An exciting thing about Thacher opening is that it will give many of the region’s gym climbers a chance to take their skills outside. Bringing new people into the sport is great and this new outdoor venue will diversify their climbing experience while increasing their enjoyment of the sport. There are some important differences between gym climbing and sport climbing. Below we will talk about issues specific to Thacher’s sport climbing.
Sufficient Gym Time
For local climbers who want to transition to the outdoors make sure you spend enough time at The Edge Halfmoon, Rocksport and AIR working on basic skills before going outdoors. Know your knots, get proper training on how to belay and get time belaying people indoors. Practice lead climbing in a gym to get your technique more efficient and seamless. Outdoor climbing is less forgiving to mistakes, however don’t be afraid to do it as outdoor climbing is really rewarding.
Find a Mentor
As Brady Robinson said in the last Access Fund conference there are many young climbers in the country right now, and a limited number of experienced older outdoor mentors. See our links at the bottom of this page to find other climbers in your area.
Traditionally in the sport of climbing one would find a more experienced and often older mentor, someone who not only “showed you the ropes” technically but also shared real-life inspiring climbing stories of travel to some of the country’s most beautiful places.
The great masters of the trades and arts in human history usually trained under great masters, why is that? It is because learning the craft is more than just reading a book and memorizing technique, it’s about observing and emulating minute details of the mentor, many of these things are subconscious and we don’t even realize we picked up great technique. We can also learn poor practices from our cohorts, so its good to combine your climbing education with the latest reading materials and on-mountain experiences with mentors. Successful climbers like Lynn Hill and Conrad Anker will always mention how they learned from a mentor (or several) at the start.
Know before you go: Thacher’s Rules
Before you go to the park (once it is open to the public for climbing, currently it is prohibited to climb) you should know the rules:
- No rappelling – there is no access from the top, you must approach all climbs from the walk-in entrance. This is not the place to “practice” rappelling.
- No topping out – you climb to the top of the route, and clean and lower when done, it is illegal to keep going through the loose rocks and dirt above the climbs.
- No trad climbing or going off route – this is a sport-only area.
See our full park rules list here.
Belay Bolts and Ledges
Unlike the gym where you are standing on flat, padded ground, in outdoor climbing your belayer will be often standing on the side of steep slope, or on a ledge above another cliff. Some routes at Thacher start from a ledge between the Manlius and Coeymans rock layers and some of these routes have a bolt at eye or chest level which is designed to help anchor the belayer in. While you may feel fairly safe on the ledge we recommend you use the belay bolts whenever possible as a climber falling at the start of a climb could pull both people off the ledge, or down a steep treed slope below. If there is no belay bolts on that route you should use a stick clip to secure the climber onto the first bolt. Many of the first bolts at Thacher are specifically placed for stick clipping.
If you are new to climbing, or are with children, certain areas like the Sunset Face area or Cave Wall are the most friendly to beginners as they have a belayer start on the ground (not on a ledge).
Weather and Loose Rock, Climbing Commands and Communication
Limestone can get slick when it’s wet, and popular routes will become polished in future years. Many routes at Thacher will stay dry in rain for some amount of time, however most of these are steeper more difficult routes. In the future we will have an article talking about which routes tend to stay dry in the rain.
In addition to weather all cliffs are geologically “active” so don’t trust everything you see. You must exercise judgement as you climb and be selective as to what you grab onto. Each rock type has its own quirks, advantages and disadvantages. Limestone doesn’t typically have giant loose flakes as crystalline granite and quartz, however even small rocks and pebbles can do very serious damage to people below. These are the unavoidable realities of outdoor climbing. In outdoor climbing if you drop any gear, or a rock, you must warn others, research your climbing commands and communication.
Top Anchors at Thacher
At Thacher we have three types of top anchors: separate ring anchors, single chain connected to two bolts with a single ring, and ram’s horns anchors. On all of these anchors you do not climb off of the ring or rams horn, bring your own quickdraws and connect them to the bolts directly or chain links.
Ring and Chain Anchors: We have Fixe ring anchors in side-by-side and staggered with chain configurations. For this type of anchor you should know how to efficiently and safely set up and clean this anchor.
See the videos from Wild Country and Outdoor Research below on the most efficient way to clean a sport anchor with rings or chains, each video shows a different but standard approach:
Ram’s horns: We also have ramshorns on our anchors which are really nice because they can speed up your cleaning time. You don’t climb off the ram’s horn, it is only for the cleanup and lowering of the climber when your done. In the video below there are two ramshorns, we have a slightly different system with just one attached to two chains:
Tech Tips 2 – How to use ram’s horns anchors from Qx Cheang on Vimeo.
We recommend you read multiple sources and see videos from reputable sources before you go outside climbing. We strongly recommend you use entities like MountainProject’s partners forum, Thacher Climbing Coalition’s Facebook Group page and Meetup.com to find other climbers. Seek out climbers who are not just strong climbers, but those who have plenty of outdoor experience. Sport climbing is simple compared with trad, and there plenty of trad climbers in the Hudson Valley to team up with. Climbing is a social thing, it’s a community thing, so connect and get awesome!
Thacher Climbing Coalition Facebook Group Page – are you looking for a climbing partner for a particular day? make a post on our Group page, we have an organization page and group page, the “group” is our forum, you will have to join the group first. This is different from our organization FB page which makes official announcements from the organization.
