new climbs in pa

Anybody know of new/undeveloped climbing areas in Pennsylvania?

Yes,I'm not sayin'
Ask Bob

Who's Bob?

I'd be willing to show one to get one. Friends and I have been developing a spot a touch north of Philly for a few years now. ~60' high and a dozen or so routes wide.

I've been mostly looking in Western PA, but out in the East I've been searching for quartzite cragging on the ridges.

Michael Schneider wrote: Ask Bob

Could you maybe direct in the way of Bob?

If you onsight my OW problem, Astroboy @ Gretna I can put you in touch with people.. ;)

Bouldering? Meh.

I know.. Offwidths, meh!

But one thing is for sure, PA has probably
way better bouldering compared to cragging.

Actually that off width had me interested for sure.

Believe me, with Ralph Stover as my home crag there's no love lost between me and PA craggin. Gunks are three hours tho, making weekend jaunts very manageable.

Db5504( that's a cryptic avatar,)
I'm sorry to be equally cryptic.
There once were a bunch of Boyz who refused to grow up.
Most from the hills of Pennsi. & Jersey.
and we all had a certain friend/ hero
Kevin Bein,
He inspired us all, in many ways,
Mainly, to get as strong as you could.
Then when you could get to The Gunks, to show off
he would laugh, and still climb circles around us,
Telling us " you can do better."
One of us stood out, (4 or 5 really though and it doesn't fit or matter )
and he was cut from that same cloth, as the hero
right down to the restaurant bizz being in his blood
so he Progressed, to legendary status,

Bob is still active , had a hart attack while climbing.
Is back to nearly top from,
and remains the very definition of what it means to be a good person 1st
and 'climber' is down the list a ways.

If you look at the credits for most of the great hide a-ways,
In the Pennsi. woods - his name stands out.

You have to be able to figure this out

If I said The Philly Flyer, or Boltin' B. ?
Some of you might know immediately

Do people still climb at Livsey Rock?

The names got changed and the data base was sold off
So Bob requested then demanded that all climbs associated with him
Be removed or that's what he implied.
I only looked at Where Fools Rush In
it is not a clickable link on the Mnt project anymore.

But now that I've given it away
He is responsible for almost every 5.10 at Shikashinny and Tillbury.
His freak brother look, wearing gym shorts a swami, & no shirt,
leading hard .10, with only 3 pieces in and 3 more to place and belay from
one of the best pictures in the Shawangunk's picture book. . .page 52
"Traversing the roof on the 1st pitch of Matinee"

Bob D'Antonio

I apologize for blatant threat drift/theft, but I want to thank Micheal Schneider for his mention/tribute to Kevin Bein in his recent post. It is important to keep Kevin's memory and his inspiration alive and pass it on to a new generation, even though it is now, unbelievably, almost 30 years since his death.

There is some stuff in W PA that is not new or undeveloped, but rather underdeveloped, in the ANF. The problem is the thick tree canopy and vegetation... it would take a lot of work and may not ever see enough traffic to keep it clean.

A lot of rock in W PA and SW PA has been scooped out, so finding "new" can be a little tricky. Underdeveloped is all over the place but the problem with undeveloped climbing in PA is finding something worth developing, or at least something that isn't going to take a small army putting in long hours.

Doug S wrote:There is some stuff in W PA that is not new or undeveloped, but rather underdeveloped, in the ANF. The problem is the thick tree canopy and vegetation... it would take a lot of work and may not ever see enough traffic to keep it clean.

I've been eying this one crag near by. Provided it's public lands, don't you still need permission to clear it?

normajean wrote: I've been eying this one crag near by. Provided it's public lands, don't you still need permission to clear it?

Regarding my above comment, the problem with the thick trees and vegetation is that it helps the moss and lichen grow too fast and thick to keep the rock clean without a lot of work and traffic from climbers. I'm not sure what you mean by "clear it." But if you mean cutting trees (other than dead and down ones) or clearing understory then no, they do not permit that. However, cleaning the holds is still ok. Unless it's a dry year, it will mostly be a losing battle.

I know from emailing them a long time ago that the ANF used to support climbing, but their stance may have recently changed. Or maybe they just post that for liability. I know of some guys that climb there regularly. I would guess that if you wanted to develop some climbing there, your biggest problem would be the moss, lichen, bugs, etc. that go with really thick, wet PA woods.

I've found multiple small crags along the Yough downriver of Dawson, including one that I think is really worthwhile, so if anybody would be interested in helping me develop it, it would be greatly appreciated. It's no Dawn Wall, but is about a 30-40 foot wall that is about 200 feet long or so as far as I can tell. Although it's on private land, I got permission to climb there from the landowner. I don't have any experience developing crags, so help/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Db5504 wrote:I've found multiple small crags along the Yough downriver of Dawson, including one that I think is really worthwhile, so if anybody would be interested in helping me develop it, it would be greatly appreciated. It's no Dawn Wall, but is about a 30-40 foot wall that is about 200 feet long or so as far as I can tell. Although it's on private land, I got permission to climb there from the landowner. I don't have any experience developing crags, so help/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9F0foQwCH0A

seems like every thing old is new again ,
I wish I could help ya' out
maybe we could try to meet Half-way say In New Jersey?

http://withoutlovewehavenothing.blogspot.com/2014/05/rock-climbing-at-ralph-stover.html

Nice video. That thing needs a water pipe put on top, and then an ice park built below! ;)

You may want to talk with Tim Anderson. He's done a lot of work in that area.

Db5504 wrote:I've found multiple small crags along the Yough downriver of Dawson, including one that I think is really worthwhile, so if anybody would be interested in helping me develop it, it would be greatly appreciated. It's no Dawn Wall, but is about a 30-40 foot wall that is about 200 feet long or so as far as I can tell. Although it's on private land, I got permission to climb there from the landowner. I don't have any experience developing crags, so help/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

There is a group or 2 of climbers that are in this area a good bit, especially South, East, North East whatever direction of Connellsville. If anything you speak of is remotely in that area it is more than likely known about and if it isn't already developed is is because of access issues and/or there are just better places near by so these other area's don't get much traffic.

Either way, if you have permission and you like it or just like the idea of developing something have at it. But with it being private property it is a big risk, owner tells you one day, yeah climb, you work hard for weeks developing and then just one day the owner shuts the door on ya.

Luckily, the owner is a fairly good friend of the family, so I highly doubt we'd be barred from climbing, unless the area wasn't respected.