Luke Foley
Doug Martland
Genevieve Martland
Tim Peck
Mickey Spades
All in Climb
Tim, Scott, and I recently had a great day climbing on Whitehorse and Cathedral Ledge. We climbed two classic routes—Sliding Board on Whitehorse and Thin Air on Cathedral—in good time, then enjoyed some parking lot beers. While I loved the climbing, I’m pretty sure the post-climb Trilliums made Tim’s day.
Between multiple trips to the Gunks, days clipping bolts at Rumney, and many outings to crag at various cliffs in New Hampshire (Whitehorse, Longstack Precipice, Square Ledge, Echo Crag, and Artists Bluff), Greater Boston (Quincy Quarries, Rattlesnake Rocks, Hammond Pond, and Crow Hill), and Connecticut (Chatfield Hollow), I’ve been climbing a lot this season. Here’s some of the gear that keeps finding its way into my kit no matter the outing.
The last several weeks at Tuesday Night Climbing, I’ve gotten an earful about how “dirty” my climbing ropes are. Of course, the earfuls were well-deserved as my ropes were, to put it mildly, dirty. The key word there, though, is were, as earlier this week I decided to solve the problem. I washed the ropes. In case you’ve never done it, here’s how to wash a climbing rope in 7 easy steps.
Over the years, I have sporadically thought about that day with Ron, and I still marvel at the nonchalant way in which he climbed a problem that eludes me to this day. Because Ron seemed so familiar with Pawtcukaway, it has always surprised me that I never ran into him again—that is until I started going to a new climbing gym and saw the familiar beard, ponytail, and effortless style from across the bouldering cave.
Climbers looking to start climbing on their own outside often have two common questions: how do I build a top rope anchor and what equipment is required to set up a top rope? Although there are many ways to build an anchor for top roping, my preferred method is to use a static line to create a master point with two solid anchor points. Here’s how to build one in four easy steps.
I’m not sure that I’ll ever be as into training for climbing as I was two years ago, but I have once again made the climbing gym part of my routine. And, after one trip to Rumney, I can say that I’m feeling reasonably strong and confident in my climbing. I even got the bug to climb hard; I took a few burns on a route that I always find difficult, and, after a few tries, I managed to clip the chains with a clean ascent.
On the skin up Moosilauke’s Carriage Road a few weeks ago, one of our friends was asking about routes in the 5.5-5.6 range in the Greater Boston area that he could lead in preparation for his upcoming AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Assessment. Here’s Part 1 of the list we put together for him, with a little beta for each route.
