“One Dream. Two Dirtbags. 9000ft of Climbing.”
When you think of major objectives in climbing your mind usually goes vertically but if you want to navigate the world’s longest rock wall you have to think horizontal. Tag along with this pair of dirtbag climbers as the travel from Boulder, Colorado to New Paltz in upstate New York to tackle the 9,000 foot traverse of The Gunks. You’re never more than 60 feet off the ground but this route just goes on and on:
“Have you ever pondered what the longest climbing route in the world is? You may have guessed that it was the great Mt. Thor on Baffin Island, Canada (4,101ft), or perhaps even the Azeem ridge on the Trango Towers, Pakistan (7,400ft), both impressively large in size, but even these are dwarfed in comparison to the unlikely record holder. Nestled amongst the lush hillsides of upstate New York sits a bluff of quartzite rock known as the Gunks. Regarded as the birthplace of American climbing, its short yet mighty wall stretches more than 9000ft… horizontally. Established by Dan Rosanstein and Ken Nichols in 1987, the Great Wall of China route is a masterpiece of esoterica which traverses the entire wall, its greatest crux may be jug rash, bugs, and dog walkers.”
Cheers to Drew Herder and Ben Wilbur who traversed almost 2 miles in a single 36-hour session in what was potentially the longest continuous climbing route ever climbed. Hell yeah.
