Devils Den in New Durham, NH is composed of 4 main cliff areas ranging from 40-75 feet. The area also draws attention from many hikers. The area offers a variety of hiking trails as well as "The Devils Den Cave". The top of the crag provides great views of Lake Winnipesaukee and the surrounding mountains. There are signs of previous local climbers who have left anchors on old trad routes and a few mixed routes. The den saw the bulk of its development in 2008.
The Cave Wall was probably the first wall developed at The Den. It offers a few questionable trad routes.Up and [climbers]right of this wall is another 20+ foot wall which has some good easy routes and some bouldering opportunites. The Slab Wall is the most popular wall at The Den due to its height and moderate classic steep slab climbs. This wall also ices up in the winter and make for several nice ice climbs. The Land of Overhangs is characterized by its steep climbing with mixed roof systems. It offers wild and exciting moves on good rock. Between the Land of Overhangs and the Outback Wall are outcrops offering a variety of short climbs. The Outback Wall has numerous technical steep sport and mixed routes. This wall has excellent rock quality with a beautiful setting. This wall also holds many of the area classics.
I also want to thank all the locals who have put in a lot of time and effort to make The Den what it is today. You know who you are!
Getting There
To get to Devils Den from the South: From Route 16 north and take Exit 15 "Lake Winnipesaukee". Follow Route 11 northwest to the Alton Traffic Circle. Head straight through getting on Route 28 north. Take Drew Hill Road on the right just after the Alton Flats. Take a left onto Hayes Road. Turn right past a gate 100 feet after the pavement ends (marked by ATV signs). Follow this Class 6 road (cars can make it!) veering left at a fork, follow for 1.5 miles to a pullout on the right with 2 good sized cairns. Park and walk uphill on a logging road for 4 minutes. The road will lead you to the base of the slab wall and the cave wall will be to your right. (There are many pulloffs on the way in if you choose to walk. A bike is also a nice fast way to get there.)
From the North: Take Route 16 south to Ossipee. Turn right onto Route 28 south just before the stop light. Follow Route 28 through Wolfeboro. Turn left onto Drew Hill Road a couple miles after it turns back to highway. Take a left onto Hayes Road. Turn right past a gate 100 feet after the pavement ends.[marked by ATV signs] Follow this Class 6 road (cars can make it!) veering left at a fork, follow for 1.5 miles to a pullout on the right with 2 good sized cairns. Park and walk uphill on a logging road for 4 minutes. The road will lead you to the base of the slab wall and the cave wall will be to your right. (There are many pulloffs on the way in if you choose to walk. A bike is also a nice fast way to get there.)
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Devils Den (New Durham):
The testpiece at The Outback. Climb up near vertical rock on thin technical moves. The crux is from bolt 2-4. Pull the small roof at the fourth bolt to rap anchors....[more]Browse More Classics in NH
I was flipping through the routes here, and noticed a discrepancy in terminology. A lot of the routes here say they are sport but require gear, these should be listed as trad climbs so people do not get lured in and end up getting hurt. Hope this doesn't come across as offensive.
No offense taken Matt. I was hoping to call some of them "mixed" routes seeing as how it is mostly fixed gear. hopefully the site will have a "mixed" designation at some point. I will change them though i do agree, we dont want to get anyone hurt. Thanks for your input we want to make this page as accurate as possible.
A few more routes could go up. The Land of Overhangs has a few good lines still to come. Many other small boulder type routes litter the area. Bring a brush and explore the area.
hey shane just ta let ya know alot of trad climbs actually have bolts on them :) i just found that out the other day actually :) so you dont need to feel bad calling them trad climbs. trad doesnt refure (sp check?) to only placing gear it short for traditional.. which you probably know but even back in the day ( which was a wednesday) they would bolt stuff where there was no placements for gear so the route would go :) so go ahead and call em trad without fear :) ....side note.... all this info was courtesy of lee hansche :) good teacher :)
my personal favorite routes are Stolen and Hellraiser both pretty tech steep slab climbs[5.9ish] on very good rock. On the outback cliff Secret agent[5.10b] is a great short climb and also Devil man [5.11d] may be "the" hard route for the Den. This place is definatley worth a look.
Ground up? On rappel? Power drills/hand drills? What's the predominent ethic there. I'm game for whatever, I think a friend of mine, casey, went out and climbed with some of you guys there one afternoon.
The bolts that i know of, have been placed on rappel. Some by hand and some with a power drill.There might be a line or two put up this year on the lead but so far not yet. Yeah he did climb in the area with us a few weeks ago.
Checked out this area for the first time this weekend. Awesome rock with some great routes already set up and cleaned. Thanks everyone who made this possible.
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