Good Beginner / Intermediate Trad at Acadia

Heading up with my partner in October and am looking for some recs, I’m leading up to 5.6 at the gunks, maybe 5.7 when pro is good. She’s leading about 2 grades lower than that. Any recommendations for good routes for us to get on / crags to visit?  

Definitely get on “Story of O” 5.6, on South Wall. It’s 2-3 pitches depending on how you link it and it’s one of the classics there. Beautiful view at the top. The other stuff at 5.6 and below isn’t great.

Make sure you can top manage belay and build gear anchors, then go to Otter Cliffs and top rope some of the routes. 50-100’ of static line helps with anchors there. I think the gear shop in Bar Harbor has a small guide on Otter Cliffs that you can buy. It’s very helpful. 

If you can set a good anchor, all the stuff off Otter is stupendous view wise and has some fun climbing (there's a squeeze route, arete over water etc.). Just the rap off the top is amazing as you're basically jumping off a cliff into the sea. There's a ton of 5.5's and other stuff ( mountainproject.com/area/10…). That said - definitely won't test your trad skills at all since it's all top rope. If there's a weekday afternoon mixed in it's great for that as it will likely be busy on weekends.

there is a good two pitch 5.6 on south bubble. cant remember the name. 

Up on the South Wall, you’ll be entertained by:

Story of O

Wafer Step

Recollection of Pacifica (5.9 TR after leading WS)

Precipice Ledges

Grendal 

Albatross (5.7, but great gear!)

Otter Cliffs has great views, and is novel if you’ve never climbed over water, but it can be very busy, and the routes are at best 2 stars, IMO. 

My experience with Acadia is that the grades are much softer than the Gunks (which we all know is super sandbagged).  I’d recommend getting a feel for the area on some routes that match your gunks grades, then if they seem to be significantly easier for the grade don’t be afraid to step onto harder routes, especially if there is a route or two you want to do.

Gunks Jessewrote:

My experience with Acadia is that the grades are much softer than the Gunks (which we all know is super sandbagged).  I’d recommend getting a feel for the area on some routes that match your gunks grades, then if they seem to be significantly easier for the grade don’t be afraid to step onto harder routes, especially if there is a route or two you want to do.

Trotsky would like a word. 

Gunks Jessewrote:

My experience with Acadia is that the grades are much softer than the Gunks (which we all know is super sandbagged).  

I think the leading is so much different in the gunks than most places that its hard to give a comparison for someone on the sharp end. The gunks is kind of like sport climbing without knowing if the bolt (horizontal) crack you see ahead is any good, which can be intimidating and therefore make the grades feel intimidating. Most northeasterners who make their way up to acadia remark grades are bit on the stiffer side in general. But, analagous to the gunks, you're dealing with more continuous cracks and therefore more often continuous opportunities for gear.

"I’d recommend getting a feel for the area on some routes that match your gunks grades, then if they seem to be significantly easier for the grade don’t be afraid to step onto harder routes, especially if there is a route or two you want to do." <--This is the strategy.

Tl;dr: hard to compare gunks grades to anywhere, get more continuous gear in acadia.

This is all super helpful, thanks everyone!!!

Gunks Jessewrote:

My experience with Acadia is that the grades are much softer than the Gunks (which we all know is super sandbagged).  I’d recommend getting a feel for the area on some routes that match your gunks grades, then if they seem to be significantly easier for the grade don’t be afraid to step onto harder routes, especially if there is a route or two you want to do.

I’d disagree.. to an extent. I think saying which is softer or rather more sandbagged is subjective based on what style of cliimbing you’re used too. I’ve climbed in Acadia for 10 years and the gunks a few times over the last 10 years. On average i’d say they are equal with some Acadia climbs being a little more burly. but again it’s super subjective and not at all a binary.