Winterfest FAQ and List of Clinics

Yes. Tickets for those with valid GV memberships are $42.

Nope – but you do have to purchase a General Admission ticket. Each ticket includes access to two clinics (but you have to register).

Yes – all General Admission tickets are limited to two clinics. If you register for more than two clinics we will assign you to two based on availability.

Yes! Tickets available for $25 (plus eventbrite fees). When you buy your tickets, you have the choice of getting a general admission ticket that includes the clinics, or just the evening social.

Yes but you will need to come back in and add their clinics to your cart and check out again.

We want everyone to get a chance to get into the clinics they want, so we are limiting registrations to 1 per clinic when you get your tickets. If your partner(s) want to take the same clinic as you, best that they purchase their own tickets.

If the event does not sell out tickets will be available at the door. But purchase in advance to secure your clinic spots!

Yes! Fully ♿️Accessible event. Entrance, parking, bathrooms, and climbing-area are accessible.

Yes! But you must register at noon with our check-in staff.

Bring whatever you would normally have with your for climbing – your clinic instructor will reach out with specific requirements. Your credit card – we will be selling GCC T-shirts, stickers and GCC/Access Fund memberships. Don’t forget snacks – and anything you want to unload for the gear swap!

If you’d like to bring your own plate and cup for the pizza party, it will help put less trash in the landfills. You can also bring something non-alcoholic to drink, or sports drinks can be purchased at the gym. For the slideshow, you may want a low chair if you need back support.

It’s a longstanding Gunks tradition, formerly held at the Film Festivals of yore. It’s a chance to trade/sell some of your climbing/outdoor gear with fellow-minded climbers. Anything within reason goes!

Hans is a legendary Yosemite climber and held multiple speed records climbing the Nose on El Capitan. Learn more about him here.

No, the gym closes to climbing at 8pm, and the rest of the evening is the social.

Please use this GCC form for any questions about the festival and ticketing. If you have a question related to climbing in the gym, the Gravity Vault’s phone number is (845) 462-1920.

You’ve heard it said that the summit is only halfway, and not to celebrate until you’re back to the car. Many accidents happen on the way down, and Alan from Rise Outside will be on hand to teach top-to-bottom strategy for safely descending.

Starting with orientation to the cliff and how to determine your way down before you go up, then moving into various ways to get back to the base after your climbing adventure.

Join Simon from Alpine Endeavors for this 1-hr primer on longer routes.

Tips and tricks to make your multi-pitch climbs more efficient. Covered topics include: rope stacking, stance management, communication, and transitions.

One of the most fundamental assets to climbing has neither to do with gear nor with muscle; it has to do with your body and how your body moves! The aim of this clinic is to introduce basic climbing movements, with emphasis on movement practices and skills that transition to outdoor climbing.

With Rise Outside’s Miguel Marshall.

Learn some of the best Trad Tricks from the Bank Manager himself!

It’s not just your cams and nuts that will keep you safe out there – spend some time with Rich Romano to learn about how movement skills can translate to safety.

Rich’s legendary ground-up first ascents have required an arsenal of unique physical techniques, rooted in his creative training methods. During his clinic he will demonstrate hands-on (and feet-on) training for downclimbing back to safety, and offer endurance training tips to help you hang on just a little bit longer to set that gear perfectly.

With so much on the line on the way down, safe practices to avoid tragedy are critical.

Join the highly-acclaimed duo Anyssa Lucena and Jobi Gabrielli from Genuine Climbing for this focused clinic on safely descending.

Learn how to set up a rappel, Rappelling best practices and Other options for lowering/descending.

Please note this is a women-only clinic.

Join Dr. Richard Goldstone for a reprise of his sold-out acclaimed clinic at the 2022 Gunks Fest.

We’ll talk about personal gear, belaying, choss management, cleaning gear, belay transitions, rappelling, getting yourself out of jams, expedition mentality, and maybe just a touch about evaluating potential leaders.

Required gear: Minimally, no gear required. Maximally, whatever you now bring as a second, but including a nut tool, two prusiks, a shoulder-length sling, and a few lockers.

Prerequisites: The intended audience for this clinic is climbers who are transitioning from gym or sport climbing to multipitch trad climbing and who want to know more about the skills involved in competent trad seconding.

Join EMS’ Patty Lankhorst for this advanced self-rescue course for leaders, geared specifically towards women leaders.

Here we will cover techniques that include escaping the belay, 3:1 hauling, and adding mechanical advantage to a 3:1 – all using the tools you’d normally have on your harness.

Alexis Krauss from Rise Outside will be offering 2 hours of ropework mastery focused on knots and hitches.

Covered bends will include but knot (see what we did there) be limited to: figure-8, figure-8 on a bight, clove and munter hitches, 1-handed knots, and anchor knots.

If you or a partner haven’t yet dropped a belay device while on a long route beware – it will happen.

Being prepared for this eventuality could turn out to be critical – and EMS guide Eric Waldron will be walking attendees through a 2-hr problem-solving clinic, including how to improvise belays/rappels with what you already have on your harness.

Mohonk Preserve Deputy Chief Ranger Dan Cassidy will talk over the MP’s strategy for their bespoke Preventative Search and Rescue program. Come learn about how you can help the rangers in their efforts to prevent climbing accidents.

Mini workshop about some basics of injury prevention, finger strength measurement with Tindeq, Velocity-based training basic concept, and velocity testing with Vitruve.

With Yueran Zeng

Learn some of the best Trad Tricks from the Bank Manager himself!

It’s not just your cams and nuts that will keep you safe out there – spend some time with Rich Romano to learn about how movement skills can translate to safety.

Rich’s legendary ground-up first ascents have required an arsenal of unique physical techniques, rooted in his creative training methods. During his clinic he will demonstrate hands-on (and feet-on) training for downclimbing back to safety, and offer endurance training tips to help you hang on just a little bit longer to set that gear perfectly.

Anchors (Sport/TR/Belay). On water, an anchor secures a boat to a certain position or place. In climbing, you are the boat, and an anchor is similarly used to secure you and other members of a climbing party in different ways. This clinic will review those different ways, with focus on introducing common, reliable anchor systems (e.g., quad, overhand, fig. 8). The teaching and learning approach will while providing support with the SERENE acronym. Participants will have the opportunity to practice anchor building, ask questions, and learn basic top rope anchors.

With Rise Outside’s Miguel Marshall.

With so much on the line on the way down, safe practices to avoid tragedy are critical.

Join the highly-acclaimed duo Anyssa Lucena and Jobi Gabrielli from Genuine Climbing for this focused clinic on safely descending.

Learn how to set up a rappel, Rappelling best practices and Other options for lowering/descending.

Please note this is a women-only clinic.

Learn anchor skills from a true master.
If anyone knows anchor efficiency it’s Hans Florine. Holder of innumerable speed records, Hans has long been a leader in his field – and also happens to be our guest keynote for the night.

In this very special guest clinic Hans will be teaching anchor skills and geared towards all skill levels.

Ask a gunkie to climb a 5.10 handcrack and they’ll turn it into a 5.12+ face climb.

Join GCC board member and crack technician Chris Vultaggio for a 2hr session on crack climbing.

We’ll start with making tape gloves, so come armed with a roll of 2″ climbing tape, then we will get wrist-deep into technique with the gym cracks.

This clinic will focus mostly on hand crack, but will we wander over to the offwidth crack to work some stacking techniques.

Top-managed belay systems can introduce another level of accident potential, and a number of fatalities have been reported because of improper practice.

Join Alan from Rise Outside guides for an introduction to a few belay devices and how to use them to top belay, including the grigri, ATC guide, and munter hitch.

Includes how to raise and lower your second with each device.

With Dr. Richard Goldstone

This clinic aims to discuss all aspects of cams. There’s a touch of history, a smidgen of theory, a review of failure modes, and some practical guidelines for placements. Richard will try to illuminate how not to do things as well as how to do them.

You’re out climbing and witness an accident – now what?

Learn how to be arguably the most important part of the emergency response system as the first responder on scene.

From techniques to stabilize a patient to the order of operations (call 911, CPR, clear the trail, etc.) you can help strengthen the climbing community with this important toolkit of knowledge.

With Alexis Krauss from Rise Outside.
Anchor building skills for single and multi-pitch environments. Anchor cleaning skills and transitions.

Join EMS’ Patty Lankhorst for this advanced self-rescue course for when you need to self-rescue while climbing, geared specifically towards women leaders.

Patty will demonstrate and work hands-on to train rope-ascension using varied friction hitches, as well as methods to get yourself out of trouble while on the sharp end.

Join Eric Waldron from EMS for this advanced self-rescue class focused on multipitch climbing.

Skills covered will be in the SPI guide track, including ascending to a stuck climber and getting back to the belay.

While the most obvious experience of climbing involves going UP, inevitably, climbers must come DOWN. This clinic will introduce rappelling and review considerations when making a descent at the end of a route or climbing day. Although bail situations may be discussed, the emphasis on this clinic will be on getting down safely. Participants will also have the opportunity to co-review AAC incidents resulting in injury or death and discuss practices to support a safe descent.

With Rise Outside’s Miguel Marshall.

With so much on the line on the way down, safe practices to avoid tragedy are critical.

Join the highly-acclaimed duo Anyssa Lucena and Jobi Gabrielli from Genuine Climbing for this focused clinic on safely descending.

Learn how to set up a rappel, Rappelling best practices and Other options for lowering/descending.

Please note this is a women-only clinic.