Category Archives: Climbing

Daytrippin’: Flume Slide and College Rock

Two weeks ago a group of us headed up to my friend Alex’s place in Lincoln for a NH brewfest followed by a trek up the Flume Slide trail which summits Mt. Liberty. It was every bit as steep as I remember, with the slide itself being about as steep as you would want to hike without some grippy climbing shoes.

It was a beautiful day and we managed to avoid a band of storms that swept across the more northern part of the Fraconia ridge.

The view from liberty to Cannon.

Group photo

Last weekend Sweeney and I revisited College Rock, about a year after Sukes and I first checked it out.

The left side of the college rock wall.

There was only one other pair of climbers there, probably because of 90 degree weather with 100% humidity. Still, it was tolerable under the canopy and we set on a 5.7-5.8 with a few variants. I think it was Send Money/More Money.

The More Money face, with rope set up. More TRs require 30-40ft of webbing.

Sweeney prepping for the climb, with the right side of the wall behind.

The climb was a little crimpy, but fun, and we both tried it a few times. However, as we were resetting the top-rope, a band of storms rolled through, so we decided to boulder for a bit instead. The right side of the wall is lower and flatter, which allows for some fairly safe bouldering despite the fact that I don’t have a pad.

Bouldering action

More bouldering.

I’m hoping to focus more on climbing over the next couple of weeks. I’d really like to do some more sport or trad in the near future.

Return To Rock

The recent warm weather has really made me want to start climbing again, and this past weekend we did just that. I headed down to Quincy Quarries with my friend Matt and my sister. Although Sweeney and some friends had driven north to get some late season skiing in, it seemed like everyone else was descending on the Quarries in droves.

It was packed on Saturday, but we managed to set on a route that looked easy enough on the right side of the M Wall. It was probably 5.5, with a scramble start over a chunky block covered in white paint. I used 2 small nuts and webbing around an iron loop in the rock for the anchor. I let Matt and my sister climb it first.

Matt making his way up.

Belaying.

My sister on her first ever route!

It was my sister’s first time ever climbing, and I was psyched she managed to top out the route. After resetting to another pitch, we tossed a frisbee around for awhile enjoying the sun.

Last looks at Fall climbing

Despite the pile of work fall classes are handing me, I managed to get down to the Quarries twice this weekend. The fall scenery was a breath of fresh air after spending nearly every waking hour last week indoors working.

I’m excited for the coming ski season, which has in some cases already begun. However, I hope there are a few more good climbing weekends like this one where it’s a sunny but cool 50 degrees.

The quarry has been busy lately, which lead me and my friends to seek out some new routes, but we managed to revisit a few good ones as well. With daylight savings over, darkness caught us in the quarry unexpectedly early.

Rumney and Rock Rimmon

Since my buddy Matt is back in NH for the time being, and I wanted to go climbing, I made the trip to pick him up and head off to spend the day on some rock.

First stop: Rock Rimmon in Manchester, NH.

Rock Rimmon

I did some quick research on climbing in southern NH and this looked promising, but when we got there it was a bit of a let down. We had a bit of trouble finding it, and eventually hiked in on some 4×4 trails to the top of the cliff. There were a few sets of bolts on a slabby face, but overall the rock looked a little bulbous and weird to me. There wasn’t really a shear face. Maybe the locals know something we didn’t, because I’ve heard there is some alright climbing there.

Either way, we decided to push on to what would definitely be good climbing–the Rumney crags.

Rumney

I’d only been to the cliffs once before, last fall, during a climbing trip that turned into a long day hike due to heavy rain the night before. Still, I knew how to get there and was sure we’d get some decent climbing in. Rumney is kind of the sport climbing mecca of northern NE, and has a few hundred routes.

We got there and had lunch by early afternoon. I had forgotten that my guidebook covered Rumney a bit, and so we walked somewhat blindly up to the routes on the Meadows. I picked something that looked fairly easy and led it. After I came down, we ran into some climbers, who kindly got out their guidebook and informed us the route was a 5.7, one of a few on this face.

The first route, a 5.7 face climb.

Like most routes at Rumney, it would've been very hard to use trad pro on this face, hence the bolting.

Given that Matt is still getting his bearings, he had a little trouble with the route, so I climbed it again and cleaned my gear, then rappelled down.

We decided to move on to the 5.8 crag, another wall down the street, in hopes of finding something easier. I led another route, with minor difficulties, though while I was leading it, I realized Matt wouldn’t have much luck trying it out. It was an easy scramble up to a tricky crux, with a straightforward finish. Really the crux was the only tough part. With this realization though, we decided I’d rappel and pull the gear.

We explored the cliffs a bit more, but then headed out. Overall it was a good day, though next time we’ll have to get on some routes both of us can climb. The second pitch I led ended up being a 5.8 just because of the crux.