Rock Climbing Lake George, West Side and Prospect Mountain Choss

James M. Pavoldi, May 2020

There is some great climbing and bouldering opportunity that is unfortunately dangerously close to some loose rock. Road cut climbing is a particularly dangerous form of fuckery and climbing diversion as the rock has been dynamited and there are other geologic responses that can occur that don't always make for safe or quality climbing.

If you are remotely unsure about your abilities to judge rock quality from the bottom up, avoid this type of thing completely. Take basic precautions and belay from a safe distance (never directly under).

I would also note that this area is closed to cars for most of the year and may not be wise or even legal to do during tourist season. Use common sense.

"Oy Vey Cuomo Choss" 5.2

LOOSE ROCK, AVOID

There are 3 blocks that should give way to nature's ice crow-bar soon. Until these blocks fall, avoid this mess as they are just barely balanced there... I did this as a top-rope solo and was able to stand on them hoping they would give way but chose not to trundle them.

"Covid Plumpy" 5.3

This was actually a pleasant surprise and ran a number of laps with a lot of opportunity to exclude features and increase the challenge.

Anchoring from most sturdy trees are a a good haul from the edge and I chose not to disturb the mosses and lichen looking for clean opportunity or piton placements. I prefer not to bolt road-cut close to the edge especially if the underlying features and dangers are obfuscated.

LOCATION: HERE

43°25'16.3"N 73°43'58.7"W
43.421200, -73.732968

Rock Climbing and Bouldering Near Saratoga Springs, NY (New) Lake George Region

One positive impact of the Corona Virus on Upstate New York rock climbing has been the fact driving around is still a legal past-time and the leafless trees do afford the ability to scout new areas and boulder problems / climbing routes.

While scouting around and taking pics of distance possibilities I decided to take a break and took two toddlers and the wife on bikes up the steep  Prospect Mountain / Veterans Memorial Highway in Lake George, NY.

 I parked at a cemetery near the closed-for-the-season highway by the work-access point. We still had to carry the bikes and trailers over a closed gate, but it was a short and steep ride (past the pond) to "The Narrows" vista parking lot.

This is a short drive from Saratoga Springs, NY, and there's an essentially unlimited amount of dynamited road-side choss to play on and top-rope / develop.

The summit has some rock, but the best actual boulder is in the Narrows' vista spot located at

Prospect Mountain Hwy

Lake Luzerne, NY 12846

43.421165, -73.732948

Lake George Bouldering, "Tango Block" at The Narrows Vista

We have been calling this the "Tango Block" and have applied a few names to the obvious sections for the sake of clarity when remembering from the couch.

The StreetView image is the Class 4 choss on the road-side, but the back side actually has potential for some easy and interesting moves. I am an old-school (early 90's) trad, rope solo and solo-aid climber so I don't really fixate on bouldering grades. I would go ahead and call these V0 or easier until there's a consensus.

"Redneck Riviera"

Redneck Riviera, Bouldering Prospect Mountain Lake George (Jim Pavoldi)

"I Like Kite"

I Like Kite, Bouldering Prospect Mountain Lake George (Jim Pavoldi)

"Hachi Machi"

Hachi Machi, Bouldering Lake George (Jim Pavoldi)

"Glyfada Girls"

Glyfada Girls, Bouldering Lake George (Jim Pavoldi)

"Whitey's on the Moon"

Whitey's On the Moom, Bouldering Lake George (Jim Pavoldi)

South of the Narrows Vista and Tango Block is a dynamited choss pile with a ton of top-rope opportunity.

The road is closed now and free to hump up by foot or bike. During the tourist season there is a fee for driving to the summit. 

Good luck out there, stay healthy!

Jim

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The Most Intense Free Solo Climbing Video by Alex Honnold

Honestly, I'm a bit disgusted with North Face for turning Alex Honnold into a TV show.  Muscles tear, joints pop, rock breaks. Everyone at the crags knows how the story ends and it won't have anything to do with skill.  This is a wildly impressive accomplishment and one you can ponder the next time you're on an NYC subway and see 500 'bros' wearing North Face fleeces. 

Nonetheless, SkySight did an amazing job capturing some of this footage.

Alex Honnold video - free solo of the 5.12 "El Sendero Luminoso" (1500-foot big wall) in Monterrey, Mexico.

Videographer Team includes Cedar Wright, Renan Ozturk, and SkySight RC.

SloMo Crux:



February, 2014. Alex is still alive. Spectacular additional footage:

Scariest Ice Climbing Fall - Last Minute Decision Saved His Life...

Fall and wildly close call for an ice climber on Kennedy's Gully in the Ouray Ice Park, Colorado:

Leave it to Brits to Refer to Ollie Daniel as a "Hillwalker" - Video interview with Ollie after 800 foot fall...

Who is the Rock Climbing "Monkey King" of India?

His name is Jyoti Raju, 27 (?) years old, from Karnataka.

Jyoti began climbing with thoughts of suicide but instead of jumping from a cliff, decided to climb it.

His skills and fearlessness persist to this day where he entertains crowds with his bouldering / free solo climbing exhibitions on walls of the tenth century Chitradurga Fort.



Are humans built to climb?

Greg Downey at NeuroAnthropology has some cool insights.

Jyothi is still climbing as he launches his acting carreer, and has made headlines as recently September 2013, when he scaled the clock tower at Moorusavir Math.