Climbing in NY

I spent a whole summer camped out in zoar valley in 1970. I climbed a lot of trees there long before I knew anything about safe techniques. I also did an emergency rescue of a nut who tried to climb those shale cliffs and got stuck at an ant colony 50' from the top. It's an hour from where I live now in Buffalo. Let me know when you want to go.
Dave

Reuben-

I'm in Hastings-on-Hudson. I'm inexperienced and have no gear though I've done some climbing. Any chance I could join you some time? Drop me an email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

-Adam O.

(reuben ).
i live in fairfield county never ben climbing with other's i have ben talking to Adam O. who is in the area my be we all can get together for a climb????

Yes! Let's get together for a climb! When and who? Count me in for just about any weekend.

-Adam O.

I'm just getting back into TCI after a layoff. I have lots of gear and lots of time. Let me know if you want to get together.
Climb Safe Dan

Ok, I'm free pretty much any weekend. As usual, my email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To reiterate, I'm without gear and with little experience and looking for more. There are some nice trees here in Hastings-On-Hudson, NY: a few nice and tall (by my standards) tuliptrees, as well as a few decent red oaks that I've scouted out in Hillside Woods. I also know that Graff Bird Sanctuary in Croton-On-Hudson is home to some towering (again, by my standards) Tuliptrees and hefty Norway Maples. Dunno of these spots are near the rest of you guys, but if so, perhaps we could do a rendez-vous?

-Adam O.

them trees sound great i dont mind travel, i am on vacation till april 2 so i have a lot of time.

i work tuesday thru Saturday so if you guy plan any thing on sunday or monday i would love to meet up for a climb just let me know
where and when
dean marchison
p.s. monday look nice

Dan and others,

I'm wriitng for a group of us who yesterday did our very first recreational tree-climbing, in a class taught by arborists at the New York Botanical Garden. We were very enthusiastic about our introduction to tree-climbing, and want more. Most of us do not yet have gear, and I think at this stage most of us would prefer climbing not too far from NYC (up as far as Harriman or out into New Jersey or not too far out Long Island, all are probably good). We were hoping to find an already-existing and more experienced than us group of climbers in the area ... hope this thread may be the signs such a group has started to happen.

Anyway, I'd love to hear about any climbing possibilities &/or arrange a time and place to climb. I have email addresses for interested participants in yesterday's class, and will be glad to let them know if there's some climbing we might join in on.

Thanks,

Judy

Judy,

I am always eager to get together with climbers in NY. I have enough gear for 4 people and lots of time. Let me know where and when we can get some climbers together.
Climb safe

Dan

I smell the beginnings of a Greater New York Area climbing group. How exciting! I have some suggestions as to locations for a get-together: Hillside Park and Draper Park (in my hometown of Hastings), Graff Sanctuary (in Croton), and Lenoir Sanctuary (in Yonkers). As far as I know, Harriman is not a great place for tree climbing as most of the trees there (primarily white and chestnut oaks) grow in shallow rocky soil and don't get very tall. Anyone know of good trees on the west side of the Hudson (just above the Palisades)? I've been meaning to explore there.

Let's hear some more suggested locations.

Choosing a location might also be easier if we all knew where everybody is located. I'm in Hastings-on-Hudson in southern Westchester County. Where are you guys?

As for dates, I'm good to go on any weekend (including Friday). We should coordinate that as well.

Further idea: Moss made that great website for his Boston Area Rec Climber's group and it gives them a convenient webspace to schedule, etc. Anyone know how to do that? I'd get it started, but I'm not sure how. Perhaps I'll consult with Mossy.

Looking forward to climbing with you all!!
Adam O.

I live in Ct right on the border of Ny in Fairfield county me and my buddy are always looking for a fun climb i am only available after 2 on Saturday and sunday so just let me know when and where.



spiritsk8

Dan, Adam, spiritsk8,

Good to hear you're all willing to climb with newcomers to this activity. Will email my list of people this weekend to let them all know about you and about this forum. Will ask about days people are available, where people are, and any suggestions re climbing places. Then next weekend I'll post here again to share with you any responses I've had by then. Maybe some of the folks I email will post here too.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping one or all of you will have some ideas about where to climb -- maybe trees that wouldn't be too difficult for beginners but that would still be enjoyable for you who've already done some climbing?

As for possible times, because our class was on a Saturday, I'm thinking Saturdays would be a good day for most people?

Also, I'd love to see a NY Area climbers group happen ... and think the idea of a website for NY climbers is great to look forward to (I too have no idea how to do it -- am not a computer person). For the time being this forum we're all using can serve some of the same functions very nicely.

BTW, I understand that these recreational tree-climbing classes are taught periodically at the NY Botanical Garden ... so I'm imagining that future groups could be a good source of more new climbers.

Thank you all for your answers to my post. Looking forward to climbing trees with you.

Judy

Dan, Adam, spiritsk8,

Sorry, folks. To my surprise, nobody else in the group I emailed last weekend is ready to go ahead with more climbing at this time. And after spending a good bit of this hot weekend outdoors, I myself am, at this moment, tired and cranky rather than enthusiastic.

However, surely it will cool down. And I do want to try climbing again. I don't yet have a suggested place. Am on Staten Island, willing to travel up to an hour and a half, available on some Saturdays -- though I don't have a free one till July. (Or is it better to wait till a cooler season? Do you usually climb in July and August?)

What do you all think?

Judy

Judy, Dan, Spiritsk8-

This weekend has been a steamer hasn't it. I too spent it outdoors and am currently enjoying the cooler indoors. Too bad about those other folks, perhaps they'll change their minds later on when the weather cools down.

As for climbing sites, I know of a few good ones near me (I'm Hasting-On-Hudson in southern Westchester, about 20 minutes up the river from Manhattan). There's Graft Sanctuary in Croton which is dominated by some very large (by my standards) tuliptrees and Norway maples. Some of those tulips are so huge that I don't really know how I'd get a line into 'em without some kind of slingshot or bigshot type thing, so if anyone's got something like that, we should check out Graft. Then there's Lenoir Preserve in Yonkers, also with lots of tuliptrees, but of a more manageable height. There are some pretty beeches and oaks there as well. Then there's Hillside Park, in my own hometown, where I've found a good number of tuliptrees, red and white oaks, and some interesting beeches that I don't think would be too hard to get a line into but would make nice climbs for beginners like us.

Beyond that, I know that Inwood Hill Park in upper Manhattan has some of the most impressive trees I've seen (it's the only primeval forest left in the Five Boroughs) but I don't think climbing them is allowed. I'll bet there are lots of good places throughout Brooklyn and Queens as well, but I don't know of any off hand.

How about in Staten Island? I've heard of the Clove Pond Colossus, but I doubt that we'd be allowed to climb it (and I'm not sure we should even if we can).

I, too, and free on weekends and if people want to, I'd be excited to try something this coming weekend. However, I must add that I have no gear. I have been planning on buying a rope and saddle for some time but I do not have the money at this point for a climbing kit. I will most likely have gear by the end of the summer if things work out as planned.

-Adam Ovadia