Guiding · Where we climb
Where we climb.
Rock and ice across Vermont, New Hampshire and the Adirondacks. We talk through your experience first, and that decides the route.
How to read the grades. Rock routes are graded from 5.0 upward. The higher the number, the harder the climb, so 5.5 is easier than 5.9, and 5.10a is harder still.
Ice is graded WI, for water ice, from WI2 upward. M marks mixed climbing on rock and ice together.
A pitch is one rope length. A multipitch route climbs several pitches in a row, one above the other.
Rock
Vermont
Bolton area
Good for any kind of instruction, entry-level days, and easy multipitch at Bolton Dome.
- Work Shoes 5.7, 3 pitches
- Crushdependence 5.8, 2 pitches
- Radical Sabbatical 5.7+, 4 pitches
Smugglers' Notch
Harder multipitch rock.
- The Diagonal 5.8, 2 pitches
- The Diagonal, right finish 5.9+, 2 more pitches
- The Diagonal, left finish 5.8+
- Quartz Crack 5.9
Black Mountain
Crack and trad climbing, near Norton in the Northeast Kingdom.
- Honeymoon Arete 5.7
- Dirty Dreams 5.8 (sport)
- Traffic Jam 5.9
- Black Dreams 5.8+
- Invisibilia 5.8+
Wheeler Mountain, Northeast Kingdom
- Moosehead Crack 5.7
- It's a Fine Line 5.8
- Hump or Die 5.9
- A Kind Gesture 5.10a
New Hampshire
Rumney
Sport climbing and multipitch.
- Clip a Dee Doo Dah 5.3, a good introduction to multipitch
- Crowd Pleaser 5.7, 2 pitches
- Many sport routes from 5.3 to 5.10
Cathedral Ledge
An introduction to trad and trad multipitch.
- Fun House to Upper Refuse 5.7, 5 pitches
- Thin Air 5.6, 4 pitches
- Toe Crack 5.7, 2 pitches
- Black Lung 5.8
The Eaglet, Franconia Notch
- West Chimney 5.7, 3 pitches
Echo Crag
Many 5.5 to 5.8 single-pitch trad climbs, good for learning to trad climb.
Mount Washington
Climbed in summer, or in early spring with a snow approach.
- Henderson Ridge 5.3, 4 pitches
- Northeast Ridge of the Pinnacle 5.7, 7 pitches
New York (Adirondacks)
Beer Walls
Instruction and single-pitch crag days.
- CWI 5.6
- Seven Ounces 5.7
- Labatt-Ami 5.8
- Rockaholic 5.8
Chapel Pond Slabs
Easy multipitch.
- Empress 5.5, 7 pitches
- Regular Route 5.5, 8 pitches
Trap Dike
Backcountry, alpine in character. Fourth class in summer.
Other areas
- Poke-O-Moonshine
- Barkeater
Ice
Vermont
Smugglers' Notch
A major ice area for every level, from beginners and school groups to multipitch, steep ice and mixed.
- Elephant's Head Gully WI3
- Jeff's Slide WI3-4
- Hidden Gully WI3-4
- ENT Gully WI2+
Bolton Quarry
A top-access ice venue: climbs are set up on a top rope from above, which makes it a good place to work on steep-ice technique. A few introductory bolted mixed climbs too.
Lake Willoughby
Hard multipitch ice, with some intro ice.
- The Tablets (Left, Right and Center) WI3-4
- Zephyr WI3-4
New Hampshire
Mount Washington
- Pinnacle Gully WI3, 3 pitches
- Damnation Buttress WI3- M3, 5 pitches
Crawford Notch
(Frankenstein Cliff, Mount Willard, Mount Webster, Arethusa Falls). All levels, including multipitch.
- Standard Route WI3+, 2 pitches
- Arethusa Falls WI3-4
- Main Flow WI3
- Cinema Gully WI2, 3 pitches
- The Cleft WI2+, 2 pitches
- Left Hand Monkey Wrench WI3
- Willard Slab WI3, 3 pitches
- East Face Slab WI3
- Upper Hitchcock Gully WI3
- Shoestring Gully WI2 M2, 6 pitches
- Many more in the WI3-4 range
New York (Adirondacks)
Trap Dike
Backcountry, alpine in character. WI2, 6 pitches, in winter.
Chapel Pond area
- Chouinard's Gully WI3, 2 pitches
- Roaring Brook Falls WI3+, 3 pitches
- Weeping Winds WI3+, 3 pitches
Other areas
- North Face of Pitchoff
