed away from popular rock climbs.  But if this is the best you can do, stay with easier climbs for a while. This is just graffiti.

Smashing. If you are dropping chunks of ice larger than hand size, you are doing something wrong. If you dropping more than teaspoon size bits from a peg-boarded late season climb, you are not using what is there. Ice axes should strike in hollows, where the ice is strong in compression, not on bumps where it is fat but will shatter when spiked.  Crampon points should aim for flats or features, and if we keep our heals down, seldom shear. We should be careful when cleaning axes; over placed axes, horsed around, can bring down huge chunks. When the cracks in a formation get to a certain point, move on; they will heal overnight if you can just leave it alone. Ice is a finite resource at Great Falls, and we should always be aware that tomorrow there may be another guy that wants to climb on the stuff we unthinkingly knocked down. Best of all, the gentle touch will put you in good stead when you move on to thin, challenging ice, where there aren't deep placements and you need to preserve what little ice there is for upwards progress.

"If it doesn't stick, swing harder" is almost never true. Even on thick ice, 80% of placements--ax or crampon--should require only a single moderate blow.

A  just-departed group had knocked down over 100 pounds of ice talus, until they reasoned there was too little remaining to climb. I then climbed a half dozen laps, hooking old holes and using features, never displacing more than dust. It simply never occurred to them they didn't need to swing like barbarians. If we are all going to climb here, we've got to be gentle.

Grades. On the New England (NE) ice scale, grades can vary from day to day and from first climber to second. Please take them with a grain of salt. The short length prevents any high ratings; how tired can you get in 25 feet? Mixed grades (M) are more like rock grades in that they don't vary so much with conditions, but that all depends on whether the crux is on thin ice.

Climbs are listed from upstream, referencing rock climbs near by when ever practical. Any Great Falls Rock Climbing Guide should keep you organized. We've never seen any good ice in Great Falls, Maryland, but we'd be glad to add it to the list.

And don't chop your rope! 

 The Gorky Park and Cove areas are inaccessible when the river is even a little high. Best when it hasn't snowed too much, as they do not depend on snow melt.


Gorky Park. 25 feet, NE 3+. Rap approach. A nice smear forms in the damp area just downstream of the big roof. Further to the right, under the roof, there is often a short thin and mixed start, about M4.

Just down stream of the Technostratoman Roof. The thin stuff under the roof goes too.

Dribbles right and left. 20 feet, NE 2-3. Rap approach. 50 feet down stream from Gorky Park are a couple of little dribbles right next to each other. A fun little warm up, sometimes mixed. You can rap in, or you can scramble along the water's edge, working upstream from The Cove.

The Cove, right. 15 feet, NE 3. About 50 yards up stream of the Microdome, this little cove holds a variety of small drips and one reliable flow. A little corner climb forms 40 feet right of the main fall, surprisingly solid for a thin little line, well supported in a corner.

 The Cove Main is clearly visible to the left. The Ice Bouldering area is visible above and behind the Cove Main flow.

The Cove, Main. 20 feet, NE 3-3+. Thin direct starts are generally possible, though most climbers start on the more solid left side. Nice and steep at the top, and very dependable. Inaccessible when the river is up a little. There is also some very steep dry tooling out through the cave (M5). 

  Only 8', but thick and no death-fall. However, even a short jump is very dangerous on ice, so don't fall.

Ice Bouldering Area. 5-8 feet, NE2.  Just about the Cove Main and on the way to the Microdome area. Always fat, always in early, and lasts a long time. In rock climbing, the basics of foot placement and movement are most quickly mastered just a few feet above the ground, where the climber can focus on exactly what is happening and what is working, not success or failure. With ice the same is true; I watch many climbers flail on a rope, flubbing basics they could have better learned in private; this is where I learned them, a few mornings on my own, trying variations and honing basics. This is a place to play with different swings and foot work, both flat footed stuff and front pointing. Work on one-strike placements (moderate force, direct at a hollow, pull downwards at impact so it hooks). Work on one-kick front point placements (firm strike with follow-through, heel low, direct at flat or just above feature), step on to them, and then raise the heels and see what happens (they shear right out). Really look at what you are doing and at how the ice reacts to it. No smashing.

Also saves wear and tear on the more interesting flows. Practice here.

The traversing and thin ice can make it interesting. Melted out but still climbable in March.

Microdome Veil. 20 feet, NE 3. Several thin lines go up the broken area right of the Microdome. Not dependable and short, but interesting and sometimes mixed.

Microdome Right, thinning but still climbable in March. This route is often in for 2 months, amazing for Virginia.

Microdome Right. 20 feet, NE 2-3, depending on how peg-boarded it is. The most popular Great Falls ice climb, good materials for beginners, and fun for all. Reliable and generally quite thick. Ledges keep it from getting vertical, and once picked-out, quite easy and secure.

The Gully. Several extremely variable climbs from NE 2 to M4. Continue down river from the Microdome Left top-out, and descend the first major gulley to the left. Short climbs at the base and mixed routes on the downstream walls. Requires snow and the right temperature swings.

Cigar Box Right, melted out in March. When it's fat it's a workable access downclimb.

Cigar Box Right. 15 feet, NE2-3. A short little climb-out covered by the same anchor. There is also an easy rock descent to the right

 Cigar Box. The bottom is gone in March.

Cigar Box. 25 feet, NE 3-M4. The first dirty gulley upstream from Humidor, a nice corner flow with a steep start. Fat when it's in, tricky and educational start when it is not.

Aid Box Right. The right flow went on cool March morning, but just barely; the crampons were gently placed on holds and the axes placed lightly, with precision.

Aid Box Right. 15 feet. NE 4. Just right of the Aid Box down climb. Short, steep, and desperately thin, these lines are extremely variable. Must be well below freezing, like any thin climb.

White Oak Cannyon, January 2014

The original destination for the day's expedition was
Overall Run, but we elected to approach from
Skyline drive and the Park Service elected to close a drive due to icy conditions (1-inch of snowfall). Faced with a barricade, we retreated and drove to White Oak, where predictably good conditions rewarded us with 3 leads, numerous top ropes, and tired bodies.

Chris honed gear management leading WI 2 on the lower falls. We both bouldered on the cauliflowered base, marveling at the flow, the lace-like structure others travel to view and photograph, but for some reason we are drawn to scale.

Further up the canyon we found the south side to be unstable and thinner than expected. We talked about possibility, then something substantial fell and better judgment prevailed.

The grotto was nice and cold, though and the steep walls nearer the falls provides some short but stiff leads and top roping. And quiet. No company other than the thunk of ax and the crunch of front points.

Really fun cauliflowers on the Lower Falls.

Nice.

White Oak Canyon, 2011

Not a great ice season, but enough for a few day trips, including this 65-foot rotting death trap that just barely went, dropped the microwave-sized bulge that formed at the summit for the first climber. A 50-pound bomb.

Note: it was NOT belayed from from directly below. This  climb always sports a small ice talus field, where the bits shed in the sun each day accumulate.

North Wall, WI4+, 60 feet

The drama, wondering if the whole business was going to crumble under a climber's weight, led to a lack of good photos. Ascending a long wall just north of the trail, between the amphitheater and the upper falls, it's a fine climb that seldom forms.

North and above the amphitheater were a number of solid 40-foot climbs....

North Wall, WI 3+ to WI4

 

and the flows of the south side of the amphitheater, though simple, were as thick and dependable as ever.

Ursa Crag, WI 3

Photos by Dave Rockwell

Trip: Psychobabble, Dobie Gillis, etc.

Old Rag. October 11^th, 2009

with Todd Bradley

Another inimitable Trip Report by Dave Rockwell

Thrash (?) warmup 5.5

Fern Crack 5.7

Piton Crack 5.8

Psychobabble 5.10b

Dobie Gillis 5.8

Weather: lovely. T-shirt: Pomona Piratical Sagehens. Notable animal sighting: three large ravens, reminding us inevitably of the brilliant and tragic E. A. Poe – date of death: Oct. 7 1849.

Summit, facing north

                     The leaves were turning nicely at the higher elevations, and it was sunny and mild, no wind. However, we put in a workmanlike day at the cool and shaded PATC Wall, from 11:00 to 5:00. It was a rather crowded day at Old Rag; we conversed briefly with a party of two climbers on their way down to the God Crag area, and later chatted up a pair of Harrisonburg guys who had been all the way down to Bushwhack Crack. But no one else came by the PATC. Todd led a warmup 5.5, name uncertain; I led Piton Crack, this time without any difficulty, as I had solved the peculiar walking-hands-mantle-traverse crux last time, and I was wearing jamming gloves for the start, which makes it fairly trivial. Todd then led Fern Crack, with the slightly intimidating cracked-overhang move, in good style and with good pro. I think it was here while belaying him that I discovered a large black spider attempting to attach a strand of webbing to my chin, and while I yield to no one in my admiration of the matchless mountaineering skills of the arachnid clan, I fear that my involuntary twitch of dismay may have led to the poor spider's injury and probably lingering death later on. Clearly I am not going to get my Nirvana merit badge this time around and might just be reborn as a fly or a stinkbug. An hour or so later a similar spider climbing up my shoulder caused me to slap myself all over with my headband in a fit of hysteria.

The Easy Hand Crack Near the Summit

 

                 I then led, for the fourth time, I believe, (over about 20 years) the lovely little 5.10b called Psychobabble. At this point I think we can agree to change the climb's name to DAVE'S BITCH, as I have never failed nor fallen on this climb. The two bolts are now almost unacceptably rusty, although apparently holding tight. Although I am not generally in favor of making any kind of improvement that might bring more climbers to Old Rag, I would favor replacing these bolts and the one on Dobie Gillis, and while we're at it, putting a nice two-bolt ring station on top of each of them, to avoid the rigmarole of traversing to the anchor above Waste Age (5.12 whatever) in the center.

                To take some air out of my boasting, Psychobabble is a very pleasant climb at its grade: the first half is essentially soloed and a small tree is slung; then a delicate 5.9 traverse move right after the first bolt is performed, and finally two short but very thin and balancey moves are done with the second bolt just under one's feet. If one falls here with one's hand mere inches from the massive exit horizontal, and the very rusty bolt snaps off, the lower bolt will also snap off and it is extremely likely that one's corpse will leave a small bloody crater at the base. With great care given to placing the fingertips on the best available rugosities (in this case I pinched an pencil-eraser-sized knob with the right) one stands up very smoothly and carefully on the small horizontal hold just below the last bolt, and then one says “Damn it all,” because the exit crack is still some distance above one's pathetically outstretched digits. One more even thinner move is required before one is permitted to emit the Baboon Bark of Triumph.

                 Finally Todd and I tag-teamed good old Dobie Gillis: he led the first half, and then, in the middle of the nasty, super-rough, flaring jam crack, abruptly ran out of steam, feeling chills and general malaise, and so I finished the lead for him, and off we went to the summit to warm up and relax in the late-afternoon sun. A few photos were taken of me re-creating a photo that I once made many years ago, of Doug Cosby soloing an easy hand crack, with our shadows printed black on the warm granite, and the orange and red autumn foliage behind, and the green and blue mountains stretching south into the horizon. Alas – though I looked casual and daring in my red T-shirt at the top of the crack, no one could mistake me for that greyhound, the young Doug, neither now nor then.

                 At the Frost Diner in Warrenton the current waitress was blond, young, moderately pretty and actually tried to put some personality into the job. My deep-fried haddock was, amazingly, rather tasty, with fries and coleslaw and assisted by gobs of Texas Pete cayenne sauce; Todd had a good-sized cheeseburger. As we were both starving, the food could easily have been assembled from industrial waste and we would not have known the difference – victims of the usual Twilight Zone perception warp. The jukebox selection, with the manual, completely non-electronic song selector at each booth, was the usual classic grab-bag of the cheesiest hits from the last six decades. I over-tipped the waitress on the theory that she couldn't possibly survive on the normal tip percentage at these prices, and we blasted off, the White Whale riding smoothly up Lee Highway, still encased entirely in the anachronistic time bubble of Twentieth Century America: a 305 c.i. V-8, a four-barrel carburetor, a large bottle of Coke, and, on the radio, the adventures of Boston Blackie, a serial from approximately the year I was born.

Ice Climbing - White Oak Canyon

Coastal and Piedmont Virgina share more climatic similarity to the south than the frozen tundra of New Hampshire, but a few times each year the mercury drops far enough in the nearby mountains to change the order of things, for a few days. We hastily dig out our ice tools and crampons, give them a quick tune-up with a file as needed, and drive through the early morning to grab our share of ice time, before it fades away.

Amphitheater Falls, WI 2

The climbing is mostly on the lowest falls (grade 2-3, 60 feet) and on the canyon walls further up (grade 3-4+, 25-70 feet) and depends very much on the season. The lowest falls is great for beginners and beginning leaders, as it is moderately angled and generally thick enough to take screws on several lines. On the canyon walls further up, particularly in the grotto surrounding the next major falls, the ice tends to get steeper and thinner, with fewer leading opportunities; good ice periods produce leadable grade 4 lines, though some rock gear may be prudent. Small pillars and climbable free-hanging icicles are possible, but rare.

For Northern Virginia climbers, there is also some tune-up potential at Great Falls, on the Virginia side. A few short lines freeze reliably, some near the Micro Dome and some near Gorkey Park, about 200 yards upstream, all at the waters edge. Don't climb under the tourist overlooks - the rangers will chase you off.

North Wall, WI 3+ to WI 4+

White Oak Canyon is located on the drive-in to the Old Rag Saddle Trail parking lot (Berry Hollow side). Some additional guide information to White Oak Canyon ice is given on the link-list to the right.

It's not a lot of ice, but it is a change of pace and place to learn before heading to New Hampshire and other points to the north.

 Routes. Remember that ice formation varies so much from year to year and condition from hour to hour, that specifics are pointless.

1)	Lower Falls WI2+, 50 ft. Good for first leads.
2)	Lower Middle Falls WI2, 40 ft
3)	Bear Falls WI2, 40 ft
4)	Amphitheater Falls WI2, 20 ft.
5)	Upper Middle Falls WI2+, 40 ft.
6)	Upper Falls WI3+,  6O ft
7)	Ursa Crag WI3,  30 ft.
8)	North Wall WI4+, 50 ft; (Top outs marginal normally Top Roped)
9)	Amphitheater Crag WI3+4, 40 ft. Often leadable.
10)	Upper Amphitheater WI2-3+, 30 ft; (Another Ice Pillar 15-20 feet above)
11)	North Amphitheater WI3, 40ft

Note: there is little worthwhile rock climbing in White Oak Canyon

New Route Information - Under Construction

Trip Reports

November 4th, 2006

A Dave Rockwell Trip Report.  Subject: Wilderness Regulation for Rock Outcroppings, etc.

Old Rag. Clear, gradually turning grayish, then back to mostly sun at sunset. High temp. about 45. With a large group of Access Fund types, NPS personnel and other rabble, i.e. climbers.

             I was operating on four hours of sleep after a nine-hour flight from Frankfurt the day before, with the inherent get-up-early boost of flying west through six time zones. I felt free and exuberant, though bloated with fat, after five hellish days of sitting on a tour bus in Tuscany and gobbling prosciutto and pasta four times a day, with the mandatory chugging of superb Chianti. The final day I did walk four miles or so with a boulder on my back (a very bad backpack/rolling carryon) which did my knee no good. So Old Rag, with its total lack of ancient vineyards, trattorias, museums and skinny Italian women with torn and faded skintight Capri jeans and shit-kicking stiletto-heel boots, was the perfect purgative and remedy, for everything but the knee.

             With various stops along the way, the group hiked from the Old Rag Shelter (to which we had been driven! - don’t tell anyone.) to the PATC wall, where botanists pointed out a rare (in Virginia) high-altitude smugwort, or plugwort - at any rate, I can now recognize it and avoid obliterating it. We all discussed strategies for channeling foot traffic and preserving soil and diversity without using heavy and unenforceable rules and regulations, or building concrete bunkers topped with razor-wire to protect the minuscule little buggers. I put in my two cents from time to time just on principle. So what if you’re an idiot -speak up! This is America and we want your thoughts expressed, so we can then grind them up for The Sausage That Is Democracy.

                 Let me warn you though: these hiking-boot bureaucrats are sneaky, subtle and deadly dangerous! They play the game better than we common plebeians. I observed them pretending to listen to our petty climber concerns, exhibiting egregious use of reason, tolerance, openness to the views of others, etc., and I was just working up a nice, juicy, bubbling stew of hatred and resentment for their insidious seduction that would lull us to sleep, after which we’d wake up in the Cannibal Pot of Restrictive Regulation faster than you can say Environmental Impact Study, when, BAM! It sunk into my granite skull that they weren’t faking it. We were all acting as a problem-solving study group, and interacting in good faith! Boy, that’s the most treacherous thing ever! So I had to toss the resentment stew into the bushes, so to speak.

              Some climbing-specific items that were discussed or at least bruited about: means of consolidating and improving social trails to minimize trampling of the rare plants; means of educating the general public as well as climbers to the ethics prevailing in more eco-aware regions, such as walking on rock whenever possible; the possibility of replacing old rusty quarter-inch deathtrap bolts here and there with new stainless-steel three-eighth-inch bolts in the same holes; the best way of minimizing traffic on the west summit, where there is a fine population of a globally-quite-rare plant that only grows in thin, poor granitic soils in harsh summit areas, and which can be blasted to hell in a moment by the careless brush of a child’s sneaker. All these goals need to be accomplished without the use of the iron fist, as in any case there is no enforcement budget, and without installing hideous barriers and neon signs that would destroy what’s left of that delicate and ineffable feeling of wilderness that we still sometimes get up there, when there’s a lull in the din from hordes of yelling kids and rowdy picnickers. When five hundred humans file through a site in a day, there’s always going to be some of that, and somebody’s going to drop his water bottle and forget about it. But here’s one reason I feel so good about the process we participated in: near the summit we wondered how to stop the erosion of islands of soil that sustain various tough little pines and other picturesque bushes, and it was suggested by NPS persons, mark you, that nearby boulders could be placed as retaining walls so artfully, by actual landscape architects, that only certified Feng Shui practitioners would suspect that they had not been there for the past billion years. Many of us felt very good that tax money could go to a goal so purely aesthetic, rather than pouring it as usual down some rat hole full of defense contractors. Could it actually be true - hold on to your hat - that government is not invariably evil?

              Some of us took a quick look at a flourishing colony of glugworts next to the short trail leading down to Pure Fun, just to see if the trail needed any change (consensus: probably not), and then most went on home, while myself and three others went down to the Sunshine Buttress area below the west summit, where I led a very nice classic little 5.8, maybe a hundred feet, which I had never suspected was there, as the sun went down in a blaze of glory as it usually does. I skipped the 5.10a finish, feeling clumsy enough as it was, and we walked off west through the usual maze of huge, weird boulders.

              The day was nicely capped with a typical bit of comic relief. As we were walking down the fire road in the quickly thickening gloom, we were accosted by an anxious young man, who had hiked the mountain earlier that afternoon with two companions, but had separated from them for his own inscrutable reasons, and now was unsure of how to get back to the parking lot, which lot it was, and what planet he was on, etc. No map, flashlight, water, or planning ability. Actually a quite common situation out here, which every so often leads to major problems as the temperature drops well below freezing. (We had encountered ice slicks in many areas all day long.) We walked him down to Berry Hollow where he thought he recognized his starting point, and with that good deed done another excellent Rag expedition ended.

Old Rag, September 27, 2009

Yet another Dave Rockwell Trip Report.

Gutterballs 5.9

Simple Man in a Complex World 5.8

Jabba the Hut Left – 5.8, but with direct 5.10a finish, part of newer climb. 

Chris and Dave. Song of the day: “Just a little lovin'” - Shelby Lynne version. T-shirt: PRANA

               Another perfect fall day at Old Rag. What more can I say? A lot more – just try and stop me. As everyone knows, Joe Brown said that time spent in the mountains is not deducted from the sum total of one's life – or was it that hosebag John Sherman? Regardless, the enduring tragedy is that we cannot live up there and become immortal, like those Taoist hermits that ride the winds and drink the dews of Heaven. Those guys have it made in the shade.

      
                It had rained hard that night. As we cruised westward from Warrenton the overcast drizzle began to lift in patches, and as we drove west from the speck of buildings that the elves call Etlan, the clouds drifted slow and low, obscuring the mountain, but revealing glimpses of the Blue Ridge behind, sporadically sunlit. As we hiked up from Berry Hollow and approached the Old Rag shelter on the fire road, the odd shaft of gold burned through and caused the doomed ferns of the forest floor to glow molten, water vapor rising through them. Soon we met two young men carrying heavy packs encased in garbage bags; I asked them how they liked the camping, and they said it was seriously wet last night, and that the mountain was a great place and a serious one, essentially. They seemed disposed to talk of their adventure, but we forged on. Halfway up at the outlook I frantically snapped the entire western horizon, mottled as it was with clouds of vapor cruising slowly through the various permutations of the Ridge. At the summit, around 11 am, a fine breeze was blowing and the many rainwater pools looked fresh enough to drink, instead of the usual algae soup. My legs felt fine and we went right on down to the mysterious and rarely-visited Gutterballs crag, pioneered, if I am not mistaken (and please correct me if I am wrong) by local demigod Sandy Fleming and crew.

              Now, lost in the mists of time there was a day when I went there alone and climbed the two climbs on self-belay. All I remembered was that there is absolutely no easy way to the base except rappelling (rusty but large two-bolt anchor) and that the climbs were interesting. One old tick list of mine claims that I flashed the lead of Gutterballs, but I have not the least recollection of doing the finish. So as huge vultures soared nearby in the void, sometimes only perhaps twenty feet away, and the sun came and went, Chris led Simple Man with no particular difficulty: an easy layback leads to a bolt and a short slab; then there is a short but rather nasty little overhang, which is analogous to placing one set of toes on the edge of a desk as such a height that one's knee is completely bent and the ankle splayed outward, and then standing up. Of course, Geoff, the Master of Carderock, can do this without strain, but I have a crappy left knee, and I needed something extra to levitate my wavering left hand another three inches to a mild horn. For me this involved a desperate mantle move with the right thumb tip and the second joint of the index finger pressing straight down into a nest of carpet tacks and applying a great deal of pressure. The climb finishes with a small headwall that demands a non-standard layback move and the use of tweakers, invisible from below, to get to a bucket, also invisible. 75 or 80 feet total and well worth the bushwack. I'm sorry, but there is no way to describe the location of the crag well enough to guarantee that anyone can find it. It is south of The Eagle's Gift, north of Jabba the Hut, northwest of Oh My God, etc., and east of the sun and west of the moon.

Mrozowski leading Simple Man in a Complex World

               Regardless of my marginal performance following Simple Man, I wanted to lead Gutterballs, and I did, mostly. The first half consists of three bolts just to the right of a shallow, rounded flaring seam with no crack at all; there is almost nothing useful to the face to either side. Basic technique for this consists of tiptoeing up the seam in short steps, while jumping the hands desperately to certain sparsely distributed side-cling edges, mandating a weird mixture of friction, face and subtle laybacking. Not unlike riding a unicycle down the gutter at the bowling alley. If you could stay right in the middle and had superhumanly perfect balance, it would be a cruise, but you can't; hence my unhesitating lead gave me great satisfaction. Then after that there is a rather horrible, vertical finger crack in a short dihedral set just above a small overhang in such a way that I could not find the start to it, regardless of the excellent nut I had placed above my head. Tape your fingers for this crack, unless you have the skill and strength of Chris, who went right up it on top belay (though using a small cheat stone that happened to be lying there) after I had bugged out and finished the lead on the easier climb. I very much doubt that any cheat stone would have helped me lead that on that day.

               Jabba the Hut is an amusing blob of granite bulging ominously on the south side of the Reflector Oven gully, the highest of the crags in that area, the closest to the trail, but nevertheless not so easy to find or approach. You can see it from several vantage points, but when you walk toward it from any direction you will soon find yourself either a) struggling upside down amongst brambles and dead sticks in some dead-end flytrap of granite, or, b) faced with frictioning up 80 or a hundred feet of 45-degree slope, or c) wading through brush blindly, following a vague trend down from the main trail. When you get there (and you won’t recognize it from above) you can friction down a short slope to the top, or use a nice new descending ring that’s been installed there. When rappelling to the base on the nice new rings at the summit, remember to leave all your stuff up there unless you enjoy hauling packs or climbing with them. On the other hand, you might contribute to the public good as we did, by hauling our packs and thus brushing off a portion of the big black lichens that have buried certain sections of Jabba Right (5.9) and the easy right-side finish of Jabba Left.

At the base (brushy, damp, vines and brambles, bugs) we found, just to the left where the clean granite slope extends down and around the bulging overhang, the new 5.10 (or harder?) which ascends a difficult overhang problem, and we could not resist, being already set up, a few attempts on toprope here. Momentarily we each seemed on the verge of success, trying to get into balance with the right leg swung high, the arms pulling in and down and the face practically planted in the bulging wall that has a few minor red-herring knobs which would be useless even if one could free a hand to grasp them. Nevertheless it was fun and I was able to further calibrate just what my crappy left shoulder will or will not do; in this case it performed well on a straightforward all-out pull.

Looking southeast from the base of Jabba

          
             Chris then led Jabba Left, the supposed 5.8, which I remembered from those dim ages of prehistory as disappointingly easy, because I had been expecting a 5.9 as listed in the old Rock and Ice guide, not knowing then that the ratings of the right and left climbs had been reversed. But now both climbs are nearly buried in black lichen in the last fifteen feet or so, and when Chris emerged from the rather stiff layback-crack start, did the leftward step-across and headed toward the single bolt a good ways up in the clean rock directly above, he found a much greater resistance than expected, and the bolt about a foot farther up than any logical stance-related placement would have placed it. He did a hard move, clipped it, and worked for a while on the next hard move before finally deciding to do the “French Free” and grab the quick-draw; the move would have been pretty much standing up on one big toe, on a fairly small item, with the hands just posing existentially here and there on meaningless bumps. I found it tough enough with his top-belay removing all risk. And then there are a couple more interesting, harder-than-5.8 moves to finally top out. Hence this makes the climb better; this is the finish to the 5.10 overhang start, but it also becomes the 5.9+ direct finish to the crack start. I might like to go back and try to lead it. In any case the nice little 5.9 on the right deserves to have the lichens cleaned from the top section. So gear list for the next expedition must include (as it always should at Old Rag) a wire brush and a pair of hand clippers. A machete would be helpful also, though heavy to lug along.

Friction slab guarding the summit of Jabba

               Heading home we cruised right on by the sunny summit, where we could have rested and sorted gear, but my legs felt fairly good, helped along with the trekking poles as always. As we drove out through Etlan and headed north, with Sperryville some ten or twelve miles ahead, we immediately fetched up behind a small car being driven either by a centenarian or a doper. He or she drove about 45 mph, except whenever the road turned slightly or went over a small hill, or when other cars approached, when he would quickly slow to 25 and flash his brights erratically. As this is a winding and hilly stretch of road, such slowdowns happened with great frequency, sometimes apparently triggered by nothing at all. I followed as closely as I dared, looking for my chance, but of course on the few straightaways the guy accelerated such that I could not safely pass. I was not in the mood for this, but I was relaxed enough from a good day of climbing that I restrained the Whale, knowing that right after Sperryville I'd drop this guy like a turd off a tower.

              Things even out, though – the rest of the drive was fast and easy and made quicker by listening to some classic old radio skits from the fifties, like Gunsmoke, and The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.

Climbing Practices and Tips

Climbing Practices
Climbing at Old Rag includes bouldering, top roping, sport climbing, and traditional leading. The quality and volume of all of these are excellent. However, the star attraction is lead climbing on flawless granite of great variety. Because of its designation as a Wilderness in Shenandoah National Park (SNP), bolting by power drill on Old Rag is now prohibited. Any alteration of the rock, including chipping holds or adding them is prohibited. The Ranger staff is currently working to determine if a formal climbing policy (ROMP – Rock Outcrop Management Plan; http://www.nps.gov/shen/parknews/national-park-service-announces-availability-of-environmental-assessment-for-the-rock-outcrop-management-plan.htm) for the area is needed, based on volume of use and potential for degradation. Hand drill and placing pins is still legal at this time, but the Park Service does not appreciate this, and the climbing community hopes that you will stay away from established lines and hiking trail areas. In the interest of preserving this wilderness and the best possible relationship with the Park Service, the cooperation of all climbers will be needed. Park policies and regulations can change at any time, and can currently be found at www.nps.gov/shen/ps/nr/bwmp/ch7.htm. Note: work on this plant has been suspended for technical reasons (http://www.nps.gov/shen/parknews/public-comment-on-rock-outcrop-management-plan-suspended.htm).


Many traditionally established bolted lines can be found, drilled by hand from the ground up. Only a few routes were rap bolted. Some of the original anchors are old deteriorated 1/4” spinners and could use replacement, but most are high quality 3/8” stainless in perfect rock. The result is many fine sport and traditional routes. Additional bolting cannot be justified. Only a few cliffs are so tall that top-roping is not practical, though rope drag would be an issue on many due to fantastic friction in most areas. When you clip each bolt, remember that on the first ascent the leader was swinging a hammer while on that measly stance. Suddenly a casual sport route becomes more of a traditional adventure climb!
Gear requirements at Old Rag are standard for granite. The rock can be best described as similar to Joshua Tree, existing as domes with slabs and splitter cracks. However, the rock is considerably more sound and offers unique bumps and even single crystal holds that are quite strong. The many fine crack routes are very receptive to the “standard” rack of granite gear, many routes practically pulling the gear from your rack. However, those that are new to granite will at times need to be very observant of the subtleties of protecting the unique curves and pockets of weathered granite. Small Tri-cams and active cams (SLCDs) are highly recommended. A standard rack would contain a full set of wired nuts, a dozen quick draws, six full length slings, several small Tri-cams, a full set of SLCDs, a cordalette, some extra biners, and perhaps some Aliens and Ball-nuts. A roll of athletic tape for the hands and the knowledge of its use is mandatory for many of the saber-toothed cracks. A single rope is what most routes require, but doubles are occasionally nice, the second rope often finding additional use in descents and hauling. Add a couple of bail biners, quick links for anchors missing pieces, and several tied slings for backing up anchors, and you’re in good shape. You won’t need a lot of this gear on most routes, but it is a long way to the car! If a route description suggests certain gear, don’t take it for fact; you may see the route’s protection needs differently, you may overlook a key placement, we may have forgotten some detail, or the route may have changed over time. Bolt and anchor hangers are occasionally stolen. I hope these people realize there is a special chamber in hell for those that steal hangers, next to the room for climbers that chop bolts. Even climbs referred to as beginning leader climbs are not for beginners. They are for intermediate climbers that have led at that grade before.


For many mid-Atlantic climbers, Old Rag is the first real introduction to jamming. Most area climbing is on face holds, and those times jamming is called for, generally to character of the rock is very different from the coarse texture of Old Rag granite. This leaves many beginners believing that hand cracks are some horrible, old-school anachronistic rite of that they can avoid. Perhaps the following information can open up the world of hand cracks and jamming to the "new generation".


Tips on Jamming and Taping



Technique. Jamming, even more than face climbing, is very individual, both to the climber and the crack at hand. In order to see technique, you will need to watch other climber's jams very closely. It is the details inside the crack that make the difference. There are also many details concerning how the pressure is applied that are not visible. However, if you consider that your hands function in the same ways as the gear on your rack, the following thoughts may help you to make sense of the approach.

1. Natural constrictions. Take a lead from your climbing rack when thinking of placements. Like stoppers, look for constrictions. But don't wedge a finger too well! I have a friend who has 9 fingers because his wedding band caught on a ladder rung and his foot slipped. However, a hand, fist, or foot in a constriction is bliss.

2. Movement. Don't go too deep into a crack unless you must. Movement is easier and quicker if you are closer to the edge. Feet jammed much past the toes in a hand crack can be the dickens to get out after you have moved up on them. When you stand up and the leg becomes extended, they cannot be uncammed. Thumbs-up is generally preferred, unless precluded by the need for camming, because longer reaches are possible. Thumbs-down jambs are generally shuffled with short reaches.

3. Expansion. Like SLCDs, hands and fists can be expanded. In the case of a fist, clench hard. In the case of a hand, draw the thumb in across the palm. Make a cup. Often very secure in the correct size range, but tiring if the crack is a little too big.

4. Camming. Like Tri-cams and Hexes, hands and fingers can be cammed. With fingers, the variations are many, and the best advise is to experiment. With hands it is generally a simple twist of the wrist. Chose thumbs down and cam by lowering your elbow, or better, go thumbs up and cam by twisting your wrist such that the thumb wants to point outwards. With fists, it generally involves bending the wrist to the outside. Less secure than constrictions or expansion, but less tiring and fast.

5. Fit. Like locating a curved nut, there is a perfect fit. There may be finger holds inside the crack in only one spot. Even a ripple is a big help. The crack may curve a bit and simply fit better one place than the other. Learn to pick your hand placements like you would gear slots.

6. Big moves vs small moves. This can go either way. Big moves are faster and are often the choice with big solid jams. Smaller moves can be best on poor jams, especially for thin hands/finger cracks when getting the toes in is difficult. Like face climbing, some times a small somewhat insecure move is needed to make the next move possible. Try everything.

7. Mix it up. Don't be so focused on the crack that you miss stemming, lay backing, and face holds. The change of pace alone can help. It is really easy to focus on a big unjammable crack, while small features are available to save you.

8. Rotation. Don't rotate in the jams. This is the source of most pain. Try to place jams so that they will improve as you move up, and do the flexing with the wrist. Place them methodically, load them slowly, and keep them still.

9. Loose jams. Don't expect a jam to feel like a handhold. They can move around a little, which you will get used to. Get weight on your feet. A jam does not have to be good enough to pull up on. It has to keep your weight in while your feet do the walking.

10. Clothing. Long canvas pants and rugby shirts are the deal for off-widths. Sweaty knees and arms do not cut it. However, be careful of shirt cuffs that are on your wrists: They can ruin perfect jams.

Taping. The best technique will not prevent all pain when the crack is jagged and the jams highly loaded. Also, thrashing at your limit and learning are no fun if the blood is sure to flow. Try the following and
damage to the hands can be greatly limited.


The Tape Glove for General Use

1. Base Strips. Cover the knuckles, the bone below the index finger, the back of the thumb, and other high pressure areas with one or several layers of athletic tape. Flex the wrist no more than 10°. There is less tape in this glove, so it will come apart if too loose.

2. Finger loops. Index and pinkie only. Take a 10" length of 1 1/2 "tape. Pinch in the middle and wrap around each finger, starting and finishing on the back of the hand. Bend the wrist forward about 10 degrees while applying.

3. Thumb. Use a 4" length of ¾" tape as a ring to secure the base taping.

4. Wrist. Use 2 10" x 1 ½" lengths of tape. The first begins in the center of the back of the hand, wraps under the wrist riding up a bit on to the heel of the hand, and returns to the back of the hand. The second strip is the same, overlapping but about 1" further down the wrist.

5. Gaps. If you left any gaps, add tape and pat it down hard. It should stay.


This method is adequate for most hand cracks and has the advantages of being relatively thin, open palm, and non-restrictive. However, for heavy duty cracks and off-widths, beef it up:

1. Base layer. Cover the entire back of the hand. Put several layers in the high pressure areas. 2 layers on the thumb.

2. Finger loops. All of the fingers. Use 12" loops.

3. Wrist. More wraps. Place a strip down the back to cover the ends of the strips.

4. Knuckle wraps. If the crack requires either fist jams or sliding the hand down hard into constrictions, wrap 3 times around the knuckles with 1 ½" tape. Start and finish on the back of the hand.

Be warned, however: Excessive tape can occasionally prevent the use of the best jams if they turn thin.

Now you have armor. However, this took half a roll of tape and some time.
If you would like to have a reusable glove, try this:

1. Build the heavy duty version of the glove but without the knuckle wraps or the wrist wraps. Do finish the wrist off on the back only with some strips. On the thumb, skip the base strips and tape with a loop as for the other fingers. Do not climb in it yet.

2. Carefully peal the glove off inside out. Add strips to the inside, covering all of the adhesive. Wrap tape around the edges to prevent raveling. Store the finished gloves in a sandwich bag.

To use, simply pull them on and do the wrist taping as above. The fit is improved dramatically if the wrist wrap is done by starting in the middle of the back of the hand, going under the base of the hand , and returning to the back of the hand. Repeat this several times and it will help the glove hug the hand. These do not fit quite as well as the taped on glove, but they are very handy. Certainly good enough for seconding most of the time.

These are the basic tape gloves. There are tons of variations, so play. Taping will seem like too much trouble the first time, but with practice a full tape job should take only a few minutes. I routinely climb cracks with the sharpest crystals all day and expect to get no cuts. The only scratches I expect are from folowing and cleaning deeply placed gear, or bushwhacking gullies. Good taping makes the nastiest crack fun, if evil cracks are your pleasure.


Long pants and long sleeves are mandatory in any season, and bug repellent is very useful at times in certain areas. Since the hike is long, carry more water than you think. A minimum 2 quarts in the winter, and 4-5 in the summer. The USGS 15 minute quad for Old Rag (available on-line at www.mapserver2.com) shows a spring on the ridge, but it only runs when there has been significant rain within a few weeks. The spring is located at about the midpoint of the PATC Wall, but on the opposite side of the ridge, about 30 yards from the trail. It is down slope and east of the large very low angle slab. There is no reliable trail, but it is not hard to find if you climb on a high boulder and look around for something shiny. Don’t plan on it, but it might just save the day if you break a bottle. It is an unsupervised water source and has the potential for contamination. Pack plenty of high energy food and refuel often. There is no need to sprain an ankle due to fatigue. There are also springs at the old Rag hut, and on the Ridge Trail about ½ way between the Nethers trail head and the Lower Ridge Trail Slabs under a huge (30’) flat boulder.

One important reminder for all climbers concerns the difficulty in evacuating injured people. One epic involved a 13-hour evacuation of a climber with a shoulder dislocated during a strenuous move. Even with no other injuries and plenty of experienced help, it was extremely arduous. The quality of the rock is excellent, but many opportunities exist to knock a loose rock from a seldom-climbed crag or to turn an ankle while bushwhacking off trail. Though venomous snakes are certainly a possibility, so far in many bushwhacking miles, they have stayed under their side of the rock. Certainly, there is less of a hazard in accessible areas, and when the temperature drops.


Organization of the Guide
This guide describes all of the developed areas of the mountain, but many are not developed. We have tried to describe most of the routes, but have left out some that we were either unsure of or that seemed obscure. We have tried to climb as many routes as possible, but regrettably some are beyond our abilities, and some beyond the time available. The ordering of the areas requires some explanation. First, we have generally ordered the areas from south to north, as most climbers approach the Climbs via the saddle trail. They are not in the order they appear on a map in many cases. They are in the order you will reach them. Additionally, the areas north of the Eagles gift are often approached from the North via the Ridge trail. Please see the area map to make sense of this. The ordering of routes within each area is also typically in the order you will reach them. There are over one hundred established lead routes, and the possibilities for top ropes and bouldering are beyond counting. There are small crags that have not been visited, and crags where historic climbs have been forgotten. For those that like to roam and can safely evaluate their limits on lead, go explore! It may or may not be a first ascent, but the challenge will be the same, and the sense of accomplishment should be the same as well. You will have the same lack of prior knowledge the first guy had. This guide is growing and will become more complete over time, but it is not our intention to steal the adventure.

Grading is by the well-known Yosemite decimal system. There are climbs on the mountain from 5.1 to 5.13. However, we have focused on the 5.6 - 5.11 range, as this is the range of greatest interest. Additionally, an “R” has been added to routes that are significantly run-out or poorly protected. However, this always assumes that the climber is solid at the grade, and that each person can evaluate the types of risks they are willing to accept. The ratings assume the climber is experienced on the type of rock, the type of climbing, and the methods of protection involved. A climber whose skill set is primarily face and gym climbing may find himself in dire straits on a run-out friction route or crack climb several grades below his theoretical limit. I am uncomfortable giving any climb a “G” rating outside of a gym environment. Even the most over-bolted sport route at Old Rag contains at least some area where a fall would break and ankle or a head. I am concerned that climbing gyms have created some in this generation of climbers that believe that they are bulletproof. I recently overheard a group of kids saying that they were going to try back-clipping on all of their routes just to see if a rope could be unclipped. I have seen biners broken when their gates were forced open by a rock crystal, ropes cut by loading over an edge, harnesses come open, and helped to collect one dead climber. Seeking instruction is wise, and a lengthy apprenticeship is of great value. There is always more to learn about safety, and learning about safety improves your leading ability by allowing you to focus on the moves at hand.

Organization, Directions, Fees, etc.

Directions
To Ridge Trail, near Nethers: From Washington D.C., take Interstate 66 to Gainesville, then 211 west to Sperryville. A little left-right jiggle through town will lead to U.S. 522. After 0.3 miles, turn right onto State Route 231. Stay with this for 8 miles until a right turn sign marks Old Rag. This road will change names several times: 601, 602, 700. Keep going and stay right. On weekdays you can use the upper lot, and on weekends you can ask the rangers to let you drop off your packs there. Otherwise, there is a 1.2 mile slog up the road from the lower lot to the trail head.

To Saddle Trail, Near White Oak Canyon: Begin same as for Ridge Trail approach, but go 8 miles further on State Route 231. Turn right onto State Route 643 at Etlan, and right onto State Route 600 at the sign for White Oak Canyon. Continue to where the road dead-ends at the Berry Hollow parking lot.

Fees
This is a fee area. At the Nethers end of the Ridge Trail end there are rangers on weekends. Otherwise it is the honor system. The fee is $15.00. Golden Eagle Passes are good for a family or one hiker and a partner.

Camping
Camping is substantially restricted in the vicinity of Old Rag. This is a very popular location in-season, and I would suggest that you not plan on camping in the immediate area. Competition can be stiff, and this is no place to build a tent city. There are many camping areas in the nearby Shenandoah National Park and surounding areas. However, in off season periods back country camping is practical, and the cost of the permit is included the entrance permit. Please respect the following updated restrictions, effective June 23, 2000. They are designed to preserve the wilderness experience.

There is no camping permitted within:
• 10 yards of any stream
• 20 yards of any unpaved fire road
• 50 yards of any building ruins
• 50 yards of any No Camping sign
• 50 yards of any other party
• ¼ mile of any road, campground, hut, cabin, picnic area, or other developed area

Additionally, there is no camping above 2800 feet. This is just above the level of the Byrd’s Nest on the Saddle Trail, and near the Lower Ridge Slab on the Ridge Trail. This leaves only limited possibilities on the Berry Hollow Fire Road, and near the Nethers end of the Ridge Trail. The good spots are ~ 100 yards behind the Byrds Nest, and on the Ridge Trail saddle at about 2500 feet. The only trouble is that they are dry.

Back country camping permits are available at the Ranger booth at the Ridge Trail parking lot near Nethers, at the White Oak Canyon trailhead on Berry Hollow Road, and at any SNP entrance station. There is no additional fee for back country permits.

No pets are permited, even if leashed.

Food
If you are coming from the Washington D.C area, there is practically nothing in the way of eating places on the way back until Warrenton. If you are like me you will be hungry enough to devour anything that stands still, but you are in a hurry to get home after a long day. You’re looking for more than a burger, something less greasy than pizza or fried chicken, and quicker than a sit down dinner. Heck, no real restarant would let you in anyway. For a dinner to fill you up, suit a climber’s budget, and keep in local character, try the Frost Diner, just north of where route 211 turns left in Warenton, as route 17 heads to Culpepper. Built in 1946, it is quite authentic in the menu, fittings, clientele, and the fact that they don’t take plastic. It is right across the street from Hardees, but if you’d eat there, just climb in the gym.

Shenandoah Rock Outcrop Managment Plan (ROMP)
The Park authority has been working with the climbing comunity and biologists to develop regulations regarding access to the crags throughout the park. Most of the impacts are related to hiker impacts around trail overlook areas, but there is some mention of other climbing areas. http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=274&projectId=19298&documentID=25100


Suggestions / Further Information
If you have a favorite area or climb that you are offended we missed, or if there are material errors in this guide, please let us know. We have kept the guide simple at this first pass to keep the adventure and to keep it accurate. However, it will be updated continuously in order to make it better. Please contact us at info@contactclimbinggear.com. If you are interested in other web links concerning Old Rag, check http://members.home.com/juvjr//links.htm.
Climbing Areas
Below is an annotated topographical map noting the major climbing areas discussed in this guide. The main summit is labeled as the Summit Area. The Ridge Trail runs WSW for most of the length of the ridge, so it will be the convention in this guide to refer to proceeding south or west on the trail as the direction towards the Saddle Trail end. It is suggested that the climber get a full-size copy of this map in order to more clearly pick out features. We have include GPS derived coordinates for some of the harder to locate areas. However, cliff faces offer a considerable radio shadow, so there is some error and often fixes are difficult to get. Better to rely on you nose and a good map. There have been a few climbers placing signs to guide others: Please refrain from this practice, as Old Rag is a wilderness area.

The season can often determine the best climbing area just as definitively as traffic law determines which side of the road on which to drive. In the winter, the east and south facing slabs and walls are often comfortable on cold days, though the cracks never seem to warm up. The lengthy approaches to southeast crags are reasonable in the winter and early spring before the local flora springs to the defense of the mountain. The approaches to the God Crag and the Reflector Oven are infested with poison ivy by mid-May. In the summer, the west and north facing PATC fall and the Projects are more appealing, cooler destinations with shorter approaches. The Lower Ridge Slab remains accessible all year, though it can get quite warm. Bouldering on the summit is brutally cold in the winter, sun or not, but the wind makes it nice in the summer. The north and west facing areas such as the PATC Wall are brutally cold in the winter – ideal for budding alpinists anxious to practice martyrdom and pointless deprivation. Getting lost on most of the approaches can lead can lead to epic struggles with mountain laurel. But suffer you must: there is some wonderful rock hidden just around the corner! Just as alpinists flirt with frostbite and objective dangers, all Old Rag climbers come to know that the epic bushwhacking is the price exacted in the quest for new routes. Perhaps I should have thrown in a section dedicated to a non-existent crag, with a horrible approach through a rhododendron-choked gully, the sole purpose being to deepen your experience of Old Rag and blow-off the less dedicated! If you use this guide long enough, you will swear we did just that.