Best 5.6 pitch in NH?

Opinions may vary but many people don't know about this recently cleaned wildly exposed pitch at the top of Cathedral Ledge: https://northeastalpinestart.com/2020/09/17/route-guide-the-best-5-6-pitch-on-cathedral-ledge/

 I tried to find that one time and being the really bad guide book reader that I am I ended up on the top pitch the prow.  

Can you toprope the first pitch of goofers from the bolted anchor you rap down to?

a beachwrote:

Can you toprope the first pitch of goofers from the bolted anchor you rap down to?

It looks like it's a long traverse-y pitch. Probably not.

june mwrote:

 I tried to find that one time and being the really bad guide book reader that I am I ended up on the top pitch the prow.  

LOL that's awesome... a bit off the mark! Hopefully you can find it with this next time

a beachwrote:

Can you toprope the first pitch of goofers from the bolted anchor you rap down to?

I haven't but I bet you could... Seems straight forward... Why haven't I thought of doing that yet? Ferb... I know what we're going to do today!

David Lottmannwrote:

I haven't but I bet you could... Seems straight forward... Why haven't I thought of doing that yet? Ferb... I know what we're going to do today!

Cool, report back!

wow thanks for sharing this! i am absolutely gonna get on that. that first picture in the article is just fantabulous.

Wheat thin arete or Cajun washboard pitch on cormier magnuss at Whitehorse. Super good slab

lub ewrote:

Wheat thin arete or Cajun washboard pitch on cormier magnuss at Whitehorse. Super good slab

Love that Wheat thin pitch... it's so good with early morning light on it! 

Then there's the clean white slab (P 5 or 6, depending) on Direct on Webster Slabs.

I'll throw Coyote Rain, Longstack Precipice, into the mix! 

Coyote Rain +1. Positive holds on an aesthetic natural dike feature, great movement, thrilling roof crux, all natural pro. Gear where you need it.  Best way to do it is to lead both pitches at once with a 70m and top out overlooking the lake.  Can do P1 with a 40m. But it's at Longstack so barely anyone knows about it. 

Jon Browherwrote:

Coyote Rain +1. Positive holds on an aesthetic natural dike feature, great movement, thrilling roof crux, all natural pro. Gear where you need it.  Best way to do it is to lead both pitches at once with a 70m and top out overlooking the lake.  Can do P1 with a 40m. But it's at Longstack so barely anyone knows about it. 

That’s an awesome route! You can combine both pitches easily with a single 60m... then two raps down. 

David Lottmannwrote:

That’s an awesome route! You can combine both pitches easily with a single 60m... then two raps down. 

A truly great mega pitch! I think I placed a single big red bd nut on the second "pitch"

Sawyer Wwrote:

A truly great mega pitch! I think I placed a single big red bd nut on the second "pitch"

For sure after finally pulling the 5.6 roof move the rest is casual chillin'... almost seems silly to stop at first anchor unless hoping to get a good pic of second pulling the roof

There's a nice two-bolt anchor at the top now too. The old belay tree is still standing but it's seen better days. Stance at the anchor is a little weird. 

One can set up a really nice top rope assortment off of pitch 1 combined with a couple of climbs to the right; If you're just climbing for fun I definitely recommend the megapitch. View from the top is like no other in the area.  

Mighty Quinn, Winter Classic, Riptide, Locals Only, Hanta-Yo, Strychnine, Velvet Underground, and Still Gettin Booty, all from 5.8 to 10.b, are also some of the cliff's better offerings. If you're solid at 5.8 The Arete is also quite thrilling 

Rapping in is a disqualifier for best of INMOP. unless its a canyon and thats the only way in. hiking to the top of a cliff to rap in because you can't climb the lower pitches of a climb  for whatever reasons detracts from the star rateing. 

+1 for Coyote Rain. The second pitch crack of "Go West Young Man" at White Ledge in Albany is a close second. 

Adding to the classic status of Coyote Rain, the coyotes are very much still there.  Twice this summer on an early-morning / dawn run we heard them howling as I was racking up.

The crack, location, & lack of crowds of Go West Young Man is so good, it outweighs entirely the fact that you need a double-rack of small nuts & cams to protect it. Just don't find yourself without a red tricam up above it.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Rapping in is a disqualifier for best of INMOP. unless its a canyon and thats the only way in. hiking to the top of a cliff to rap in because you can't climb the lower pitches of a climb  for whatever reasons detracts from the star rateing. 

Could definitely do a separate list for this but that’s why I specified “best pitch”... not best climb. And in 20 years of climbing at Cathedral (hundreds of days) I’ve seen pitch one climbed zero times... I’m not a big fan of Otter or other sea cliffs but I wouldn’t take away stars for rating a “pitch” vs a ground up climb. And I agree for ground up Coyote Rain probably is best 5.6 in the state!