General
The Gunks – Schwangunks in full – is a traditional climbing area outside New Paltz just south of the Catskill Mountains in New York State. The rock is the same hard quartz conglomerate sandstone found at Seneca Rocks except that it is horizontally bedded.. The vertical cracks of Seneca are horizontal at the Gunks. And there are lots of overhangs and roofs.
The Gunks is a world class climbing destination, with hundreds of with classic climbs of all grades from 5.3 to 5.13, with easy access.
It’s not exactly ‘local’ to Washington DC but it is very popular for weekend and holiday trips.
Access
The Gunks is around 300 miles or 5 1/2 hours driving from Washington DC via I-95. Alternative routes through Pennsylvania up I-81 are around 40 miles and an hour longer but substantially cheaper to drive – no tolls.
Most of the Gunks is part of the Mohonk Preserve, a land trust dedicated to preserving and protecting the northern Shawangunk Ridge. Climbers must purchase a day pass or an annual pass to climb at the Gunks. These can be obtained at the Visitor’s Center on Rt. 44/55 just below the cliffs, or from rangers at the West Trapps parking lot.
Climbing Considerations
The cliffs at the Gunks face south so are hot in the summer. Fall and spring are the best times to climb here. A full trad rack, from brass to large cams is useful, as are double ropes for the harder and more devious routes. Cams work well in the horizontal cracks.
There are a few protection bolts but no real sport routes, but lots of old fixed pitons – back these up. Many of the routes climb large overhangs where a fall could leave leader or follower in space so carrying prussiks is a good idea.
In recent years the Preserve has established bolted rappel routes to avoid clusters of slings on trees. Try to use these bolted stations.
Grades at the Gunks are regarded as tough; on a par with Seneca Rocks so beware the “+” grade…..
Guidebooks
Mountainproject has a large section on the Gunks, covering both the routes and anything else you would need to know.
There are numerous guidebooks available for the Gunks.
Gunks Climbing (2021) by Andy Salo, Christian Fracchia, and Eric Ratkowski is a full color guide covering the Trapps to the Slime Wall and the Near Trapps to the end of the Workout Wall. It features route descriptions and photographs produced in sync with the Gunks App, as well as extensive historical articles and orientation maps.
The most comprehensive print guide books to the Gunks are The Climber’s Guide to the Shawangunks: The Trapps and The Climber’s Guide to the Shawangunks: The Near Trapps and Millbrook; from Dick Williams, the former owner of Rock & Snow who put up many of the routes on these cliffs.
The Gunks App – both iPhone and Android versions are available – is a digital guide to most of the Trapps and Near Trapps, The app offers GPS navigation and high resolution cliff photographs.
A Rock Climber’s Guide to the Peter’s Kill Climbing Area by Mike Rawdon and Marty Molitorist describes the climbing at the nearby area of Peterskill. A digital version is available through the Gunks App.
Other
Rock & Snow, the local climbing shop, is at 44 Main St. in New Paltz, for all your gear and beta needs.
New Paltz is a university town and is very popular for weekend escapes from new York City which is ~ 70 miles south of New Paltz. . There are numerous restaurants and motels in New Paltz and the surrounding towns.
There is also camping at the The American Alpine Club Gunks Campground which is close to the cliffs. This is often fully booked during the summer.