Wow! It's been waaay to long since I last posted on here. Pakistan was absolutely incredible despite lots of heavy rain which made it pretty difficult to get much. Look for my film about the trip soon on Outdoor Research's Verticulture site. Upon returning back to Vermont it was quickly apparent that expedition travel does little for keeping you in top rock climbing shape. I've been spending extra hours in the gym trying to get back in shape for my projects here in New England and for our upcoming trip to the Red!
Moss Cliff
Most of my weekends this fall have been spent at the inspirational Moss Cliff in the Adirondacks. Moss Cliff is literally covered in amazing splitters from barely-there tips seams to one of the raddest off-width routes in the northeast. The cliff forms an enormous right angle and the right side is one of the most impressive single walls that I've seen anywhere.
Referred to as the "Aid Wall" in the guidebook, my friend and fellow Vermonter Peter Kamitses has ticked off the first free ascents of two of the 3 aid lines on this sweeping overhang of a wall. The third and as of yet unfreed line is named Pan Am and may just be the hardest of them all!
The route starts off with a beautiful 35' spitter 5.10 corner which leads to a nice pedestal belay ledge. From there the route gets a whole lot nastier. An extremely technical V6/7 boulder problem complete with thin and hard to place gear leads to sustained 5.12+ climbing up the increasingly steep wall until you encounter the heartbreaking crux. This is a Red River Gorge'esque route with additional Rumney style boulder problems at the start and finish. I've been logging big hours building up my fitness for this beast!
I'm headed over this weekend with Naomi and Peter Kamitses who is also working the line. Hopefully the conditions hold out a little for us!
Here's a video I put together with my friend and fellow Outdoor Research athlete Tim Keenan. We went up to Moss to spend some time on the route several weeks ago.
Dacks Dispatch from Matt McCormick on Vimeo.
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