2025 Road Trip - June 25

Yesterday (June 24, 2025) we made the drive all the way from North Carolina up to Lake George, where we spent the night. This morning we made our way casually the rest of the way up to Poke-O-Moonshine wall. What an incredible spot! The weather held out for us - no rain today, and the temps were about 10 degrees cooler than the scorching heat wave that had taken hold until last night. Our objective was The Fastest Gun, a spectacular four-pitch "5.10a". Each pitch on this climb gave full value, from the off-width on P1, to the parallel cracks on P2, the slab on P3, and the challenging roof and corners on P4. I did not climb quickly.

The Fastest Gun (5.10a)

Pitch 1 - Wes's lead. A flake to an offwidth. The offwidth was small enough that I felt secure with my whole arm inside. There were footholds on the outer wall for my left foot which helped make upwards progress. This was followed by jams and laybacks.

Pitch 2 - My lead. Two parallel cracks led to a small roof and easier climbing. Thin fingers and hands.

Above the small roof on pitch 2

Pitch 3 - Wes's lead. A hard slab climb with a very tenuous move near the start protected by a bolt. I was able to do to the move by smearing my foot in the tiny corner below the bolt.

Pitch 4 - My lead. And incredibly strenuous move off the belay to clear a roof and move left. There just were no feet, and the smears felt slippery, too. But the hands were good. I ended up hanging on gear before conquering the move. This was followed by endless moves up a left-facing corner (hands and thin fingers), where I again was forced to pull on gear (black totem?) near the top - here there just weren't any hands at all, just tenuous friction for the feet. A traverse way out left under a large roof was followed by more corner climbing with thin fingers.

At the top we hiked left to the central rappel station and reached the ground in two long rappels (with a short 4th class downclimb).

Finally through the crux near the start of pitch 4 of The Fastest Gun