College Rock is a pleasant, 200-foot-long west-facing crag that rises up out of the ground at the north end, reaches a bit over 35 ft at it's highest, and then sinks back down into the ground at the south end, with top access easily achieved from either end. Most of the crag is between 25 and 30 feet high, broken up by by several right-facing corners/buttresses, and includes face climbing, crack work, and overhangs/roofs, with grades ranging from 5.0 to 5.11.
The grades are somewhat stiff (sandbagged by the oldtime FA artists perhaps? ;-) ), and many a first-time CR visitor has been shut down on climbs that grade-wise, they had expected to cruise. Climbing at College Rock can be characterised as being technical and sequency, with a lot of satisfaction to be had overcoming the many tricky moves.
The College Rock girdle traverse follows the entire 200 feet of the crag, without a break, the difficulty ranging from easy, juggy hauling, to difficult crimpy desperation. some nice easy warmup semi-highballing (10-15 feet, 5.4-5.6) is avaialble at the south end. Several of the routes are leadable, though the crag is pretty much a top-roping haven.
Anchors are either slung from trees, mostly rather far back from the cliff face, or built from gear. if you've got a choice, choose gear, as many of the pines are noticably worn and polished around the bark at the base from decades of slinging.
There is bouldering here, in various spots around the crag are at least 6 or 7 boulders with routes to V7.
College tends to stay a bit damp after rain, and after a heavy day or two of rain, will show noticable seepage and runoff from the various cracks. Also, on humid days the rock can become slick from condensation, since the rock tends to stay cool in it's woodsy locale.
It lies about 45 minutes WSW of Boston. The Boston Marathon start nearby in Hopkinton center, about 3.5 miles away on rte 135.
College Rock is located at the head of a popular mountain biking trail system, and the parking lot can easily fill right up on nice weekend days.
Getting There
College Rock is easily accessble, and only about 2.5 miles from exit 20 off of rte 495. from exit 20, take rte 85 north towards hopkinton. After crossing the hopkinton town line you'll crest a hill, and College street will be immediately on your right, accross the street from a red barn. Follow College street about.2 of a mile until you come to the dirt parking area on the right. there's room for about 6-8 cars, with other dirt pull-offs on College street nearby for when the lot is full.
From rte 135, come to hopkinton center, and take rte 85 south at the lights, going uphill. follow rte 85 thru the lights past Hopkinton middle school and High school, straith through the next flashing yellow, and after Cornell's Pub (ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice), look for College street on the left across from the red barn. Follow College st. as above.
Aerial View
From Robb, when you open the view or view, you'll see college street, with a big with house above the street, almost directly accross the street (below in the view) there's a big grove of pine trees in the woods (the picture was taken when the deciduous trees were leafless). College Rock is in that grove. you can just barely make out the MTB/hiking trail.
College Rock
Printer Friendly View
RSS Feed
