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Maryland Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Areas in Maryland

Annapolis Rock 31 / 0 / 27 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 35
Baltimore City Watershed 1 / 0 / 8 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8
Big Gunpowder Falls 4 / 0 / 8 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8
Black Rock 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Blair Witch Area 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Camp Lewis / Lewis Rocks 14 / 0 / 13 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 15
Carderock 52 / 0 / 109 / 15 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 126
Catoctin Mountain Park 14 / 0 / 24 / 112 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 136
Fallston Boulder Garden 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Frederick Watershed 0 / 0 / 12 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 13
Great Falls - Maryland Side 70 / 0 / 74 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 76
Harper's Ferry 76 / 14 / 64 / 150 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 269
Herzog Island 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3
Johns Hopkins University, The 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Liberty Reservoir Oakland Road 0 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3
Linganore-Bartonsville 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Little Gunpowder Falls Crag 4 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5
Locust Grove 5 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 6
Morgan Run NEA 0 / 0 / 0 / 66 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 66
Narrows aka Lover's Leap, The 27 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 29
Northwest Branch 5 / 0 / 5 / 37 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 42
Patapsco State Park 13 / 4 / 23 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 30
Raven Rock 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2
Rocks State Park 22 / 0 / 16 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 25
Shepherdstown Limestone Triple Roof Crag 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5
Shepherdstown Pillars 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2
Sugarloaf Mountain 38 / 0 / 53 / 2 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 62
Turkey Island 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Vaso Island 2 / 3 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 11
Elevation: 130 ft
GPS: 39.3, -76.63 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views: 587,278 total · 4,357/month
Shared By: Ladd on Sep 20, 2007 with updates from Christopher Peterson and 1 other
Admins: Frances Fierst

Description

From the Chesapeake Bay to the hills beyond Hagerstown there is climbing to be found in Maryland, although most of the climbing can be found in central Maryland.

Rock State Park, Carderock, A-Rock, and other various climbing locations are generally small, short but have beautiful setting and fun moves. Finding a local that knows where the classics are is definitely the crux of Maryland climbing.

Indoors gyms are extremely common, generally huge, and well-kept.

Getting There

From the west, take Interstate 70 to Harpers Ferry, one of the better places in Maryland to climb trad.

From the south, near D.C and Annapolis, you can find Annopolis Rock which is high quality and Carderock and Great Falls. This side has some of the better climbing in Maryland around the area.

From the north or east, Rock State Park is the best place to check out off 924.

Guidebooks

Eric Horst's Rock Climbing Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland does the best job of getting you from area to area and helping you to find the routes.

Tim Toula's aging Rock and Road does a decent job giving you an idea of what to expect out of Maryland climbing

Climb Maryland! by Mark "Indy" Kochte is out of print, but copies can be found and are a valuable guide to the state's climbing opportunities.

980 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Maryland

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
V2-3 5+
 12
● Big Dipper
Boulder
Harper's Ferry > Highlands
V4- 6B
 6
● Dirty Hooker
Boulder
Harper's Ferry > Balcony Rock Boulders
V4- 6B R
 5
● The Iron Pickle
Boulder
Harper's Ferry > Highlands
V5- 6C
 11
● The Belly
Boulder
Catoctin Mtn Park > Cunningham Fall… > Cliff Trail Boulders
5.5 4b 13 IV+ 11 MS 4a
 40
● A Flake Called Lee
Trad, TR
Sugarloaf Mtn > Middle Earth
5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b
 46
● Vertical
Trad, TR
Rocks SP > Breakaway Wall
5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b
 45
● Seven Wishes
Trad, TR
Sugarloaf Mtn > Middle Earth
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
 33
● Jan's Face
TR
Carderock
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
 35
● Sterling's Crack
TR
Carderock
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 24
● Triple A
TR
Carderock
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 29
● Hard Up Direct
Trad 3 pitches
Harper's Ferry > Maryland Height… > Sign Wall
5.8+ 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 44
● Strawberry Jam
Trad
Rocks SP > Pinnacle
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 25
● Breakaway Right
Trad
Rocks SP > Breakaway Wall
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 14
● Rags to Riches
Trad, TR
Harper's Ferry > Skink Rock
5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a
 47
● Black Crack
Trad
Annapolis Rock > S End
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
● Big Dipper Harper's Ferry > Highlands
 12
V2-3 5+ Boulder
● Dirty Hooker Harper's Ferry > Balcony Rock Boulders
 6
V4- 6B Boulder
● The Iron Pickle Harper's Ferry > Highlands
 5
V4- 6B R Boulder
● The Belly Catoctin Mtn Park > Cunningham Fall… > Cliff Trail Boulders
 11
V5- 6C Boulder
● A Flake Called Lee Sugarloaf Mtn > Middle Earth
 40
5.5 4b 13 IV+ 11 MS 4a Trad, TR
● Vertical Rocks SP > Breakaway Wall
 46
5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b Trad, TR
● Seven Wishes Sugarloaf Mtn > Middle Earth
 45
5.6 4c 14 V 12 S 4b Trad, TR
● Jan's Face Carderock
 33
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b TR
● Sterling's Crack Carderock
 35
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b TR
● Triple A Carderock
 24
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c TR
● Hard Up Direct Harper's Ferry > Maryland Height… > Sign Wall
 29
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Trad 3 pitches
● Strawberry Jam Rocks SP > Pinnacle
 44
5.8+ 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Trad
● Breakaway Right Rocks SP > Breakaway Wall
 25
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad
● Rags to Riches Harper's Ferry > Skink Rock
 14
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad, TR
● Black Crack Annapolis Rock > S End
 47
5.9+ 5c 17 VI 17 E1 5a Trad
More Classic Climbs in Maryland »

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Photos

We love our flag
We love our flag
 7
Left fork rocks in the Frederick watershed.
Left fork rocks in the Frederick watershed.
 1
Frederick Watershed - "Still Life" boulder
Frederick Watershed - "Still Life" boulder
 1
North Frederick Watershed - "Gem Arete"
North Frederick Watershed - "Gem Arete"
 0
North Frederick Watershed - "Proud Roof"
North Frederick Watershed - "Proud Roof"
 0
North Frederick Watershed
North Frederick Watershed
 0
North Frederick Watershed
North Frederick Watershed
 0
Frederick Watershed - "Still Life" boulder
Frederick Watershed - "Still Life" boulder
 0
Maryland
Maryland
 0

4 Comments

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Mike Mu.
hagerstown
Mike Mu.   hagerstown
For a better description of Maryland Climbing check out Indy's Climb Maryland book. Here is the link for amazon.com.
amazon.com/Climb-Maryland-M…
It is more thorough than any other guide. Maryland, when you actually go looking has a lot of climbable rock, you just need to get out there and find it. Oct 9, 2007
John Kelbel
Eldersburg, Maryland
John Kelbel   Eldersburg, Maryland
For Rock locations in Patapsco State Park and the west side of Baltimore check out patapscorock.blogspot.com Feb 24, 2010
Robin Close
Columbia, Maryland
Robin Close   Columbia, Maryland
If anyone's interested in checking out videos of Maryland bouldering, I've added a video page to my blog with links to all that I could find, with the exception of a few from areas with questionable access. To access the page, go to robinclose.blogspot.com and click on the "Maryland Bouldering Videos" tab at the top. I also post regularly about any climbing that I do, and have compiled a lot of Northwest Branch bouldering information under the "Northwest Branch" tab. Clicking on the names below the boulder photos will take you to pages with more information about the cliimbs on each. Mar 3, 2012
Michael Poston
Michael Poston  
I'm new to the greater DC area and coming from the Southwest. I'm just curios if there is a reason there is no sport climbing in the area? Is there a local etiquette of not bolting and keeping it old school? Or has anyone just not done it? Or are there just not enough areas?

Thanks! Jul 23, 2017

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