Better climbing in Middletown CT (Wesleyan U) or Williamstown MA (Williams College)?

My daughter is deciding between these two schools, and I was wondering whether anyone has opinions about where the climbing is "better," in terms of 1. good/accessible gyms, 2. interesting, nearish outdoor areas, and 3. the non-college student climbing community.  My daughter is doing her own research too, obviously, and talking to people at the schools, but I'd love to get a broader MP perspective.  

Williams seems to have a little wall of its own, and be an hour from two gyms in Albany and 1+ from CRG Hadley.  There seem to be some boulders w/in walking distance, but is the next option Farley (1.5 hours)?  Wesleyan seems to have better gym access and a bigger collegiate climbing team, but is there any outdoor climbing there?

I think what she'd love, climbing-wise, is a big team that competes in the collegiate comps and has a good place to train, plus access to some outdoor sport/bouldering.  Neither of her two choices has that, exactly, but Wesleyan seems closer to it.  I think she wants to go to Williams, though, but is worried that there won't be many other students on campus who climb, and that it will be hard to get to the gym regularly. 

Does anyone have any thoughts about the climbing near these two schools? Thanks!

Go to school for school.

Both spots have bomber weekend climbing opportunities within 3-4 hours.

I'm not the most familiar with Williamstown MA weekday indoor/outdoor scene. However, Meriden is pretty much the epicenter of central CT climbing and has many after work/class outdoor opportunities. Though most of the central valley in CT is known for its Traprock toprope/trad crags which is an acquired taste for some, there are options nearby with pretty much every rock type except limestone just go digging on MP and ask around. 

CRG Glastonbury has one of the best caves in the northeast and is overall a wicked decent gym. I'm pretty sure Prime climb is closer to Wesleyan and has more of a homey vibe, it also embodies the CT outdoor climbing style very well. RCF really maximizes their space and is a great option if you are headed that way. There are some other gyms in the CT area but I'm not the most familiar. From my experience, all the gyms have great supportive communities. 

I went to UCONN, not Wesleyan, but I did notice the Wesleyan crew a good bit at CRG, collegiate climbing competitions, and some of the local crags around the state. The Wesleyan climbers I've ran into were a good lot and always fun to climb around. 

I agree that your daughter should chose the school, as both have climbing options. I am not aware of any very close (walking or short drive) options from Wesleyan, but as posted above several of the traprock crags are not too far--all accessible for an afternoon with a car, and Chatfield Hollow and some of the other gneiss cliffs closer to the coast are not much further in the other direction.. Both CRG, Glastonbury and Prime Climb are within easy drive distance---though watch out for rush hour traffic.

Williams does have it's own modest climbing wall, but the local climbing and bouldering outcrops are quite limited and not of great quality. The Albany area gyms, in my opinion, are not great. I like Hadley a lot, but then I'm local!! But each weekend a crew from the North Adams/Williamstown area drive there, so there are definitely folks she can join up with for the trip. Beyond the small local outcrops around Williamstown, there are other crags in the Berkshires, but mostly in the 'South County' around Great Barrington (excellent bouldering and a good, underused crag above), that are probably a bit shorter drive than Farley. Hanging Mountain in Sandisfield, recently purchased by the WMCC/RMF will hopefully be opening relatively soon, but that may not be much closer to Willianstown than Farley. There are also several other good crags and bouldering areas close to Farley, so plenty to keep her busy. Of course the Gunks, Adirondacks, While Mountains are within day trip or, better, weekend, range from either school.

Is Amherst also one of her choices (most who apply to those schools also do to Amherst)? Much better climbing access--both indoors or out, than either of the others!!!

Thanks Shawn and Alan!  That's really helpful.  It's great to hear what the gyms are like, and get a more "on the ground" sense of who is climbing what in the area.  My daughter did apply to Amherst but unfortunately did not get in.  I think she probably would've gone there had she been accepted.   

I just looked up Traprock--that looks super cool! 

I live pretty near Wesleyan, and I'm inclined to agree with Shawn and Alan. Picking the school that feels like a better fit is the most important thing given that she'll spend 4 years and likely hundreds of thousands of dollars on it. There is a lot of climbing within a half hour drive of Wesleyan. Most of it is traprock. As Shawn said, it definitely can be acquired taste. Is she has experience climbing outdoors on different types of rock, she may be surprised by the nature of the climbs around here. Some people hate traprock, but I kinda love it. There are a few crags that aren't traprock, but they tend to be shorter routes no more than 50 feet. There is hardly any multipitch climbing in CT. With few exceptions, routes here tend to be under 80 feet. That said, the gunks is about 2.5 hours away and there is some good multipitch climbing in MA that's not much longer a drive I think. There are a lot of climbing gyms around, so that shouldn't be a concern. If climbing really is that important to her, maybe you should consider taking a weekend to climb in both areas and see how she feels after that. 

Alan Rubinwrote:

Beyond the small local outcrops around Williamstown, there are other crags in the Berkshires, but mostly in the 'South County' around Great Barrington (excellent bouldering and a good, underused crag above), that are probably a bit shorter drive than Farley. Hanging Mountain in Sandisfield, recently purchased by the WMCC/RMF will hopefully be opening relatively soon, but that may not be much closer to Willianstown than Farley.

Hanging Mountain should be less than 90 minutes, its a straight shot up route 8.  Any word on when it’s set to open?

No, unfortunately. The cliff is in a priority habitat area for some rare and endangered species so we are addressing the requirements of the State endangered species act. Check out the WMCC website (climbgneiss.org).

I go to Amherst and am familiar with some of the climbing nearby both Wesleyan and Williams. Wesleyan is definitely much closer (20-40 min drive) to a bunch of more established CT traprock crags (Ragged, East Peak, etc.). Williams students usually have to head over here to the Pioneer Valley (~1.5 hrs) if they wanna climb all day at a proper crag, but they could also head over to Thacher State Park outside Albany (also around 1.5 hrs). That said, as Alan mentioned, Williams does have its own climbing wall, and more importantly, they have a lot of people who are super psyched to go climbing. I've got a couple friends in the outing club there who can attest to that and are climbers themselves. I even sometimes wish I'd gone to Williams despite the lack of nearby crags just so I could have more people to get out with (people don't really climb at Amherst so your daughter dodged a bullet). It's also my understanding that Williams students are generally much more into the outdoors than students at places like Amherst and Wesleyan just because they're in the middle of nowhere and that's all they've got. As the president of Amherst's outing club, I'm usually somewhat aware of the activities of other NESCAC outing clubs, but  I've really never heard anything about Wesleyan's club and climbing which worries me a bit. But it might be a good idea for your daughter to look them up and shoot them an email to get an idea about how much they climb (if at all). But moral of the story is, choose based on the school, and if she pursues it, the climbing will fall into place regardless. But, if she ends up at Williams (or Wesleyan) and is ever looking for a partner in the Pioneer Valley, tell her to let me know!