Eastern Coastal Slope Climbing

Welcome to Connecticut's Riviera, aka The Shoreline. The Eastern Coastal Slope is home to Connecticut's oldest towns along the scenic center shore fronts of Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River.

Like its French and Italian cousins, east of the city of New Haven, the shoreline changes and turns to a landscape of small towns, villages, and beautiful inland farms. Some towns are plain, everyday Americana, but many are beautiful, graceful, historic, and delightful, like Killingworth, Madison, Guilford, Stonington, and Mystic.

What makes this place unique are the waters of Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River; their benign moderating influence on the climate makes the Connecticut shoreline a good place for vineyards and wineries and for sunny, snow-free winter days of crisp bouldering or climbing on some of America's best metaphoric gneiss.

Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison has a fine long sand beach on Long Island Sound that is a favorite retreat on a rest day or for a simple afternoon of shoreline bouldering.

Some of the best areas include Westwoods, Chatfield, the Nehantic State Forest, and the Groton/Mystic areas. Although the cliffs and boulders tend to be small, you will find some of Connecticut's best climbs and boulder problems in this region. All styles exist here, from physical 5.13 sport routes on 1/2" glue-ins to mixed routes, traditionally protected splitter cracks of all grades, to radically overhanging boulder roof problems. The attitude is distinctly that of a progressive New England seaport town: cultured, traveled, global, and Yankee.

Groton is famous for it war submarine industry and ships that have sailed and protected every ocean in the world. Mystic was a famous seaport in colonial and early American times because of its international shipbuilding industry, and it is now famous for the Mystic Seaport museum. There are many boulders in this region that are remains of the last ice age 18,000 years ago in the surrounding forests.

A few miles to the north on the tribal reservations of the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot peoples are the massive flashy Casinos of Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods.

In this region, you will find Lantern Hill with its unique Quartzite and surreal views of Foxwoods and the forests Mashantucket Pequot reservation.

Enjoy the simple charm of this place and keep it clean and beautiful for future generations.

Here is a small video sample of some of the areas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26yoAhKr26M