You know winter is coming to an end when the state Department of Environmental Conservation closes rock-climbing cliffs where peregrine falcons are known to breed.
Peregrines are on the state’s endangered-species list, and so each spring DEC closes cliffs to protect their nesting sites. Cliffs will be reopened if no nesting occurs on them. Those cliffs used for nesting will be reopened in the summer after the chicks fledge.
Click here to read about the cliff-closure policy. Click here for updates on cliff closures.
This week, DEC announced that effective April 1, the following rock-climbing routes will be closed:
Moss Cliff
All routes closed.
Chapel Pond Area
All routes on Upper and Lower Washbowl Cliffs closed.
Shelving Rock
All routes closed.
Poke-o-Moonshine Mountain
All routes on the Main Face are closed except the following routes described on pages 39-45 of the book Adirondack Rock: A Rock Climber’s Guide:
- Opposition
- Goat’s Foot on Rock
- High and Dry
- Bushmaster
- Big Buddha
- Bushido
- Bodacious
- Pearly Gates
- Kaibob
- Battle Creek
- Static Cling
- Certified Raw
- Air Male
- Son of a Mother
- Phase III
- Bastard
- Ladder
- Puppies on Edge
- Hang ‘Em High
- Group Therapy
- Adonis
- Pandemonium
- Discord
- A Womb with a View
