Mud Pond

Located to the southeast of the rest of the climbing in the Silver Lake area, this cliff gets its name from the pond that lies nearby.

It has a mellow 25 minute approach.There are few moderates here, and every route that is at least two stars is 5.9 and up. Highly rated options in the 5.10 and 5.11 range are numerous, and it also boasts two of the hardest routes in the park thanks to the efforts of Peter Kamitses: Moonshine and Chronic (5.13+), and The Sword of Deception (5.13).Regarding "sun and bugs". This is one of the better cliffs to chase sun or shade. It curves around in an arc from roughly E/SE to W/SW (see satellite image above). In general, the R end will get early sun, and the left will see sun till much later. Even better, the cliff face takes many zigs and zags and the big corners and nooks will find earlier or later sun or shade depending on their aspect. On bugs-yes the black flies can be brutal here and the deer flies occasionally annoying. Just like any other ADK cliff in a non-treated area. Early to mid-May is usually the time to stay away depending on the hatch. The good thing is that the bugs "will tell you" that it is a good day to leave and go to Poke-O instead within a few minutes of leaving your rig... However, by mid June or so "pas de problem". If there is a bit of breeze summer is really good here. And April is great, before the trees leaf-makes locating stuff from a distance much easier too. Finally, a note on "sectors". The cliff can be roughly thought of as having 4 sections. The approach trail will lead you to a dramatic amphitheater with steep clean white/pink rock on it's left side and a left-angling full length dike rock chimney on the right margin. There are no trees growing near the base in this amphitheater. It is dominated by an old Beaman/Lazarnick route, Born To Run, up an impressive thin crack/flake on the left side. To the left of this area, the cliff goes into the woods and stretches several hundred feet with a typical backwoods feel. There is a good deer trail along the base, and a mix of low roofs guarding high corners with some slab faces mixed in. One recorded route here. Easy walk to top from this end. Heading right from Born To Run is a long section of cliff that zigs and zags, featuring corners, aretes, faces, and many cracks. The majority of routes at Mud Pond are in this "central" section, and currently are mainly in the 9 to 11 range. It has the best mix of crack climbing at the entire Silver Lake complex-several would be among the best of their grade at The Web. There is a good trail along the base, and it's a pleasant place to be-the woods are near, but not up hard against the cliff. Heading right from this central section, the cliff changes character, becoming (much) steeper with perfect pink rock streaked with black intrusions. This section is also anchored by another beautiful Beaman route-Gizmo, a handcrack through an intimidating bulge of perfect rock. The section is also home to some impressive and jaw dropping 13's by another Vermonter Peter Kamitses. Don't gawk to long at this section or you will strain your neck, it's that continuously steep. The cliff band ends a few hundred feet right of here, but not before passing a few clean and stiff looking sport routes in the 11 range, by Frank Minunn, etc. Somewhat trashy but easy to top from this end.