Is Rumney worth it in the rain?

My buddy and I have been planning a trip to Rumney for a couple months- we've been itching to climb some sport as we live in NY and it's mostly trad. Looking at this weekend's forecast it looks like it's going to be raining for a good bit of it. It would be a 6 hour drive to climb Friday, Sat, Sun, and Monday morning.

Are there lots of places protected from the rain or does it mean a rest day?

Depends on how hard you climb. There is a lot of overhanging stuff that stays pretty dry. The harder you climb the more of it will be available to you.

You'd probably find some climbs in your grade that would remain dry however the lower you go in the grading systems the more likely things will stay wet. With intermittent showers forecast all weekend you might not get much done.

I'm an hour away and will probably stay away from Rumney until Monday when the weather looks better.

With that there's certainly climbers who will respond that may offer up better info then mine.

How do things 5.9-5.10 look?

I haven't been to Rumney in a while but I would not go for climbs in that range, think most of them will be soaked by Saturday as it's supposed to rain Thursday and Friday too. A 12 hour round trip is a lot of driving to not be sure.....seems like a pretty wet weekend here in New England.

...5.9 / 5.10 you're probably for the most part getting into the "stays wet" however again there will be stuff in this grade that's OK.

Starship Enterprise may stay dry...

Is there a better place to go in the NY/VT/NH/ Western Mass area for sport or moderate trad? It looks like rain everywhere this weekend. Rats/

Rumney can be hard to forecast. Last Saturday, there was an 80% chance of rain. It poured until 8AM, then there was plenty dry enough to climb by noon.

In addition to what's already been mentioned (Waimea, Iron Man Wall, and Jimmy) you'll find that Egg McMeadows (5.9+/5.10-) and Rise And Shine (5.7, 2-stars) dry out quickly after a shower. Both are on the parking lot wall. Idiot's Deluxe (5.10d) seems to stay dry or get dry much faster than the other wet routes on the left side of the PLW. If the bottom looks wet, climb it anyway: the bottom of the route is 5.6 or easier and there's a chance to dry your shoes before the business.

At 5.8 Crag, you'll find Bolt And Run (5.9) dry quickly after a storm. Often it stays dry in the rain, depending on the wind.

The moderates at Below The New Wave climb ok when they're wet. Couch Potato always seems to be dripping, but whenever I climb it the key holds seem to be dry enough.

Also, try Bonsai. It seeps in the rain, but again, it climbs OK when damp.

So, I guess my answer is, "Don't let the weather forecast stop you." It's wrong half the time anyway. You just can't be the kind of guy who lets one or two wet holds ruin your day.

Have fun!

EDITED TO ADD: Don't forget about the bouldering. If it really rains that heard, go work on the Umbrella Traverse or something similar.

Jon D wrote:Is there a better place to go in the NY/VT/NH/ Western Mass area for sport or moderate trad? It looks like rain everywhere this weekend. Rats/

I follow the weather pretty closely... and this weekend is looking better the further West and South you go.

So that means by sometime late Saturday most of the climbing in NY will at least not be getting any wetter from the sky. As things slowly move East, this will be true sometime Sunday for New Hampshire. So with that in mind, you would really only be looking at 1.5 days of semi or almost dry rock at Rumney. This is of course assuming the forecast doesn't change, for better or worse. The only certainty is that some type of crappy weather is going to happen, and looks like it's just in time to spoil part(s) of the 3 day weekend.

Personally I wouldn't drive 6 hours for what could be a crappy climbing conditions weekend. [it's easy to say "the heck with it, climb on!" when it's 15 minutes from your back yard] Add to that everyone else on a holiday weekend looking for dry rock, and you have a formula for too many peeps and not enough climbs. Lines form on average days at Rumney.

Learning to climb wet rock was the biggest lesson I got living out east. Second was that climbing V9 without any training isn't that hard.

Same question basically - my friends and I are mostly 5.11-12 climbers looking for sport only. Leaving NY on the 22nd in the evening and staying till the 27th. Should we be OK? It looks like everywhere else within 10 hours is going to be either raining or in the mid-80s all week

If you're climbing 5.11 and 5.12 consistently, Waimea has a multitude of 12's that stay dry in the rain due to their overhung nature. And Iron Man has a pretty good selection of 10's, 11's, and 12's that are capped by a huge roof, therefore they're almost always dry. Orange Crush and Bonsai are also pretty overhung, you should find plenty of dry routes

Bring your bug dope. Things were fine last weekend, but it sounds like the bugs have begun to bite.

Both Bonsai and OC seep badly after even just a moderate amount of rain. Only of consideration for rainy days if preceded by a dry spell.

I vote for Main Cliff's Iron Man wall as your best bet as well, as the routes there have a "cap" above that keeps the full route dry. Underdog .10a and Sweet Polly Purebred .10b in this area are ultraclassics. I have climbed them in the rain without even noticing it was raining.

Some of the other areas, like Bonsai, will be dry down low, and then wet up top once you climb out from under the overhang. You might have some luck with Orange Crush .9 as well, but most other things at the Orange Crush area are .11 or harder.

There's also sport climbing at Farley Ledge, near Erving, MA. The landowners prohibit a guidebook from being published to reduce crowds, but other climbers can answer questions once you're there, just be sure to be considerate due to the sensitivity of access.

Having climbed in the rain at Rumney, the rock is actually still surprisingly grippy and will dry out pretty fast once it stops, but I personally wouldn't drive 6 hours to climb in the rain. (Though I would climb in the rain if I had already driven 6 hours!)

How many world class climbers have come out of Rumney? Suck it up and climb there.

The way it's raining right now I would sugest the slabs on Mt Willard. bring a Kayak and do the 1st decent:)

M Sprague wrote:Bring your bug dope. Things were fine last weekend, but it sounds like the bugs have begun to bite.

They're unbearable. I actually got out my head-net yesterday. I was still miserable!

If you're at Rumney and rained out, consider Sundown Ledge. There are excellent routes at Sundown that are almost always dry, though they start at mid 5.11. Eyeless almost always stays dry and climbable. I've climbed it during a full-on torrential downpour.

I would second most of what's been said above regarding dry routes at Rumney. The 5.10's on Ironman wall stay dry, but I'd definitely wear a helmet and be careful, as there have been more rockfall events than normal there. I wonder if the rain would send some additional rock down.

If Rumney climbers waited for ideal conditions, we'd never get to climb! Part of the appeal of the many crags at Rumney is that each crag has a different "climate". The trick is to find the crag that suits the conditions of the day.

Jay Knower wrote:If Rumney climbers waited for ideal conditions, we'd never get to climb!

.... says the guy who post-holes through waist deep snow on a sunny February day to work on a new project. :)

Jay Knower wrote:If Rumney climbers waited for ideal conditions, we'd never get to climb!

That's pretty much our thinking for our local crags as well, but not for 6 hour away crags.