Mountain Project Logo
To save paper & ink, use the [Hide] controls next to photos and comments so you only print what you need.

Marlow Profile

New Hampshire > Monadnock Region

Description

Land owned/managed by the Monadnock Conservancy.  Much of the maintenance of the trails and hardware is thanks to Monadnock Climbers Association members. Be sure to support them.

Two bolted cliffs, one in the shade nearly all day. Total of about 20 bolted routes. Higher cliff gets sun after noon

Rock is metamorphosed granite with large crystals of feldspar.

Pretty solid quality, cracks and flakes sometimes feel like they're close to giving.

Parking is along the road, in a small dirt patch. Maybe 10 cars with more roadside parking up the road.

Dogs are allowed but should be under control, voice, leash, etc.

[ NOTE- see the COMMENT by Tim Greenwood Oct 10, 2018 for more info... R Hall NH Admin. ]

Getting There

Check the map

From the village of Marlow take Rt. 123 north (west) and parking for Bald Mountain Preserve will be on your right in about a mile.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Photo of the bottom of the cliff near Unknown Corner with average size climber and first bolt on a random sport climb circled to give a sense of how high first bolts are.
[Hide Photo] Photo of the bottom of the cliff near Unknown Corner with average size climber and first bolt on a random sport climb circled to give a sense of how high first bolts are.
View of the right side of the top of cliffs access. Bolts are circled.
[Hide Photo] View of the right side of the top of cliffs access. Bolts are circled.
Map near at the trailhead. The trail starts right by the sign.
[Hide Photo] Map near at the trailhead. The trail starts right by the sign.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

[Hide Comment] I'm very interested in this area (my parents have a house ~20 minutes away). Is there more info? I can find some pictures of toproping there, but nothing about sport/bolts. Mar 21, 2016
[Hide Comment] The area has been bolted for years and updated bolts have been placed. Check all bolts from top to make sure they are there. Boy Scott's did place trails a few years ago but they don't replace or maintains the area from what I have seen. Sep 5, 2016
Eric Castanza
Henniker, NH
[Hide Comment] New bolts very clean area and maintained trails.
I took my 6 year old for her first climb she had a blast, a great place to introduce new climbers to the sport. May 13, 2017
markoscarmcadam climbs
flagstaff, ax
[Hide Comment] last time i climbed there the first bolt of a climb was loose, and it was glued with some soft silicon stuff. Very concerning. Has this been updated?

It was just that one bolt though, the other bolted climbs were fine. Sep 24, 2017
Timo G
Keene, NH
[Hide Comment] This area of climbing has two main walls. There is a lower wall and an upper wall. The lower wall has about 5 sport climbs and probably a few trad climbs. The sport climbs range from pretty easy to pretty hard on this wall. On the upper wall, there are about 5 bolted climbs as well, and probably a few trad climbs as well. These climbs are a bit better quality. There's a climb on the far right (maybe 5.6), and a climb that goes under the roof (maybe a 5.9) and then the rest are about 5.10 or above. But a fun area to get into climbing. Oct 10, 2018
JD1984
Leominster, MA
[Hide Comment] Very nice area with good rock and solid fixed anchors. May 28, 2019
Joshua Klockars
New England
[Hide Comment] Not a destination crag but great climbing while in the area! Lots of work done here by unknown parties. Thanks to the developers! Cool, shaded, fun, and somewhat secluded cragging. Aug 10, 2019
Kari Post
Keene, NH
[Hide Comment] I used to climb here pretty regularly. This land is now owned/managed by the Monadnock Conservancy and members from the Monadnock Climbers Association have been doing maintenance on the climbs. I have found that the non-climbing trails are poorly marked and maintained but access to the climbing areas is pretty obvious. Also, I have never seen any signage or communication from the conservancy or others suggesting pets are not allowed and have seen plenty of locals hiking with dogs in this area, so I believe the "no pets" information in the description is either outdated or incorrect. Sep 8, 2019
[Hide Comment] Been checking out this local spot a few times over the last month or two. Very cool. Very quiet. Trad and sport both super fun. Hardest sport routes might approach 11+. If looking for a fun day out this is the place. Great spot to learn the sport or have a nice low key day Dec 2, 2019
[Hide Comment] Use discretion when leading bolted routes. Many suspect bolts. 2nd route from left on upper cliff has questionable bolts and the 3rd route from the left has anchors that should not be used (top out with trad gear instead). Hoping to update the bolts this spring Dec 15, 2019
[Hide Comment] I'm seeing mixed reviews as to the hardware quality here. Anyone have insight into the current state of things? I'd like to check out the sport climbs here but not so much if it's sketchy. Alternately, is there top access to both upper and lower walls for a tree TR setup? May 25, 2020
[Hide Comment] We climbed here on 7/7/21. The area is called the Elizabeth Burns McIntire Forest and is 1.2 miles from the junction with 10 on the right (north) side of the road. The climbing is up the yellow trail at the "profile" and the approach was on a decent trail about 10-20 min from the trailhead. See photo. You come up on the left end of the cliffs near Unknown Corner. We found the lower half of the cliffs to be really wet. Unknown Corner had algae growing in the bottom part of the climb. None of the bolted climbs had bolts lower than about 10 feet up above the really wet stuff (see photo); I think that a stick clip would be pretty essential. The bolted climbs, aside from on Sunny Slab, are not described at all and there are at least as many as the trad climbs and they look hard. The bolts have been replaced but the 4th bolt on Sunny Slab (the left sport route) was loose. There are 3 double bolt anchors at the very top of the cliff above the trad climbs. These are hiking accessible (easily) but are not good for top roping unless you have a static rope or a lot of long runners to extend the top rope anchors to a safe place where you won't destroy your rope. If you do top rope, it could be helpful to have a sheath for the anchor parts so they don't abrade. You can also access the top of the Sunny Slabs to use those bolts for TR without any extensions or protection. I'm including pictures of the top of the cliffs and the bottom as well. The area felt generally a bit sketchy to me for leading and I would be more comfortable with top roping. The flakes on Sunny Slabs Right felt hollow and I found two wasps nests in them, exactly where I would want gear. There may be a peregrine falcon nest somewhere on the cliffs - one was circling high above us and we heard calls. It didn't attack us. There are lots of ticks. Jul 9, 2021