Marcy's Great Chimney (aka Empty Tomb)- All Ryled Up- Slacker Cracker

Full Photo Set: https://goo.gl/photos/H1EYgm6giFNzAJwn9
Partners: Adam Crofoot (Slacker Cracker), Jaryn DeShane (All)

Dates: 2017 June 3 and June 15

One of the best kept backcountry secrets is a large vertical trap dike capped with a diagonal car-sized capstone on Mt. Marcy. It is set in a northeastern facing cliff deep in Panther Gorge and looks like a pencil-thin shadow from the summit of Mt. Haystack. This is Marcy’s Great Chimney.

St. Lawrence University Professor of Geology, Jeff Chiarenzelli, describes the dike as follows, “The dike is composed of basalt, a black, fine-grained rock that often erupts on the surface or is found in feeder dikes to volcanic rocks. Similar basaltic dikes are found throughout the Adirondack region and are approximately 640 million years old. Produced in the Earth’s mantle they intruded into cracks and fractures as the eastern seaboard was rifted apart to form the Iapetus Ocean. The Iapetus Ocean formed during the cycle of continental breakup prior to the opening of the Atlantic.” The basalt in the dike is lighter from weathering. Basalt also differentiates Marcy’s dike from Colden’s whose primary trap rock is gabbro which has larger crystals.

The basalt eroded and formed several vertical to slightly overhanging sections in a deeply inset six-foot wide chimney—the chimney is what originally drew my attention. Unlike Mt. Colden’s Trap Dike which is generally considered a fourth class climb, Mt. Marcy’s dike is a fifth class rock climb rated 5. It is worth the effort of visiting.

Background
I noticed the chimney several years ago when camping in the gorge with friend Anthony Seidita. We didn’t venture near enough to realize it was a trap dike at that point. I didn’t have the skills to climb it, but the dark cleft inspired me. When local climber and friend Adam Crofoot mentioned scaling it as a first ascent, my curiosity jumped to anticipation. He’d noticed years earlier. It was prime real estate for exploration and, in my opinion, one of the most unusual jewels of the gorge.

We tried to climb the beast several times and were turned back by inclement conditions each time. Two attempts during the winter of 2014-2015 were thwarted by thin dry ice. Adam spent two hours trying to break through the crux during the first attempt before we had to retreat and tromp back out of the gorge through knee-deep snow with nothing to show except a few photographs. Marcy wasn’t ready to give it up.

A subsequent trip with Adam and another adventurer, Jaryn DeShane, found the chimney running with water on June 3, 2017 —an aesthetic cascade, but an unappealing climb that might have required a snorkel. It is not a primary drainage area, but recent rains were still seeping from the summit ridge. We settled on adding a different route up a hand-crack as a consolation prize—Slacker Cracker. It is located 100 feet downhill from the chimney. For all things, there is a season and not every outing ends as anticipated, but ascending the chimney had evolved into a battle.

Slacker Cracker-June 3
Our first Panther Gorge trip of the 2017 rock climbing season was on June third. As mentioned, we were hoping to climb the chimney and we had a four-day window of good weather beforehand. Late May/early June is always a crap shoot in one way or another. The trails were muddy, but not as bad as I expected. We even found a few pockets of snow as we neared the 4,000 elevation contour though we found nothing in the gorge except an exceptional amount of pollen.

A stream draining one of the technical slides between the Huge Scoop and the Overhang Slide was flowing strongly so we refilled our water bottles before moving on toward our objective. I was disappointed, but not surprised when the chimney was flowing as well. The cascading water showed where the rock overhung inside. There’d be no climbing it this day, but I remembered an appealing crack downhill. It looked like a thin crack from my beta photograph.

I felt apprehensive about leading it so Adam took the sharp end and racked up. I scanned the cliff as we got ready. There was a large roof overhead with a small chimney harboring a dead tree to its left. I’m sure there’s another route hiding in the options up there! Our objective started by face climbing to a fingercrack with good gear. This led to a long right-rising crack. It was much larger than it appeared from afar. Adam protected himself and moved gear accordingly to conserve the cams; we only had so many of a certain size and he used them quickly.

An interesting move up and over a discontinuity in the face led to more of the same. Luckily the lip of the crack formed a nice edge to grab; a positive since the feet were less sure and involved smearing. The crux was across a dirty area of the crack where the lip was less acute and where it was filled with dirt. Adam did a little Adirondack “gardening” and moved past it before he disappeared from sight. At the crack’s end he climbed blocky stone up to a small tree covered terrace and set up an anchor in the cracks of the wall above.

I climbed, then Jaryn. Once comfortable on the ledge I looked up above. A 20 foot broken wall led to a larger tree covered terrace. There was more cliff above that, but Adam explored the broken wall and climbed back down. We decided to end the route on the first terrace after a short discussion; climbing higher would just create an annoying bushwhack section. There was surely a better way to breach the cliff and climb past an interesting feature—a small free-standing pillar.

We rappelled and discussed the route. Adam noted that it would be a 4-star route along the road. It was a good line. Adding additional routes to the wall such as the chimney would cluster good climbs together and make visiting this wall worth the trouble. Slacker Cracker, tip of the hat to both Dacker Cracker at the Spider’s Web and Sacherer Cracker and Bachar Cracker in Yosemite.


ADAM CROFOOT leading Slacker Cracker 100' South of the Chimney.



Jaryn Looking up at the Chimney

Climbing the Chimney
Tenacity often pays off in the discipline of climbing so I planned another trip and asked Jaryn to join me. Several days of hot dry weather preceded our trip. Such conditions bode well for climbing the high elevation rock climbing routes of the High Peaks. I prayed for a safe successful climb.

We began our trip early in the evening of June 14 and bivouacked under a moonlit canopy after a five-hour trek from the Garden Trailhead in Keene Valley. The usual late spring serenade of birdsong lulled me awake at 5:00 AM. I contemplated what might happen in the coming hours—not a good habit since it drains energy and blurs one’s focus. Jaryn’s light-hearted quips and amiable personality kept the mood light during the ensuing bushwhack. We reached the Huge Scoop, the last of the large northern cliffs, at 8:30 AM.

Our next stop was at a stream to refill our Nalgene bottles. The dry weather had all but dried up what was a flowing stream two weeks prior. We had to climb uphill to find a small trickle that seeped from the mountain. This was a good omen for climbing the chimney; it would likely be dry. Another 20 minutes of threading our way through the forest and navigating moss-covered talus led to a grassy- glade below the Overhang Slide, a slide with two distinct roof systems. Our quarry was several hundred feet uphill.

We reached the trap dike/chimney at 9:15. The area is a dramatic arena to even visit. A vertical cliff harbors the feature—the Chimney Wall sits on the left while a 45 degree gully rises north into the forest. Various other crags sit to the south and east while Mt. Haystack looms across the glacial valley. Click here for the labeled cliffsof the gorge or here for an aerial photograph with rough access paths courtesy of the author and Adirondack Rock.



Looking up the Chimney/Trap Dike-Different from Colden's!

The chimney was lit by the sun and bone dry—perfect! What little moss or algae that grew on the basalt would be easy to avoid. Conditions were finally ideal, but that didn’t mean we had the ability climb it. It also didn’t minimize the objective dangers such as loose rock, my foremost concern. If I committed weight to a hold without evaluating correctly, I could pull a boulder loose on myself or Jaryn. The chimney would direct all rock-fall out its bottom, so we found a protective ledge where Jaryn could safely belay.

It was time to get down to business so I organized the gear on my harness—everything from a 5-inch cam to 1/8-inch chocks. I had enough gear to climb a much harder route, but I’d rather be conservative in such a remote venue. I took a few deep breaths and climbed up the grassy slope to the bottom of the chimney. The trap rock was broken with a few loose pieces. I knew I’d find a good gear placement in the wall after 15 feet.

I arrived at a slab of trap rock with spots of lichen and a huge crack on its left. The piece overhung slightly as I expected from watching water cascade over it two weeks earlier. A variety of solid hand-holds boosted my confidence as I stemmed upward, one foot on the left wall of the chimney and the other on the right. I pulled up and found a good foothold. After repeating the process several times, I was on top of the block and placed a solid cam to protect myself before resting to take in the scenery. I was positioned roughly 20 feet into the cliff. A sliver of Haystack was framed on the left and right by rugged anorthositic walls. I felt strangely secure. The southerly wind created an updraft in the chimney which kept the blackflies at bay, but blew the chalk into my face when I reached in the bag.

The crux where Adam reached in 2014 was roughly 1/3 of the way up and about 10 feet above my stance. I spotted a couple chocks and a spectre ice piton in the wall—the anchor from which I’d lowered him. Maybe this would become a historical artifact in a few decades if we didn’t remove it! He’d spent nearly two hours in this area grappling with the crux. Memories of watching him climb up then back down precariously thin ice on the vertical wall came to mind.

The next large block also overhung slightly, but flakes in the adjacent anorthosite were excellent for face climbing. Thus I was able to ascend above a small roof to another rest in a squeeze chimney. It gave me a chance to take a few photos though dislodging myself was a chore. I couldn’t have fallen out had I tried. I wriggled up to a more comfortable stance inch by precious inch. There were more challenges above, but nothing looked as difficult as what I’d just climbed.


A RAT in the chimney or as Nolan Huther captioned "Giant Climbs the Trap Dike"

The next section looked like it was plugged with jagged unattached boulders, but I soon realized that this was a trick of perspective. They were firmly locked in place. A small terrace gave me a chance to study the surrounding walls which looked as appealing as continuing up the chimney. A plumb crack ran up the left-hand side. Other cracks and features adorned the right. Each was a potential new route variation. However, I wanted to ascend the pure line of the dike.

Climbing higher also brought the diagonal chock-stone into perspective. It was 12-15 feet long, split across the bottom and tightly lodged in the chimney. It looked like an open door to a tomb. I’d been curious about the stone for years—what would it look like and how would I get around it? Another short climb placed me at the base of the monolith where I found two choices that led up to the forest: ascend the left corner up piled basalt or climb up a vertical crack in the right corner. I chose the right.

It was an exhilarating exit that necessitated using the edge of the chock-stone to apply pressure with my left foot. Twenty feet higher I topped out, built an anchor from a spruce and gave a hoot as a three-year dream materialized. As I previously stated, for all things, there is a season. The route was 165 feet long.I tossed names around in my mind as Jaryn began to climb. I lean toward naming routes with a Christian theme, but also wanted to note the uniqueness of the feature. “Marcy’s Great Chimney (aka Empty Tomb)” seemed appropriate.

What had taken me almost two hours to climb while placing 14 pieces of gear took him about 30 minutes to follow. He recorded his climb using a selfie-pack equipped with a go-pro camera. I made a few quips about the setup, but it worked well in the end. We sat atop the new route and enjoyed the satisfaction that comes executing a plan without mishap.

The dike didn’t look impressive from the top down, but it was a stiff diverse climb that employed an arsenal of techniques—stemming, lay-backing, face-climbing, hand and finger jamming etc. I even used a knee bar to rest. As for the views—they were spectacular from our cliff-top perch. We could scan the entire western flank of Haystack and the largest of Marcy’s northern climbing walls, the Huge Scoop and Agharta Wall.


The Chockstone-Door of the Tomb



An Awesome View!




Top of the Chimney & Chockstone

All Ryled Up
The day was young. It was only noon. Jaryn wanted to lead a route in Panther Gorge so I suggested that we rappel back into the dike so he could lead the aforementioned crack on the left-hand wall. He rappelled first and set up an anchor on the terrace below the chock-stone. I would belay him from there.

Once on belay, Jaryn stepped confidently into the crack and began to climb. It was an appealing hand-crack to its top. He placed cams every body length until reaching two obviously loose blocks at the top. He then stepped left and face-climbed up to the trees. I followed and measured the route at 40 feet long—a nice exit variation. He named his first Panther Gorge lead “All Ryled Up” which we rated at 5.7 YDS.

We had climbed on a single 70 meter rope which means we could rappel half that length. Double ropes would have made it easy to rappel from trees at the top of the chimney to its base, but not a single rope. Thus we bushwhacked 50 feet south to the corner of the Chimney Wall (the cliff has a southern and northeastern face) where I hoped to find a shorter drop. Nearly an hour later, I realized that there was no easy way off of the corner. I eventually located a stout tree above a large grassy terrace 100 feet below and set up the rappel. We descended past a small free-standing pillar and down an overhanging wall. Two rappels later at 2:30 PM we were back at our packs.

We discussed climbing another route, but there was a weather change in the forecast and the clouds were coalescing to the south. Instead, we bushwhacked back to camp and cooked a hearty meal. We felt the first drops of rain at 8:00 PM and endured a steady rain until noon the following day. We exited in a blowing fog at 3:30 PM. The weekend had been cut short, but this mattered not. We’d accomplished our mission, explored new terrain and created memories that would last a lifetime.


Jaryn leads All Ryled Up

Additional Trips to Panther Gorge

1. Grand Central Slide (w/Mark Lowell)
2. Grand Central Slide Descent, up the Margin Slide & Skylight Bushwhack (w/Greg Kadlecik)
3. Marcy to Haystack Bushwhack with Great Range Traverse-Great DeRanged Traverse(w/Greg Kadlecik)
4. Marcy East Face Circumnavigation (w/Ranger Scott van Laer)-2013 Aug 24
5. Marcy (East Face) Ranger on the Rock-East Face Slab (w/Anthony Seidita)-2013 Sep 6
6. Haystack Slides and Haycrack Route-Day 3 of 4 days in the gorge (w/Anthony Seidita)-2014 May 1
7. Haystack (V Wall) All Things Holy (w/Adam Crofoot)-2014 Jul 12
8. Marcy (Agharta Wall) & Haystack (Free-Standing Pillar) Wreck of the Lichen Fitzgerald & For Whom the Lichen Tolls (w/Adam Crofoot)-2014 Aug 16
9. Marcy (Agharta Wall) CrazyDog’s Halo & Watery Grave (w/Adam Crofoot)-2014 Sep 27
10. A Snowy Panther Gorge Bushwhack (w/Adam Crofoot)-2014 Dec
11. Marcy: A New Ice Route – Pi Day (w/Adam Crofoot & Anthony Seidita)-2015 Mar 14
12. Haystack: 3 New Routes in a New Area (the Ramp Wall) (w/Allison Rooney and Adam Crofoot)-2015 May 30
13. Marcy (Panther Den) Cat on a Wet Tin Roof (w/Bill Schneider)-2015 Jun 14
14. Rumours of War: Opening a New Area—the Huge Scoop (w/Hunter Lombardi)-2015 Jul 11
15. Marcy (Feline Wall) Kitten's Got Claws (w/Justin Thalheimer)-2015 Aug 1
16. Not Every Trip to the Gorge is Perfect –No Route, but a Good Day (w/Bill Schneider)-2015 Aug 16
17. Marcy (Huge Scoop) The Pride (w/Bill Schneider and Adam Crofoot)-2015 Aug 30
18. Marcy (Feline Wall) Promised Land (w/Dan Plumley)-2015 Sept 19
19. Tour de Gorge (w/Adam Crofoot & Allison Rooney)-2015 Nov 21
20. Marcy (Panther Den) Ice Route: By Tooth and Claw (WI4) (w/Bill Schneider & Devin Farkas)-2016 Jan 30
21. Haystack Ice Climbs-Orson's Tower (WI3+) and Fly By (WI3) (w/Nolan Huther)-2016 March 5
22. Marcy (Agharta & Panther Den Walls)-Pioneer Anomaly & Belshazzar's Fate (w/Adam Crofoot and Alan Wechsler)-2016 May 28
23. Marcy (Huge Scoop)-Predatory Instincts (w/Bill Schneider & Nolan Huther)-2016 June 4
24. Marcy (Feline Wall)-Galaxy of Tears (w/Dustin Ulrich)-2016 June 17
25. Marcy (Panther Den)-One for the Boys (w/Bill Schneider, Adam Crofoot & Allison Rooney) 2016 June 25
26. Marcy (Agharta Wall)-Tail of Redemption (w/Bill Schneider & John Pikus) 2016 July 30
27. Marcy (Panther Den Wall)-Climb After Slime & You Moss Be Kidding Me! (w/Alan Wechsler) 2016 August 6
28. Marcy (East Face)-Revelations (w/Nolan Huther & Loren Swears) 2016 August 27
29. Haystack (V Wall)-Psalm 23 & Windjammer (w/John Pikus & Jaryn DeShane) 2016 September 17.
30. Haystack (North End)-Kitty Cake (WI2) & 2nd ascent of By Tooth and Claw (Marcy) (w/Doug Ferguson & Walker Wolf Bockley) 2017 January 14.
31. Marcy (Feline Wall)-Chimaera (WI3-) (w/Matt Dobbs & Jace Mullen) 2017 February 18.
32. Haystack (North End)-Ride the Lightning (WI5-) & Skip the Lightning (WI3-) (w/Alan Wechsler) 2017 March 10.
33. Marcy (Chimney Wall)-Slacker Cracker (5.9) (w/Adam Crofoot & Jaryn DeShane) 2017 June 3.