The secret's out. Main Cliff is a popular destinat...
Description
Main Cliff is the tallest wall at Rumney and also home to some of the best routes. Whereas most of the other cliffs at Rumney are composed of schist, Main Cliff is distingushed by a band of quartzite streching across it's middle. This rock has many of the characteristics of the best sandstone: fine grained, angular, and bullet hard.
Most climbs on the Main Cliff proper ascend distinct corners and aretes, and the climbing feels a bit more "trad" than at other cliffs. Though the routes can be long and pumpy, the different rock presents various technical challenges. Insecure stems, burly laybacks, and technical smearing can be found on almost all of the routes on the center of the cliff. Various outlying walls also comprise the Main Cliff area.
Main Cliff is large and complex. Ward Smith's guidebook is de rigueur for navigating this area.
Getting There
From the second parkinglot, walk uphill into the woods. Follow the sign to Main Cliff. The large wall you come to is Main Cliff Center. Outlying areas to left and to the right.
Main Cliff is seasonally closed for peregrine nesting. Look for blaze-orange signs on the kiosk in the parking lot.
The Classics
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Main Cliff:
Underdog is deservedly the most popular 5.10 at Rumney. The route is long and the views of the Baker River Valley are superb. And because of the capping roofs, Underdog is one of the few sub 5.12s at Rumney that stays dry in the rain.Scramble up easy rock to the first bolt. Here the angle steepens. The technical crux of the route involves moving left near the fourth bolt. If you find yourself groping on desperate slopers, you are probably missing...[more]Browse More Classics in NH
It was really nice yesterday other than the fact that it was cold without the sun... the routes were all dry with some ice at the base of Know ethics but that was it...
By Jay Knower Administrator From: Plymouth, NH Mar 5, 2007
Know Ethics looked fine...the bottom was wet but it looked like you could climb around the ice easily.... I thought about doing it but didn't end up getting on it....
By Ladd Raine Administrator From: Plymouth, NH May 15, 2007
A 3ft by 3ft block fell out of the Skewer (12c) on 5-12-07. It changes the jug before leaving the finger crack but I don't think it changes the grade.
By Jay Knower Administrator From: Plymouth, NH May 15, 2007
Ladd, where exactly was this block? I was on the route the other day and noticed that the fingerlock/jug from which you clip the fourth bolt had crumbled a little, making the clip a tad harder. Or was the block pulled out lower, maybe by the second bolt?
By Ladd Raine Administrator From: Plymouth, NH May 15, 2007
It came out about 18 feet off the deck, so I guess it was at or around the second bolt. There was already a hole of sorts there I think and the block fell out of the hole after someone whipped and hit that spot with their feet during the fall.
It came out just right of the main line (I think).
Jay, I wasn't on the climb, I was warming up on Polly Purebred, I watched as the block fell, hit the belayer (he was relatively unhurt but shaken) and luckily stopped on the upper ledge. If it had continued to fall it would have come down on 4 unsuspecting folks lounging below on that nice flat spot by the slab routes.
i climbed 12 pitches on main cliff today from 5.6-5.12 and every winter day i climb there i appreciate it more... what a great thing... a south facing overhanging cliff with moderates under it that are always dry...
according to chris martin who is in charge of the peregrine project the closure begins between mar 20th and april 1st depending on the bird activity... but its always too early regardless...
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