The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Phil Brown
Tom Rosecrans is one of the most prolific rock climbers in the Adirondacks. The authors of the guidebook Adirondack Rock credit him with taking part in the first ascents of 122 climbing routes. On most of those, he was the leader, assuming the lion’s share of the risk. One of his routes, TR at the…
By Phil Brown
DEC proposes trail improvements in Sentinel Range Wilderness.
By Phil Brown
Shanty Cliff in the southern Adirondacks offers rock climbers lots of routes and lots of views.
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Explorer's editor enjoys a day on a rock tower overlooking the Mediterranean.
By Phil Brown
Each year the American Alpine Club publishes a little book titled Accidents in North American Climbing, on the theory that reading about accidents is one way to avoid them. Usually, most of the reports are from out west or Alaska. Occasionally, an accident in the Adirondacks makes the book. This year, however, a full three…
By Phil Brown
Wallface is the biggest cliff in the Adirondacks and so naturally has attracted the attention of rock climbers from way back. The first recorded routes were put up by two of the country’s best climbers of the 1930s—John Case and Fritz Wiessner. The authors of Yankee Rock and Ice say Wiessner regarded Wallface as the…
By Phil Brown
Shipton’s Arete is one of my favorite places to take a novice rock climber. The three routes on the arête are all pretty easy. There’s a good anchor for a top rope. And the arête overlooks scenic Chapel Pond. The easiest route, Shipton’s Voyage, is rated only 5.4 on the Yosemite Decimal System scale of…
By Phil Brown
Jay Harrison lives at the base of Crane Mountain, but he probably spends more time on the mountain’s many cliffs than in his house. The guidebook Adirondack Rock devotes no less than seventy-three pages to the rock-climbing routes on Crane. This is thanks to Harrison, who has participated in about 350 first ascents in the…
By Mike Lynch
Why would a climber want to visit something called Moss Cliff? Though the name conjures up some dank, low-angled slab wrapped in a living green carpet, the reality is quite different. This best of Adirondack cliffs is not so mossy. In fact, it’s among the cleanest, driest, most appealing rock walls in the Northeast—in Don Mellor's opinion, the most Adirondack of all Adirondack crags.
By Phil Brown
Rock-climbing guide Will Roth was rappelling down a cliff near Chapel Pond with two clients this week when they saw a bear below—climbing toward them. The climbers yelled and clapped their hands, but the bear kept coming, its claws scratching the rock like fingernails on chalkboard. When the bear got within fifteen feet, Roth tossed…